In the age of the internet, having a physical gift shop is no longer enough. To take your gifts business to the next level, it is imperative that you start an online gift store.
There are several advantages to this. To begin with, an online gift store exposes your gifts business to a wider audience and lets more people know about you and what you’re doing.
Furthermore, converting your gifts business into an online gift store means more orders, which means a greater revenue!
Search Engines such as Google and Bing have made information accessible to everyone at their fingertips, and what matters the most today is ease of access. Customers would rather get a gift delivered home instead of going to the store and purchasing them.
In such a ring of consumer behavior, your gifts business must be prepared. The best way to be prepared for this scenario is to start an online gift store.
There are multiple ways to extend your gifts business into an online gift store, such as by starting your own eCommerce gift shop, selling on Amazon, selling on Shopify, etc. in this post, we’ll see how you can set up your online gift store and expand your gifts business on Shopify.
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Use Shopify To Launch An Online Gifts Business
Preface
You are an established gifts business looking for more customers. You have your inventory in place, you have some experience selling gifts, and now you want to reach a larger audience by opening an online gift store.
Shopify is an online marketplace which allows customers to purchase a wide variety of items. Shopify gets millions of views each month, so there’s a good change you’ll increase your revenue multiple times if you properly set up your online gift store on shopify.
First off, what is Shopify? Here’s a short video that’ll help you get briefed up!
One thing that’s especially great about Shopify is, if you don’t have a gifts business just yet, you could actually buy one from the Shopify Exchange Marketplace! Alternatively, if you’re willing to sell your gifts business, you could do that too!
Shopify takes care of most of the things in your gifts business, so you don’t have to worry. But it is important that you have your products ready and can manufacture them in time.
You should also have great photos and descriptions of those to put on the Shopify listing and attract customers! Since gifts are physical products, you’d also want a decent inventory management system in place before you get into Shopify.1) Start A Free Trial On Shopify
Shopify is a paid platform, but it does have free trial. To get started, start your gifts business on the free trial. This requires nothing more than your email and gifts business name.
Once the initial set up and questionnaire is completed, you’ll be redirected to your Shopify Dashboard. That means, you’re ready to go on Shopify!
While you’re at it, it’s good to maintain some practices that’ll help you in the long run.
To begin with, ensure that you have a strong, secure password which cannot be easily guessed. Try to incorporate everything from special characters to capital and small letters, and even numbers in it.
Moreover, don’t try to rush the initial setup. Give it time - around 30 minutes should be good. This is the outlook of your business, and you’re not only getting it straight to Shopify, you’re getting it straight in your head.
2) Get Familiar With Spotify
After your account on Shopify is ready, you’re basically ready to convert your gifts business into an online gift store.
But before doing that, it’s imperative that you familiarize yourself with Shopify and its user interface. This is the place you’ll be spending a long time on. Better know what’s on it!
It’s a great idea to check each of the links in the navigation menu on Shopify to learn what features it holds and what it can and cannot do.
Keep in mind that some options such as Analytics won’t make much sense to you until you’ve actually had a few sales on your Shopify online gift store.
You might want to check out the Shopify Academy (which can be seen on your Dashboard) that’ll brief you on how to use Shopify and its many features.
3) Add Your Products
Now that you’re familiar with your environment, it’s the ideal time to set up your online gift store.
If you add a product right away, the whole process will seem more fluid, workable, and less intimidating. After all, how much could you achieve with an empty online gift shop?
For each product that you add from your gifts business, add an attractive and punch title, detailed and informative description, images of the product from multiple angles, and other specifications.
This is important! This is what the customers will see when buying products from your online gift store, and you better nail the outlook of your gifts business!
4) Explore Shopify Store Settings
Shopify has a very comprehensive settings tab, and you can get a lot of things right (or wrong!) from here. So, it’s important to carefully examine and modify the Shopify Store Settings.
First on, complete the general settings such as payment, taxation, shipping, legal stuff, etc. Apart from that, there are settings such as gift cards, notifications, sales channels, files, etc. which you can explore.
A great feature in Shopify Store Settings is the use for test mode. This mode will help you get at pace with the Shopify working mechanism, such as the payment, user experience, etc. before you actually launch your online gift store. Check it out!
Make sure that all changes you make in the settings are carefully reviewed. As said, this is where you can get a lot of things either right or wrong!
5) Explore Additional Applications You May Need
While in settings, you might have found some functionalities your gifts business need that were missing. Worry not, Shopify supports additional apps!
The Shopify App Store has got you covered. It boasts everything from immaterial sale features to a flexible invoicing system that’ll help you do your gifts business in your way, efficiently.
Note that the Shopify App Store has both paid and free apps. While the free ones work great, the paid ones might give you some key extra functionality. Carefully examine your needs before making the choice! And if it comes to it, don’t mind spending a little money on these apps!
Moreover, if you’re facing a tough time realizing whether the app is good for you, the Shopify App Store has a reviews column which will get you out of your troubles.
6) Time to Design Your Online Gift Store
By the time you reach this step, you’ll be done with some of the most complicated tasks and steps. So, give yourself a pat on the back!
After that, it’s time to make your customers feel homely and design a great looking website for your gifts business and its online gift store. Just the way you decorate and maintain your gift shop, your online gift store needs attention to detail!
Shopify has its own Shopify Website Builder that is a reliable service which will help you build your website from scratch.
You can choose a theme which rhymes with your gifts business brand image and the aura you want to shed onto your visitors. You’ll need to write text on your site too, and this is an important phase!
In case you’re looking for quality content writing, we’ve got that covered for you! Our Free Audit and Consultation service will get you through this!
7) Launch Your Gifts Business on Shopify!
Before you launch your online gift store, just check your products line, settings, and other details once again and make sure everything is in place.
If that’s all good. Check your website outlook and the user experience it delivers. Make sure you check every detail, because your customers will!
If that’s all good too, all you’re left to do now is publish! And now celebrate! You’re through!
You’ve just expanded your gifts business into an online gift store, and you’re all set for a larger revenue and a broader customer base!
Your Gifts Business Is Shopified!
That’s wonderful! Your gifts business is now an online gift store, and millions of visitors each month are going to appreciate what you do.
If your products are quality enough, they’ll also consider purchasing them.
At the same time, you still have your good old gift shop running! It’s a perfect match for you and your revenue.
Shopify has done an excellent work democratizing the eCommerce business, and you’re leveraging on it!
While starting a business can be very complex with the hundreds of registrations and paperwork hurdling your way, Shopify reduces this and makes it simple, efficient for you!
What’s more? According to a study by MarketWatch, the gifts industry is poised for growth by 5% each year from 2020 to 2023!
As the economy will start to recover, there will be a rise in the demand for gifts and people will be placing orders online more than ever. You need to have an efficient online machine to convert those visitors into gift sales right now.
And with our expertise of over five years in the gifts business, you can get significant insights into customer behavior on your online gift store at Shopify, your gifts business, a market research in and around your locality, and a report that tells you what more could you do and what practices you shouldn’t continue. Check out our Free Audit and Consultation service now!
If you’ve enjoyed this article, you might want to read our post on How To Start An Online Gift Store On A Shoestring Budget in 2020?