How to make money on Shopify is the first search term that comes to mind who want to start an e-commerce business. This shows the huge impact of Shopify on the minds of entrepreneurs.
Do you want to pay off your debt? Or
Want to earn passive income? Or
Keen to boost your income for a family vacation? then you should consider starting an online store on Shopify.
Watch Summary Below – How to Make Money on Shopify
- What is Shopify?
- Why to Use Shopify?
- HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH SHOPIFY
- METHOD 1. START YOUR ONLINE STORE
- METHOD 2. SHOPIFY DROPSHIPPING BUSINESS
- METHOD 3. SHOPIFY PRINT ON DEMAND STORE
- MEHTOD 4. SELL YOUR ART ONLINE
- METHOD 5. START YOUR BOUTIQUE
- METHOD 6. SELL DIGITAL PRODUCTS
- METHOD 7. LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE COURSE
- METHOD 8. PUBLISH YOUR BOOK
- METHOD 9. LOCAL ONLINE GROCERY STORE
- METHOD 10. BECOME AN AFFILIATE
- Wrap-up
What is Shopify?
Shopify is an online market that facilitates sellers to open their shops, list products, and accept payment from buyers who visit Shopify from all over the world and buy stuff.
The most significant advantage of Shopify is that it allows merchants to customize their stores without the need for coding or design skills.
It includes everything you need to create a shop, display products online, track your inventory, accept all kinds of payments, calculate shipping and tax rates, and much more. This is the service that you, as a user, pay for and receive.
Interesting Stats About Shopify
The following facts and stats about Shopify are so amazing that they will blow your mind:
- Over 1 million stores
- Used by more than 1.7 million businesses
- Attracts more than 218 million buyers
- Users spread over 175 countries
- Having More than 7000 employees

- Creates $5 billion in sales per year
- Shopify merchants processed $ 1.073 billion in orders in 2018.
- Over 1.7 million merchants use Shopify for creating their online stores.
- More than 3000 apps are supported by Shopify.
Why to Use Shopify?
Before going to the topic ‘How to make money on Shopify’, it is essential to understand the benefits of Shopify over other e-commerce platforms.
Setting up and running a Shopify business is very simple and pain-free for sellers.
It only takes a few steps to upload a product, and you can monitor product inventory immediately from the site.
Moreover, because the Shopify platform streamlines all of the technology required to process payments, you won’t have to manage any of it.
There are no maintenance charges because it is a cloud service. You also don’t consider its uptimes or performance. It offers a 99.99 percent uptime ratio and super-fast speeds practically anywhere on the earth.
Some other benefits of using Shopify are:
- Easy and simple to use
- 100% customizable
- Just connect domain name to start
- SSL certificate for free (makes your website secured)
- Payment gateway built-in (to collect payment)
- Several local languages are supported.
- Built-in email templates (for order-related matters like confirmation, cancellation or refund)
- SEO-optimized
- Coupons and gift cards are accepted.
- Calculate taxes automatically
- Supports an infinite number of items
- Facebook Shop and Amazon are both integrated.
- Unrestricted bandwidth (means an infinite number of users can visit your store)
- Hosting is provided (don’t require a third-party hosting service.)
- Customer support 24×7
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH SHOPIFY
There are many ways you can use to make money with Shopify. You can sell a wide range of products and services like clothing, cosmetics, services, consulting, arts and much more.
Before you set up your Shopify store, it’s essential that you should know that there are several ways to monetize the platform. Here are the 10 most popular methods of how to make money on Shopify.
METHOD 1. START YOUR ONLINE STORE

Shopify makes it easy and anyone can set up their online store quickly and easily. Opening a store on Shopify is a hassle-free and easy process.
You can sell almost anything – whether it is something you have made yourself, or something you are selling again or a service you offer.
Shopify has a simple platform for you to add items, customize them and make your customers check them out easily. Shopify provides an easy platform for you to add items, curate them, and have your customers check out quickly.
How to Start an Online Store From Scratch
1. Sign up and Get a Free 14-Day Trial
If you are new to Shopify, this 14-day trial is a blessing that you can test drive the platform without paying anything. Fill in some basic details and you’ll be good to go.
2. Your Store Name – An Important Factor for How to Make Money on Shopify
After signing up, you’ll be asked to enter your store name. Your store name is your brand identity, so it’s better if you have done your homework and finalize a list of a couple of names beforehand.
Remember that your store name must be related to your product.
The store name you select will appear as: https://yourstorename.myshopify.com. The name once selected, can’t be undone, so put some effort into finding the ideal name.
However, later you can buy a custom domain for your store.
3. Select Your Theme and Customize
Shopify offers free and paid themes, and you can use them without any coding or techy stuff.
Don’t waste your time in search of a perfect theme, as you can do this any time.
Click the customize button to modify the display as you like.
4. Add Products to Store
How to add products to Shopify seems a big question for beginners. So, the step by step process to add products on Shopify is as under:
- Login to your shopify store.
- On the navigation menu, go to ‘Products’.
- Click Add Product.
- Enter a title for your product.
- Write details about your products like product description, product images, product variants, inventory, pricing, shipping information, etc.
- Click ‘Save’.
5. Essential Pages
About us, Contact us, FAQ and Policy Pages are considered essential and you should prepare them beforehand.
6. Payment Gateway – How to Make Money on Shopify
I know you are waiting for this section keenly. Being humans, we have a natural curiosity about how we get paid.
Go to Settings > Payments to set the payment gateway.
Shopify has its own payment gateway, but you can also select third-party payment gateways. What you should note is:
Payment modes
Types of cards accepted
Shopify transaction charges
Third-party fees per transaction
7. Shipping & Taxation
How to make money on Shopify can’t be answered fully without shipping and taxation details.
Go to Settings > Shipping and enter all details related to delivery.
You know this is some serious and legal stuff so you have to be extra cautious while filling up all these details. These affect your product cost and sale price.
For tax purposes, your company will require a federal tax ID or an EIN (Employer identification number).
You can also use your social security number (but only if you are a sole proprietor). You can file periodic sales tax returns using your federal tax ID, EIN, or SSN.
You must also file personal income tax returns once a year. The earnings from your internet store will be your own earnings (if you are a sole proprietor).
TaxJar is a fantastic app that can sync with your online Shopify business and prepare tax returns with a few clicks.
METHOD 2. SHOPIFY DROPSHIPPING BUSINESS
Shopify Dropshipping is a simplified business model, where you are free from worries of inventory, warehouse, and shipping or delivery of orders.
Using an online platform like Shopify, you just set up an online store and that’s it. You outsource the packaging, fulfillment and delivery of orders to dropship suppliers.
What is Dropshipping?
It’s as simple as ABC.
Say, you have a coffee bean Shopify store. You get an order, and the order is automatically forwarded to your supplier.

Your supplier prepares the product, does packaging, labeling and then ships the order. You then receive the net profit, after payment of product cost and fulfillment cost.
Benefits of Shopify Dropshipping
Remove entry barriers and anyone with a low budget can now open and run a business.
Less investment is required as compared with opening a real physical store.
Just need to set up an online store and visitors.
Hassle-free. No physical warehouse required; no stock maintenance and inventory management headache; no packaging or labeling tasks; no delivery issues.
Not capital intensive – as major tasks are to be done by suppliers and you have to pay them once cash is received from customers.
Freedom of location. Run your business on the laptop while resting on a beach or from the café.
How to Dropship on Shopify?
1. First, register your account on Shopify. To remove all the barriers, Shopify offers a 14-day free trial for new users.
2. Next, from your store dashboard, go to ‘Visit Shopify App Store’ and search for Oblero. Oblero is an app from where you easily search and add dropshipping products to your store.
Other than Oblero, Spocket and AliExpress are other apps available on shopify app store.
3. On Oblero, search for products you like and click on ‘Add to Import List’.
4. Customize product description, categories, and other details. Click the checkbox on the top to import these products to your store.
5. Then customize your theme and set up payments.
METHOD 3. SHOPIFY PRINT ON DEMAND STORE

Print on Demand is a modified form of dropshipping, making it easier to start and simpler to operate. The only difference in dropshipping and POD is that the products sold here are related to printing mostly.
The products where print on demand is used are commonly these:
- Mugs
- T shirts
- Art prints
- Gift cards
- Stickers
- Towels
- Books
- Accessories
How does it work?
Say, you design quotes on T-Shirts or write messages to Dads on mugs using software like photoshop, canva or GIMP.
When a customer buys a product on your Shopify store, the order is immediately sent to your printing partner (like Printful or Printly).
These companies stock the products (T shirts, mugs, or cards), print the ordered design, and ship the product on your behalf.
As in dropshipping, you don’t need to bear warehouse expenses, buying printing machines, or shipping headaches.
Here’s How to Make Money Online on Shopify With POD Business
– Integration with the leading Print on Demand companies, such as Printful, Printify, Custom Cat, and 24+ more Print on Demand apps, is simple.
– Free print-on-demand themes and templates to help you develop a gorgeous print-on-demand store.
– Buy Button allows merchants to create embeddable product cards and checkout forms that can be placed on any type of website (so if you already have a website and don’t want to start another Shopify store, Buy Button is your ideal solution).
– Another efficient way that many store owners use to increase sales is to use popups to collect email leads or to provide coupons and discounts.
Popupsmart is an amazing (free) solution for creating a popup with powerful targeting features. It will not require any coding to be implemented in your store.
MEHTOD 4. SELL YOUR ART ONLINE

Monetize your creative mind and aesthetic sense with Shopify store.
Yes, having an online Shopify store means you can turn your passion for art and craft into a durable and sustainable earning source.
If you have skills like..
- Glass painting
- Photographer.
- Fiber work.
- Flower crafts
- Pencil portrait
- Painting.
- Leather work.
- Houseware.
- Fashion.
- Needlework.
- Paper crafts.
You can monetize your masterpieces with your Shopify store and use Printify or Printful for packaging and shipment.
How Artists Make Money on Shopify?
As an artist, you can now brand your artwork with your own name.
With an online store, you can showcase your artwork easily. It eliminates the need for a gallery as a middleman, allowing all proceeds to be sent directly into your bank account.
Additionally, marketing your art online is significantly easier and cheaper, compared to traditional means.
Being online, the presentation of your store is critical, and Shopify can help you with that.
METHOD 5. START YOUR BOUTIQUE

Despite an 8.59 percent decline in compound annual growth rate due to Covid, the worldwide fashion eCommerce industry is predicted to recover to $672.71 billion in 2023, reported by Business Research Company.
Due to high-profit margins, clothing and apparel are the most popular product category on Shopify.
So, if you’re passionate about fashion and clothing and thinking about opening an online boutique, go ahead and do it!
Here’s How to Make Money on Shopify With Clothes and Accessories
1. Find a suitable theme for your clothing store. Brooklyn theme is free, while Gemini ($45) and Impulse ($180) are paid.
2. Add your products and collections. Set up variants like sizes and colors for customers to give more choice.
3. Build a captivating homepage. People like to view gorgeous photos when they browse at a fashion store. Showcase your best-highlighted collections, equipped with breathtaking product images, right on the homepage.
4. Use plugins like Oberlo, or Printify, or Printful. Each of these plugins handles each and every step of fulfillment, giving you freedom from all headache of manufacturing, inventory, and shipment.
You are free to focus on just one thing: creating an awesome design!
After creating a design, you just upload your design to any of these apps.
So, when a buyer purchases a product from your store, the order is automatically directed to these companies and they manufacture the product, do packaging, and then ship the product to the customer address, later deducting their charges from the payment.
It’s that easy!
METHOD 6. SELL DIGITAL PRODUCTS

Starting a Shopify store and selling digital products and downloads is a great idea for making money on Shopify. There are lots of varieties of digital products like..
- Podcasts
- Apps
- Software
- Themes
- E books
- Games
- Plugins
- Online courses
- Photos
- Songs
How does it work?
Go to product settings and in ‘Add the Product’ select the option of Digital Downloads.
Include an attachment to your product.
After your customers purchase the digital items, the attached files will be available for download.
Benefits of Digital Products
Low entry barrier as you don’t have to invest thousands of dollars in manufacturing.
Digital products and downloads are created only once and then they can be sold millions of times.
No worries of product stock, inventory management.
Instant downloads; no shipping required.
METHOD 7. LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE COURSE

Everyone has a unique set of skills and enjoys novel passions. We all have expertise and knowledge on the topics we love.
Here I don’t mean technical or professional degree-level knowledge, but general and daily life kind of knowledge. If I am a dog owner for 10 years, then surely, I can guide a teenager having his first dog, and facing different dog issues.
- Teaching Excel
- iOS apps
- Creating monthly budgets
- Running Facebook ad campaigns
- Social media marketing
- Music classes
- Handwriting
- Digital marketing
- Funnel building
- Piano or Guitar Lessons
- Computer languages
- Photoshop
- Web development etc
With shopify, you can launch your online courses on the topics you have some expertise in and start earning passive income.
Yes, it takes some time and energy to write scripts and record videos, but with this one-time effort, you would start making passive income over and over again. It’s the best model for earning passive income.
How does it work?
Brainstorm a topic
Create course outline
Search online and check courses on Udemy
Write video script – one topic for one video
Use free apps like screenflow or screen cast-o-matic to record videos
Install free video editing software like Filmora or Filmforth
Integrate With Course Platforms
Once your video courses are ready, go to the online courses platform. These platforms help you build the sales page of your course, select payment modes, and finally upload your videos.
The best three online course platforms are Kajabi, Teachable, and LearnWorlds. Before selecting a platform, ensure that it can be integrated with your Shopify store.
METHOD 8. PUBLISH YOUR BOOK

Have you ever dreamed to be a writer?
The online world opens the doors wide open for anyone passionate about writing to be an author in a deadly-easy way
It doesn’t matter if it’s a recipe and cookbook, a romantic novel, or a web development guide, or a children’s handwriting book, there are lots of options for self-publishing your work successfully.
While Amazon is there for self-publishing books for over a decade, but authors are looking for alternatives. The main reason is that as an author, you can make five times the amount you’re making on Amazon if you switch to Shopify.
You have 2 options:
You opt for selling your book physically. If you remember, this relates to the Print-on-Demand case I discussed above. Accutrack, Blurb and Lulu Direct are the apps that are integrated with Shopify and provide printing and book fulfillment services, allowing you to enjoy only writing with a mug of coffee.
The second option is that you prefer to sell digital books or ebooks.
If you want to learn how to make money on Shopify with used books, then follow the steps described below.
1. Go to your Shopify store.
2. From the dashboard, click Apps > Visit Shopify App Store
3. In the search bar, write ‘Digital Downloads’
4. Click ‘Add App’ and then on the next screen, click ‘Install App’.
5. The best 3 apps are DigitalDownloads, Sky Pilot, SendOwl. You can select any one of them.
After adding your ebook to the Shopify store and after writing the product title and description, click ‘More Options’ under the product title – and select ‘Add Digital Attachment’ there.
Next, you have to upload your file which is then available to customers, as soon as they make payment of book.
Publishing your own book would never be that easy!
METHOD 9. LOCAL ONLINE GROCERY STORE

According to Insider Intelligence, by the end of 2024, 55 percent of US consumers would purchase groceries online.
So, when everything in life is going digital and people prefer to shop online, then you can also facilitate your customers to shop your products anytime by opening an online version of your grocery store.
Online stores and smartphone applications are assisting small grocery shop owners in reaching 70% more customers and generating an astonishing but actual 48 percent more revenue than before.
Check out some of the companies listed below:
– Sellers of dried fruits
– Sellers of organic vegetables and vegetables
– Organic Fruit and Fruit Sellers
– Seller of bakery goods
– Meat vendor
– Seller of milk and milk products
– Owner of a large grocery shop
Here’s how you can set up and start selling your products online:
Customers would come to your business and find desired products.
Customers select their preferred payment method as well as how they want their order delivered—via no-contact delivery or shop pick-up.
You receive the order and begin preparing it (as per requirements).
If the consumer chooses store pick-up, they will drive by your store and pick up the order on the date they specified.
If it is doorstep delivery, your delivery partner will pick up the order from your store and deliver it to the consumer.
Local retailers may increase their visibility on search engines like Google by providing their locations on maps, store hours, and information in snippets, and so on.
Keep in mind that choosing SEO keywords specific to your region can help you reach an even larger audience. Popups with geolocation targeting are also beneficial for converting existing traffic from the local area into sales or email leads.
METHOD 10. BECOME AN AFFILIATE
The last method is a bit simpler. Join the Shopify Affiliate Program and become an affiliate.
If you have a medium to large follower base on your blog, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, or on other social media, you can refer them to Shopify. You receive commissions when your audience registers a paid Shopify business plan.
Obviously, the more people you bring into Shopify’s platform, the more you’ll earn.
This affiliate program is a gold mine for influencers, educators, content producers, and people who want to inspire audiences and encourage them to start their own businesses using Shopify.
Wrap-up
I tried my best to explain in detail all the methods and strategies for how to make money on Shopify.
Just keep in mind that building a brand or starting an online business takes time, knowledge, research, and marketing. Before diving into the realm of e-commerce, make sure you have a solid business plan and marketing strategy in place.
If you are a beginner and want to earn some cash fast, then check out this simple program where you earn $35 to $50 for just posting on Facebook and Twitter.
Do you have any other ways of making money on Shopify? It would be great for our collective learning if you share your experiences in the comments section below!