I made a post about this a week ago to see if you guys were interested, but only now have I had time to sit down and write it properly.
In this first part, I’ll walk you through how to get started with Shopify as simply as possible — no tech background needed. Perfect for beginners!
1. What is Shopify? Why Choose It Over Other Platforms?
– What is Shopify?
In simple terms, Shopify is a platform that lets you build your own online store without needing to know how to code. Everything is handled through apps — just install what you need and you’re good to go. Even the more complicated stuff has step-by-step guides available right on Shopify.
– Why Shopify though?
Shopify is currently the #1 platform in the world for this type of eCommerce model. But that’s not the only reason I chose it. What really sold me is the fact that you don’t need any coding skills to create a professional-looking store. It’s perfect for people like me who are more into marketing than development.
I love models like this. As a total beginner, I was able to pick things up in 1–2 weeks just by playing around. It saves you so much time — and that means you can focus on growing your business instead of getting stuck setting things up.
– Does Shopify cost money?
Haha, of course it does 😆
The basic plan is $25/month. If you pay annually, it drops to $19/month.
Here’s the good news: Shopify gives you a $1/month trial for the first 3 months, which I think is a great deal to test things out and see if the platform fits your needs.
– AI Support Built Right In
This is actually the best time to get started with Shopify, in my opinion. Back in the day, you had to dig through docs or Google every little thing. Now, Shopify has integrated AI right into the admin dashboard. You can ask it anything — and it’ll not only give you the answer but also provide direct links to where you need to go.
I use this a lot, and honestly, it saves me so much time. Without it, I wouldn’t even know where to begin solving half the problems. (In Vietnam, platforms like Sapo have human support, but with Shopify, you’d often have to wait forever. So having AI? That’s like 80% of your issues solved already.)
2. What Beginners Should Do First on Shopify
– Step 1: Create a Shopify Account
Obvious one, right? 😆
Just Google “Shopify” and sign up for an account.
– Step 2: Start Simple with a Default Theme
For beginners, I recommend sticking with Shopify’s default theme to keep things easy. The real work you need to do first is setting up your Excel sheet:
- Base cost
- Selling price
- Shipping cost
- Payment gateway fees
I usually add about 10% margin on top of the selling price before putting the product on the site.
From my experience running two global Shopify stores, that Excel file is your lifesaver when it comes to listing products efficiently. Otherwise, you’ll be uploading everything manually — easy to mess up, and hard to manage later.
– Why add 10%?
Mainly because payment processors like PayPal take about 7%, and when you convert the funds back to local currency, you’ll lose a bit more due to exchange rates . So 10% is a safe buffer.
👉 Pro tip: If you want to lower PayPal fees from 7% to around 4.4%, change your store location to the U.S. I only found this trick while setting up my U.S.-based LLC and using Shopify Payments. Fees are much higher when your store is based.
– Step 3: Buy a Domain Name
You probably know more about domain names than I do, but for the record — I bought mine on cloudflare.com for about 11$/year . Setup was super easy and it connected to Shopify smoothly. (And again, if you get stuck, just ask Shopify’s AI.)
With Shopify, you only need to buy the domain — you don’t need to worry about things like hosting. Just grab a domain and you’re good to go.
That’s already quite a lot for someone who’s just starting out, so I’ll stop Part 1 here.
In Part 2, I’ll go into how to set up payment gateways and all the details around that. If you’re interested, drop a comment 😄
