How To Make Money On Shopify: 15 Best Ways That Work

how to make money on shopify 15 proven ways to earn with shopify

Considering millions of businesses use Shopify, learning how to make money on Shopify seems like a great idea. After all, Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce platforms, and its popularity keeps climbing daily (and even hourly).

That has a lot to do with the fact that shopping online is the new normal for billions of people worldwide. As a result, owning an online store is advantageous because it allows for enormous online revenue.

All that sounds great, but is making money on Shopify relatively easy? Well, it is easy if you take the time to learn how to do it efficiently.

It doesn’t matter if you already own a small business or want to build one on Shopify:

There are proven ways to utilize Shopify’s power and become a successful online seller, and I’ll cover them in detail today.

This post contains affiliate links – see my affiliate disclaimer.

What Is Shopify?

what is Shopify and how does it work

Assuming that some of you might be unfamiliar with Shopify, I want to explain what Shopify is for a quick second:

To sum up, Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the world. Shopify is easy to use for both sellers and consumers.

More importantly, the platform allows merchants to sell products (or services) through an interface that works with all major web hosting providers.

Nowadays, setting up and launching a Shopify store is a straightforward process that takes minutes to complete. Adding products and tracking inventory won’t cause any headaches either.

I suggest learning everything there is to know about the Shopify Ecosystem and the way it operates when you have a minute.

Shopify Plans And Pricing

  • Basic Shopify Plan ($24 per month): That Basic Starter Plan is the best option if you want to test the platform.
  • Shopify ($69 per month): Think of the Shopify Plan as an option for anyone who needs more than the Basic Plan.
  • Advanced Shopify ($289 per month): The Advanced Shopify Plan brings everything the Shopify Plan does, plus stuff accounts, performance reports, and a POS terminal.
  • Plus Shopify ($2,300 per month): This plan is the perfect solution for large businesses that require plenty of support and every Shopify feature available.

Test Shopify For Free

How To Make Money On Shopify

In short, there are plenty of ways to make money on Shopify.

Some of them deal with selling homemade crafts, while others are about offering professional services.

Here are the best ways to earn on Shopify:

1) Start A Shopify eCommerce Store

start a Shopify eCommerce store

By all means, launching your own eCommerce store is, without a doubt, the top way to make money with Shopify. As you already know, the Shopify eCommerce platform is easy to use and beginner-friendly:

Even first-time shop owners can quickly add items, track orders, and allow customers to checkout fast – that is the first thing you need to develop a successful eCommerce business.

Believe it or not, you can sell anything on Shopify, such as crafts you make, services you provide, or items you resell. I recommend starting a blog that will allow you to drive tons of organic traffic to your Shopify store.

Assuming you’ll go with the Shopify Basic plan, owning an e-commerce store will cost you only $24 monthly. Of course, you don’t have to pay anything yet – take advantage of the free trial and launch your Shopify business with no start-up cost.

2) Start A Shopify Dropshipping Business

Unless you’re living under a rock, you already know how popular the dropshipping business model is nowadays.

Dropshipping is a retail business that allows business owners to sell products without keeping them in stock. Instead of purchasing and storing inventory, you’ll outsource the shipping and fulfillment of orders through a dropshipping supplier.

Developing a dropshipping online business is an excellent decision – owning such a business is more than a convenient way to sell merchandise online.

Betting on the dropshipping business model won’t put you in a position where you’ll have to worry about finding warehouse space or unsold stock inventory.

Setting up a dropshipping store via Shopify is simple:

Once you create a Shopify account, you can easily create a catalog and decide on product prices.

Related Read:

3) Launch Your Own Clothing Line

Are you, by any chance, an aspiring fashion designer?

Some of you probably dream of becoming a force in the fashion world. Why not test your abilities by starting a clothing brand through Shopify?

It doesn’t matter if you’ll create every single piece of clothing yourself or if someone else will help you with building your fashion empire:

In both cases, Shopify will make the start of your clothing brand an easy process. This business idea will work if you design other unique products or handmade goods than clothing, such as accessories.

Another way to make money to monetize your fashion talent is to place your designs on print-on-demand products. Nowadays, Shopify has partnerships with Printful, Printify, and other major print-on-demand companies.

By connecting a Printful account to your Shopify store, you can place your designs on different items, and Printful will print and ship the products on your behalf when orders come in.

4) Sell Print-On-Demand Products

how to make money on Shopify sell Print-On-Demand products

Speaking of print-on-demand, let’s see how to make money on Shopify if you don’t want to create original clothing or other fashion items:

You can focus on creating your own designs and still manage to turn such a business into a profitable online venture.

One of the best things about developing a print-on-demand business is that you won’t have to cover any costs for storage space while fully taking advantage of the popularity of online shopping.

With that said, the Shopify platform will provide you with everything you need to slay your print-on-demand business. Many Shopify Apps will help you boost your sales and bring them to a new level.

Feel free to sell many products via the print-on-demand business model, such as T-shirts, tote bags, mugs, pillows, towels, books, art prints, stickers, etc.

5) Sell Digital Products And Downloads

Another obvious answer to how to make money on Shopify is by selling digital products and downloads in your online store.

Any digital product you can think of can become an item for sale in a Shopify store. For example, you can start offering digital products such as e-books, PDFs, apps, stock photography downloads, games, etc.

By all means, Shopify will provide you with everything you might need to make more than a decent passive income and develop a reliable revenue stream from selling digital products:

As you already know, the platform offers easy integration with third-party apps and tools. Besides, Shopify has built-in SEO tools that will help you drive more traffic to your digital product listings – a win-win situation for all Shopify store owners and content creators.

See Also: How To Start Selling eBooks Online

6) Sell Your Services

More often than not, most people assume that Shopify is a suitable platform for selling only physical or digital products. But that’s not true:

Any freelancer service provider can list for sale in a Shopify store. This idea will work for freelance writing, graphic design, illustration, or web/app development.

Such a business (drop servicing) is easy to set up – Shopify is known for its ease of use, which will likely become even more prominent in the coming years.

7) Create And Sell Online Courses

Quite frankly, one might argue that an online course should belong to the category of a digital product. While I won’t disagree with such a statement, I’m giving the online course creation a separate paragraph for a reason:

Creating and selling an online course is one of the best ways to build a passive income stream (and begin making money while you sleep).

Chances are, there is at least one area where you have enough expertise to develop an online course.

Here is how to make money on Shopify by creating and selling an online course:

First, upload your course or tutorial as a restricted page on your blog. Then, start selling the membership to your target audience of potential customers who want to access your content on Shopify.

8) Start An Affiliate Marketing Business

start an affiliate marketing business on Shopify

There are two popular ways to make money on Shopify while using the affiliate marketing business model:

  • Create An Affiliate Marketing Program
  • Sell Affiliate Products

Whether you go with option one or option two is up to you.

With that said, don’t underestimate the power of affiliate marketing, especially if you combine it with the possibilities Shopify provides:

Nowadays, affiliate marketing is probably the most popular way to make money online – millions of people are earning an income as affiliate marketers.

If you want to do affiliate marketing but have no knowledge or experience with the business model, I recommend signing up for this free training.

How To Make Money On Shopify By Becoming A Shopify Affiliate

In addition to doing affiliate marketing, you can also become an affiliate of Shopify itself.

Have a look at how to become a Shopify affiliate and make money as a Shopify partner:

  • Join The Shopify Affiliate Program
  • Get your Shopify affiliate link
  • Start promoting Shopify to your audience
  • Earn a commission when a person buys a Shopify plan through your affiliate link

How can you ensure people will click and buy through your affiliate links? Let’s see a couple of ideas:

  • Write blog posts about Shopify and promote them on social media platforms to gain an online presence: Knowing how to dominate the search engines (Search Engine Optimization) is the best thing you can do to develop your own business as a Shopify affiliate.
  • Use multiple sales channels to increase your sales: Starting a YouTube channel where you can upload YouTube videos about Shopify is a great way to reach more loyal customers. I suggest doing market research before committing to a marketing strategy, such as building an email list and relying on email marketing to promote Shopify.

9) Monetize Your Social Media

Assuming some of you have a large following on social media, how do you feel about monetizing your influence? Believe it or not, monetizing a social media account is an incredible option for anyone researching how to make money on Shopify.

Think of monetizing your Social Media presence as working with an affiliate program:

It’s all about transforming your following into an income stream to your bank account.

The first Shopify Paid Business Plan (Shopify, not Shopify Plus) is a great option since it will allow you to use Call-To-Action buttons (Buy Now) on Facebook or Instagram posts.

10) Flip Shopify Stores

flip Shopify stores

I’ll push this article about how to make money on Shopify to a new level by talking about flipping Shopify stores for profit.

First and foremost, developing a Shopify shop you intend to flip later is a lot of hard work – you should know that from the start.

But you can make tons of money by flipping already-developed Shopify stores:

Flipping Shopify shops can earn you up to six figures in income!

Once you find a suitable store to buy, you can improve it by adding the right products (items in high demand) and optimizing its design and customer service before offering it for sale for a higher price.

11) Develop Shopify Apps Or Themes

Developing themes or apps is an alternative answer to how to make money on Shopify. Does this opportunity apply to you?

Assuming you have the necessary coding skills, app or theme development is a great idea. After all, creating products you can sell in the Shopify app store is one of the best Shopify business ideas.

Thousands (if not more) of Shopify business owners are willing to spend money on a Shopify theme or app that will improve their stores’ performance. These customers are to serve if you want to earn more than extra money through Shopify.

12) Create A Niche Product

Do you have a product idea that can make much noise online and attract the right customers? Transforming that idea into a product might be worth sacrificing your spare time:

A well-researched and developed niche product can bring you thousands of dollars in revenue monthly since such an item targets a specific audience and satisfies certain needs. Marketing and selling a niche product is a common way to make money on Shopify.

13) Become A Shopify Expert

Are you aware that Shopify does everything to help beginner sellers and store owners develop their online businesses? Here is what I’m talking about:

Shopify has customer places where shop owners can connect with the best experts who can assist them with enhancing different aspects of their businesses. Subject matter experts can offer branding, marketing, content writing, and other services to any store owner who needs them.

Offering such a subscription service happens online since the idea is to assist Shopify business owners worldwide, not just those living in the United States.

14) Set Up A Local Online Grocery Store

If you own a grocery shop, you can find more customers online by setting up a Shopify store. Take advantage of SEO, target profitable local keywords, and watch your sales explode!

15) Sell Merch To Your Fans

Are you popular on YouTube or a musician with fans? If you have a fandom, consider selling merch through Shopify so your fans can buy it.

How To Make Money On Shopify Dropshipping

So far, you have plenty of ways to make money on Shopify to consider.

Still, I would like to direct your attention to the most popular of these ways – earning money from dropshipping on Shopify.

Here is an in-depth explanation that will teach you how to do that:

1) Decide What Products To Offer In Your Own Store

Deciding what products to sell in your future Shopify store is an important step.

Check what kind of online stores are the most successful – pay attention to the products they’re selling. 

Future Shopify merchants should spend enough time on research and developing an effective marketing plan.

How To Choose Products To Sell

  • Evaluate The Size Of Your Potential Market: It’s a no-brainer that the market you’re going to target is not supposed to be too small.  
  • Stalk Your Competition: If your chosen market is more than profitable (and it better be), you won’t be the only one targeting it.  But don’t despair – Shopify has a whole chapter to help you beat your competition.
  • Sell Products That Are Not Available In Your Local Area: When the product you’ll be trying to sell is something people can buy from the nearby shop, you won’t make tons of sales.
  • Have a Clear Vision of Your Costs: Take the time to calculate your shipping costs.

2) Find The Best Products To Sell

Now, considering the topic today is how to make money on Shopify, allow me to give you the main answer:

You will not make much money on Shopify unless you roll up your sleeves and find winning products to sell in your store.

For instance, let’s say you would like to sell coconut oil.

Firstly, find out who your biggest competition is (the most popular online stores selling coconut oil). Secondly, explore these stores as if you are a regular customer:

What makes them successful?  Why are they so popular among their target audience?  And what’s their approach to marketing coconut oil?

Lastly, discover coconut oil on Social Media:

Who is doing an impressive job promoting this product on Social Media? Which coconut oil ad campaigns draw the most attention?

3) Buy Your Products

Finally, your store is ready to welcome your products!

At this point, only one question needs an answer – from where to buy them? These are the most popular dropshipping suppliers to choose from:

  • AliExpress
  • SaleHoo
  • Wholesale2B  
  • Dropship Direct
  • Sunrise Wholesale
  • MegaGoods

Generally, you can’t go wrong when working with any of these dropshipping suppliers.

4) Drive Traffic To Your Shopify Store

Here are some traffic sources that will help your online shop reach a wide audience:

  • SEO: Shopify has strong SEO features, such as meta tags and keyword selection.
  • Facebook Ads: You’ll need to create a Facebook Business Page for your Shopify store and learn about using Facebook Pixel.
  • Instagram: Many Shopify store owners rely on Instagram because they know the platform works well for that type of business.

Tips And Tricks To Consider While Learning How To Make Money On Shopify

1) Use The Best Shopify Apps

use the best Shopify apps

Starting an online business from scratch is a lot of work:

You’ll have plenty to do with your Shopify store to keep you busy. So, why shouldn’t you get a bit of help?

I’m talking about the best Shopify Apps available to business owners. Do your research and decide what Shopify Apps will best serve your business.

2) Upload High-Quality Product Images

When you have a Shopify store that offers products to sell, their images matter a lot:

Your product images must be clear and professional, and they should make your products even more desirable than they already are.

Also, take some extra time to work on your product descriptions. Write them in a way that will establish a strong connection with your target customers.

3) Provide Top-Notch Customer Service

Any successful Shopify business manages to attract a large pool of repeat customers. And how do you keep shoppers coming back?

Offering an outstanding shopping experience and customer service are the first things to do in that department.

Provide your shop visitors with an easy way to reach you when they have questions about the products. In addition, leave your contact information on your site or store so people can connect with you.

Is Shopify Profitable For Beginners?

Let’s look at the pros and cons of establishing a Shopify business, especially in the dropshipping field:

The Pros

1) The most trusted and popular platform to build an online shop

2) Shopify focuses on drop shipping, and that is more than a profitable way to do a legit online business

3) When building a store on Shopify, rest assured that this shop is pretty customizable 

4) Tons of valuable features and social media integration

5) Accepts all of the major credit cards

6) Easily connects with all of the biggest wholesalers 

7) 24/7 customer support and live chat

8) Offers a free plan, so you can test the waters before you decide to commit to it

9) Even the paid plans are affordable – the basic plan only costs $24 per month

The Cons

1) If you use too many dropshipping apps, it may get expensive, considering some of them have monthly fees

2) Transferring your online store won’t be an easy task because the themes only work for the Shopify platform

As you can see, Shopify is not a perfect platform.

Be that as it may, its advantages are still way more than the disadvantages.

Start Using Shopify Today

How To Make Money On Shopify FAQs

Can You Really Make Money On Shopify?

Nowadays, there are many ways to make money on Shopify.

For example, you can sell products/services, offer online courses, build a dropshipping business, or launch a clothing brand.

How Much Does The Average Shopify Store Make Per Month?

According to statistics, the average Shopify store makes around $2,000 monthly.

Of course, the amount of your Shopify earnings will depend on many factors, such as your niche, the products you sell, or how hard you work.

Is It Hard To Make Money On Shopify?

Starting a Shopify store means that you’ll be building an online business.

Turning a new online business into a profitable venture requires time, effort, and commitment.

Can I Make Money With Shopify With No Money?

The best way to make money with Shopify with no money is dropshipping.

Take advantage of the free trial and launch your Shopify dropshipping business for free.

My Closing

Hopefully, all your questions regarding how to make money on Shopify have their answers now.

By all means, building a profitable online store is not an easy task. However, that doesn’t mean starting a Shopify business is not worth your time and effort.

Do you have any thoughts on this topic?  

Feel free to share anything that’s on your mind in the comments section below.

More Lucrative Business Ideas To Consider

6 Comments

  1. Its a nice article. i agree with you. Ive heard some positive reviews about shopify and i will start recommending it

    1. I’m glad that you feel that way, Kevin.
      If you’re ready to start making money dropshipping and open your own online store, you can do better than Shopify.
      There is a reason why that platform is the leader in the field – it’s the best one there is.
      Best of luck moving forward with your business!

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