How to Build a $100k/Year Shopify Store

Selling your products online is a great way to scale your product-based business, and Shopify is the perfect platform if you're looking to have all the tools necessary to take in six figures a year with your online store.

With Shopify, you can create a professional-looking and high-converting eCommerce business with ease, and there are tons of tools and resources available to help you grow your business.

In this guide, we'll show you how to build a six figure Shopify store. We'll cover everything from setting up a profitable Shopify store to marketing your products, so read on and get started on your new store today!

Learn from your competition, but make it better

With any type of E-commerce store, it's important to learn from other Shopify store owners by studying what they're doing well and identifying areas where you can improve with your own store.

Also, you don't have to stick to your direct competitors—you can take a look at different dropshipping stores, the social media accounts of your competitors, or pretty much just any online business.

Make your online store stand out

However, it's also important to define what makes you stand out from your competition. This will help you to attract your ideal customers and build a loyal following.

This is especially important when you're first starting out as it can help you quickly gain ground in your industry amongst the sea of Shopify stores.

Questions to ask yourself about your eCommerce business

To do this, think about the following—what are your unique selling points? What can you do better than your competitors in order to give your store a leg up? Once you've answered these questions, you'll be in a strong position to succeed in your industry.

Choose the right apps for a six figure Shopify store

Shopify apps are a fantastic way to increase your revenue quickly. However, with so many options available, it can be difficult to know which ones to choose.

What to consider when choosing apps for your Shopify store

Some factors to consider include the price of the app, the app's features, and the app's reviews. By taking all of these factors into account, you can be sure to choose the right apps for your business and increase your revenue quickly.

Below are a few categories of apps that perform really well when it comes to building a successful store:

Upselling

Have you ever been to a fast-food restaurant and been asked if you want to "supersize" your order? That's an upsell.

This works because it's an offer for something that's closely related to what the customer is already buying, and it's usually presented at the point of purchase when they're already in a buying mood.

You can use these type of sales weapons to increase revenue on your Shopify store by using apps such as ReConvert or One-Click Upsell to upsell products.

In-cart upsells are a great way to increase your average order value because they're presented to the customer after they've already added an item to their cart and they're more likely to say yes at that point.

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is a great way to boost revenue on your Shopify store. Unlike email newsletters, these messages are opened and read almost immediately. This makes them an ideal way to offer discounts and recover abandoned carts.

SMS marketing apps such as Postscript and Privy make it easy to send bulk messages, and they also provide valuable insights into customer behavior.

With SMS marketing, you can target specific customers with personalized messages, making it more likely that they'll make a purchase.

Additionally, because SMS messages are so easy to read and reply to, you can quickly build rapport with your customers.

Subscriptions

If you're looking for a way to increase your recurring revenue on your Shopify store (we're all about that consistent cash flow!), installing an app that allows your visitors to subscribe to your products is a great option.

There are a number of subscription apps such as Recharge and Bold Subscriptions available that can help you set up subscriptions for your products or services.

Subscriptions are great because they allow you to provide your customers with a more convenient and hassle-free way to purchase your products or services on an ongoing basis.

In addition, subscriptions can help you save money on marketing and advertising costs by providing you with a built-in base of loyal and engaged customers.

Bundle Builders

If you're looking for a way to increase your average order value (AOV) on Shopify and get more sales, bundle builder apps are a great option.

These apps allow customers to build their own bundles of products, which can encourage them to add more items to their carts. They also make it easy for customers to find products that go well together, which can further increase your AOV.

An added bonus is that bundle builder apps can help you boost sales of slower-moving items by pairing them with popular items.

They may not be the best setup if you're a dropshipping store that has products coming from all over, but if your online store has its inventory management in one location, adding a bundle builder to your Shopify account can make your products sell even more.

Focus on a seamless user experience

Creating a seamless user experience for potential buyers is essential for any online business, particularly when you're trying to convince your users to purchase your product.

Selling products with a quality customer journey

Whether they're landing from one of your social media accounts or Google ads, it's extremely important to delight them with clear product images and a thorough product page, a fully responsive design if they're on mobile, and making all the steps to purchase clear and easy to follow.

Visitors should be able to easily find what they're looking for on your page in just a few minutes without getting frustrated.

You can help them along in their journey by being strategic about your navigation as well as having many opportunities for them to find what they're looking for as possible.

A fast site is also important—no one wants to wait around for a slow page to load. This will also help your site rank higher on search engines.

A super-clear Shopify store

Including a FAQ page is also super helpful in case visitors have any questions. This has the added benefit of reducing the amount of customer support interaction needed when it comes to answering your visitors' questions.

When it comes to product pages, think about how you're structuring them so that they're digestible, easy to navigate, and search engine friendly.

Nesting information in dropdowns using Shopify's new built-in Metafields feature is an awesome way of avoiding hitting your visitor with a wall-of-text product description.

By focusing on improving your user experience, you'll see the conversion rate of your Shopify website (and therefore profits!) grow.

Emphasize retaining customers

Something you should always keep in mind is that it costs MUCH more to attract and sell products to a new customer than it does to retain a current one.

And, not only is it more expensive to find new customers, but they also don't stick around as long as loyal ones.

That's why it's so important to focus on increasing customer lifetime value - making sure that your current customers are happy and keeping them coming back for more.

Making more money with loyal customers

Creating fans of your brand is essential to long-term success, as they're the ones who will spread the word and bring in new business. So, while it may be tempting to put all your energy into finding new customers, remember that retaining the ones you have is just as important—if not more so.

Below are a couple key areas to focus on in order to retain your best customers:

Customer Service

Good customer service is essential if you want to retain customers and create a good reputation (and therefore grow your revenue!).

Customers who have a positive experience with your company are likely to come back for more as well as recommend your brand to others. On the other hand, customers who have a negative experience with you are likely to never use the your products or services again and may warn others against purchasing from your brand.

Most people appreciate the extra mile

Good customer service involves creating a pleasant customer experience, being responsive to customer needs and complaints, and resolving issues in a timely manner.

Sometimes, it's better to just offer the refund with a smile rather than make someone angry about their experience (even if they're in the wrong).

A note if you're a dropshipping business

If you're a dropshipping business or you use a fulfillment company for inventory management, you'll want to pay even more attention to your Shopify store's customer service because you won't be able to inspect your physical products on your own before they're sent.

By making customer service a priority, you can create loyal customers who will continue to do business with them for years to come.

Email Marketing

There's no doubt that email marketing is one of the most powerful sales channels when it comes to retaining customers. Staying top-of-mind with your customers on a regular basis is key to keeping them engaged, and email is a great way to do that.

Offering special subscriber-only deals is a wonderful way to keep them coming back for more. By providing your customers with consistent communication and valuable offers, you'll be sure to keep them loyal for years to come and start selling products at a much higher rate.

Now, it's time to make your store!

So, there you have it! A comprehensive guide to starting and scaling your online store that brings in $100,000 or more in annual revenue.

Of course, these are just general tips for getting more sales and your mileage may vary, but if you follow the advice we’ve outlined here and put in the hard work, you should be well on your way to success with your Shopify store.