Understanding Shopify’s Versatility
So, you may be thinking what you can sell on Shopify. Before we dive in, Understanding Shopify’s Model is important. Shopify operates uniquely, offering a comprehensive platform for diverse business needs. From setting up an online store to sorting logistics, payments, and customer engagement, it’s a one-stop-shop solution.
Shopify is more than a sales platform. It’s a global e-commerce solution allowing individuals and businesses to create and customize their online stores. This versatility means that virtually anything can be sold, provided it complies with Shopify’s usage policies and local legal regulations. Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or an established business, the possibilities are endless.
So, What You Can Sell on Shopify?
In your Shopify store, the possibilities of listing your products are endless. Limits are bound to be as far as your eyes can go. You just have to stay inside of certain rules and regulations. Basically, you can sell almost anything you want. But to demonstrate what you can sell on the Shopify store, we have categorized the products into three main categories. Here, you will see the categories with some example products.
1.Physical products
Before setting up a store, often the starter thinks, “Can you sell physical products on Shopify?” The simple answer is ‘Yes!’ Not only does Shopify facilitate this, but it also provides a robust platform that makes the process seamless for various products.
Certainly, selling physical products on Shopify can be a highly rewarding venture if done right. Here are some concise tips to help you optimize your sales strategy on this platform:
- Optimize Product Listings: Use clear, high-quality images and detailed product descriptions. Highlight features and benefits to persuade potential buyers.
- Competitive Pricing Strategy: Research your competitors and understand market trends to set competitive prices. Factor in your costs, such as shipping, taxes, and Shopify fees, to ensure profitability.
- Offer Various Shipping Options: In the case of selling physical products in Shopify, you’ll have to handle the shipping process. Cater to diverse customer preferences by providing different shipping methods. Fast shipping, tracking services, and free shipping thresholds can enhance customer satisfaction and encourage repeat purchases. To take your loads off, you can make a deal with any shipping company you like. They’ll handle the rest.
- Utilize Upselling and Cross-Selling: Increase order value by offering related or complementary products. Use Shopify apps that allow automatic upselling and cross-selling at checkout or on product pages.
- Legal and Compliance Matters: Depending on what you’re selling, you’ll need to navigate various legal waters. This is especially pertinent for items like food, wine, CBD products, and others that are subject to regulatory oversight. Obtaining the necessary licenses and understanding the legalities will ensure your business operates within compliance and avoids potential pitfalls.
Product-Specific Tips for Physical products
Now, let’s break down the strategies based on specific products.
Food Products
The food industry is bustling online. However, selling food comes with responsibility. You’ll need to ensure proper food safety, list ingredients and allergens, provide best-before dates, and maintain excellent packaging to preserve freshness during transit.
Wine
Selling wine? Remember, this involves strict age restrictions and licensing. You’ll need to verify customers’ age and arrange specialized shipping, considering alcohol cannot be delivered as standard parcels. Engage your audience with rich stories behind each bottle, focusing on exclusivity and experience.
CBD Products
The CBD market is booming, but navigating the legal complexities can be challenging. Transparency is key. Provide lab results, detailed product information, and clear disclaimers. Educate your audience on the benefits and legality, building trust through knowledge.
Books
In the book market, it’s about connection and community. Offer bundles, signed copies, or reading accessories. Consider creating a blog for reviews and author interviews, and engage with book clubs and literary communities.
Baked Goods
For baked goods, presentation and freshness are everything. Invest in quality photography and detailed descriptions. Subscription models or next-day delivery services can set you apart. Remember, customer reviews will be your strongest marketing tool here.
Cars
This high-ticket category requires a strategy that builds serious trust. High-quality visuals, detailed service records, and transparent pricing are a must. Consider offering virtual appointments or at-home test drives. After-sales service is critical in this sector.
Pet Foods
The pet food sector demands a focus on health and nutrition. Be transparent about ingredients, sources, and health benefits. Collaborations with vets or pet influencers can boost credibility and trust.
Furniture
Selling furniture involves dealing with bulky items and potentially high shipping costs. Offering a range of products, from affordable to high-end, alongside detailed product dimensions, assembly instructions, and an easy return policy can alleviate customer hesitations.
2. Digital products
You can sell digital products on Shopify, and doing so can be a fantastic way to reach a larger audience, reduce overhead costs associated with physical products, and share your digital content, services, or products globally. Here’s how you can optimize your digital products’ sales on Shopify, specifically focusing on the categories you mentioned.
1. Setting Up Your Store:
a. Choose the Right Theme: Select a Shopify theme that complements digital products. You need clean, modern aesthetics and the ability to feature detailed product descriptions, images, and perhaps video content.
b. Implement Digital Download Apps: Shopify’s app marketplace has tools specifically for selling digital products. Apps like “Digital Downloads” can automate the process, providing customers with access to products immediately after purchase. These tools also handle updates to digital goods, sending out notifications to customers when there’s new content.
c. Optimize Product Pages: With digital goods, your product pages need comprehensive details since customers cannot physically inspect items. Include specifics about the content, file formats, sizes, and usage restrictions. High-resolution visuals or previews are also crucial.
2. Pricing and Policies:
a. Strategic Pricing: Digital items have different perceived values compared to physical goods. Factor in the cost of production, but also consider market rates for similar digital content. Sometimes, tiered pricing structures (offering basic to premium content) can cater to a wider range of customers.
b. Clear Return and Refund Policy: Since digital goods are intangible, they can’t be returned, but you can still offer refunds under specific circumstances. Be clear about your policy on your site to manage customer expectations.
3. Marketing and Promotion:
a. Content Marketing: Create blog posts, videos, and social media content about your products. How-to guides, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes looks can engage customers.
b. Social Proof and Reviews: Display customer testimonials, ratings, and reviews prominently. Positive feedback provides confidence to potential buyers.
e. Affiliate Marketing: Collaborate with bloggers, influencers, and websites that cater to your target market. They can promote your products in exchange for a commission on each sale through their referral.
4. Analytics and Improvement:
a. Track Performance: Use Shopify’s analytics tools or integrate with Google Analytics. Monitor your sales, but also track visitor behavior on your site to understand content performance.
b. Gather Customer Feedback: Regularly solicit feedback via surveys or direct communication to understand customer satisfaction and areas needing improvement.
c. Iterate and Optimize: Continuously update digital products based on user feedback, market trends, and technological advancements.
Selling digital products on Shopify can be highly rewarding. Still, it requires a thorough understanding of digital commerce, a strategic approach to customer service, and an ongoing effort in marketing and optimization to ensure sustainable success.
Product-Specific Tips for Digital products
Online Courses
In the field of online education, transparency and value perception are key. Begin by offering course previews or free trial lessons, allowing potential learners to understand the teaching style and course content. It’s crucial to establish credibility through detailed bios and authentic testimonials.
Bundle courses to provide a comprehensive learning trajectory at a discounted rate, enhancing the perceived value. Additionally, consider implementing interactive elements like quizzes, assignments, or forums to create a more engaging learning environment.
Subscriptions
For subscription-based services, clarity and exclusivity drive engagement. Clearly outline subscription benefits so that customers can understand the value proposition.
Introduce tiered subscription models, offering varied access levels at different price points to cater to a wider audience. Exclusive content or early access to new products can incentivize subscriptions, while free trials demonstrate confidence in your service’s value and encourage long-term commitments.
Maintain an open communication channel with subscribers, providing regular updates and responding promptly to inquiries to foster community and loyalty.
Videos
Selling video content, whether educational, entertainment or any other genre, requires a focus on quality and accessibility. Provide high-definition content and use compelling trailers or snippets to hook potential buyers.
Organize your videos into logical categories or series and offer package deals or bundles to increase sales. Accessibility is also key; ensure your content is viewable on multiple devices and consider adding subtitles or various language options.
Music
In the digital music landscape, discovery and sampling are vital. Offer previews of your tracks, helping buyers to explore and discover new music. Create collections and consider bundling albums or sets at a special price.
Exclusive behind-the-scenes content or liner notes can add value, and offering high-quality downloads in various formats caters to audiophiles and casual listeners alike.
Digital Art
Selling digital art requires a showcase of creativity and assurance of authenticity. Use high-quality images or virtual galleries to display art pieces and offer detailed descriptions, including the inspiration behind each piece.
Limited edition downloads or prints can heighten exclusivity. Consider partnering with digital certification providers to authenticate your digital art, providing certainty to buyers and potentially adding value to the artwork.
Apps
For app sales, functionality and user experience are paramount. Provide a comprehensive overview, including screenshots, feature lists, and video walkthroughs, to guide potential users through your app’s functionality.
User reviews and ratings display confidence in your product and provide social proof, encouraging new users to download. Regular updates showcasing commitment to improvements and new features also maintain ongoing user engagement.
E-books
E-books thrive on detailed descriptions and reader accessibility. Provide comprehensive book summaries, author bios, and reader reviews. Preview options, such as the first chapter or selected excerpts, allow readers to sample before purchasing. Bundling similar genres or series and offering various file formats increases accessibility and sales potential.
3. Services
Wondering if you can also sell services on platforms like Shopify? Absolutely, and not only can you, but you also should! Gone are the days when Shopify was a platform solely for selling physical or digital goods. Now, entrepreneurs and business moguls are expanding their horizons, tapping into the lucrative world of service sales.
Shopify extends beyond product-based models, welcoming service-oriented businesses with open arms. From appointment bookings to service subscriptions, the platform’s comprehensive features facilitate various service-based business functionalities.
Below, we look into a detailed guide offering strategic tips that can transform your Shopify store into a powerhouse for selling services.
1. Structuring Your Service as a Product
The initial step involves reimagining your services as products. In the Shopify environment, your services, whether coaching sessions, art commissions, or consultation appointments, must be packaged and presented with the same clarity and appeal as tangible products.
This involves creating service ‘products’ complete with high-resolution images (or icons) and comprehensive descriptions that outline the benefits, processes, and outcomes clients can expect. This strategy isn’t for show; it’s about translating the immaterial parts of your services into a format that online customers are accustomed to navigating.
2. Streamlining Appointment Bookings
For many service-based businesses, a critical conversion point is the booking of an appointment. Optimizing this process can significantly enhance the customer experience.
Incorporate a user-friendly booking system directly on your Shopify store, leveraging apps like ‘BookThatApp’ or ‘Sesami’ that allow customers to view available slots and book their appointments seamlessly. These apps integrate with your site, creating a unified customer journey from browsing to booking.
3. Customization is Key
For services offering personalized outcomes, such as custom artwork or personalized coaching plans, customer involvement in the creation process is a game-changer. Implement features that invite clients to share their preferences and desires.
For instance, interactive forms or questionnaires can guide clients through specifying their needs, ensuring the final service delivery meets their expectations precisely. This level of involvement doesn’t just personalize the outcome; it engages customers, making them invested.
4. The Power of Social Proof
Testimonials and reviews are the lifeblood of service-oriented businesses. New customers significantly rely on feedback from past clients in making their decisions.
Facilitate a review system where clients can easily share their experiences and ensure these testimonials are prominently displayed on your site. Beyond written reviews, consider sharing case studies or before-and-after stories, particularly for services that yield observable results.
5. Effective Communication Channels
The final piece of the puzzle is clear, open communication lines. Implement systems for prompt customer support — this could be a live chat, a dedicated support email, or even a hotline. An FAQ section can significantly reduce customer anxieties, answering common questions about your service process, refund policies, and what to expect.
Product-Specific Tips for services
You have to approach different types of methods and techniques in different types of Product’s or services that you offer. It varies which tips and techniques works based on the product and services. In this section, we’ve discussed few of the tips that we have applied in our clients store and they got dramatical improvement in sales and overall growth.
Online Coaching and Consultancy
1. Establishing Your Niche
Online coaching and consultancy thrive on expertise. Determine your unique selling proposition and establish yourself as an authority in your niche. What specific value will clients gain from choosing your services?
2. Key Strategies for Success
Utilize Shopify’s array of tools to create customized service listings, set appointment bookings, and manage consultations. Personalize your approach with live chats or webinars to provide real-time value, creating a loyal client base.
Event Planning and Catering
1. Making Your Mark
In a field as competitive as event planning and catering, differentiation is key. Showcase your portfolios with high-quality images and client testimonials directly on your Shopify store.
2. Innovative Selling Points
Use strategies like package deals, virtual consultations, and clear, competitive pricing displayed on your site. Remember, an event is a memory in the making; sell the experience, not just the service.
Custom Artwork and Personalization
1. Unleashing Creativity
Your Shopify store can act as a canvas for customers seeking unique, personalized creations. Offer customizations directly through product listings, making it easy for clients to envision the end product.
2. Customer Engagement and Retention
Use strategies like progress previews, direct artist communications, or post-purchase follow-ups. Engage with your customers throughout the creation process, building a community around your art.
Real Estate
1. Navigating a Different Terrain
Real estate on Shopify requires a distinct approach, focusing on digital showcases, virtual tours, and direct communication channels. Your storefront can facilitate customer inquiries, bookings for viewings, and even online contract initiations.
2. Adaptation and Digital Showcasing
Leverage high-quality imagery, video content, and client reviews to build a trustworthy online presence. Stay responsive and informative – your transparency is key in guiding clients through one of the biggest decisions of their lives.
Thank You
I want to thank you for reading this very in depth article about what types of products you can sell on Shopify. I’m pretty sure now you have a solid understanding about this topic. Starting a business in Shopify is somewhat easy but choosing the right product is not that easy at all. If you failed to chose the right product then your mind will be busy finding the answer of the question why is no one buying from my Shopify store.
So I will request you. target your audience, research on their taste and of course their purchasing ability and after carefully research, find the right product. Remember, Right product can make you a successful businessman on the other hand wrong product can cost you a lot.
In case you need any sort of help regarding Shopify. We are always there to guide you with the right expertise that can help you become successful in your Shopify Journey. So just ping us, rest will be taken care by us with utmost love, care and of course full of professionalism.
