My learnings from setting up a Shopify online store

Developing a successful e-commerce site demands thorough planning and execution. This article outlines a few key essentials for building an online store in Shopify and gives guidance in promotion planning. These steps simplify and ensure an effective process for creating and refining a Shopify online store setup.

Another productive week has passed, but it feels great to finally start to see the results of all the work put in the last few weeks. This week, I focused on Zooma's new e-commerce site, which I introduced in my previous article, 'Latest updates on my e-commerce online store'.

Today, Zooma has several fixed-price service packages available on Shopify on the current site; however, customers have requested an even easier way to get an overview of the packages. In response, Zooma decided to create a complete e-commerce experience to offer a more available way to explore all additional services which we are currently developing.

Building an online store entirely from scratch is a lot of work, and there's much to consider. In this article, I'll share what to think about and the essential components of creating a successful site.

Laying out the foundation

To ensure that all necessary functions and content are included, make a specification of what's essential for the site. Here's what I put in my specification;

• products
• product description
• images
• prices
• check-out
• customer service information
• CTA form "book a meeting"
• "This happens after your purchase"
• Order confirmation page
• Add to cart button
• Return/refund info
• Terms & Conditions/Legal
• Post-purchase email

Of course, the list depends on your type of business, but you can use this as a framework.

Next, before populating the store, you need to know who you're selling to, your target group, and their wants and needs to make your site attractive to them. Only after that can you start developing. Make sure you have visualised your brand identity and tone, and keep it clean with only a few colours and, preferably, two or three fonts for the text.

Developing in Shopify

If you're creating your site in Shopify, choose a theme that aligns with your desired functionality and design. Shopify's intuitive interface and user-friendly design make it easy for anyone, even without technical experience, to build and manage an online store. Still, it can have functional and design limitations. With that said, if you do a little research or ask ChatGPT, you can adjust the site with simple coding in their CSS (cascading style sheet). Here's an easy example of rounding edges on product images;

Shopify also provides its own and third-party apps. These work as extensions that allow you to add extra functionality to your store. For example, you can add apps for personalising product recommendations, email marketing, and automated workflows.

Promotion

The next step is promotion. Without visitors to your site, it's irrelevant. To create a well-rounded promotion strategy, you should consider a mix of organic and paid methods, such as engaging social media marketing, content marketing, email campaigns, news articles, effective SEO, etc. It's essential to have clear objectives and a strong value proposition to guide your efforts. Define your goals to ensure your promotional activities are focused and measurable and have a compelling value proposition to set your brand apart.
Set up relevant metrics to track your efforts and be flexible with your strategy. Monitoring KPIs allows you to make data-driven decisions and optimise your strategy over time.

Lastly, before you do anything, set up your project workflow structure and daily tasks to ensure you stick to your timetable and keep effectiveness from start to finish. Here's an example of how to start setting it up, fill in the blanks to make it fit your business;

Have a great weekend!