If you’re skilled enough to be able to produce sought-after handmade items you might be keen to get your goods for sale online.
But choosing the right platform to launch your online store is essential and going with the wrong one could seriously set you back.
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Is Shopify Good for Handmade Items?
Yes, Shopify is good for selling handmade items. With Shopify, it’s easy to get your handmade store set up and looking professional, it integrates easily with other platforms like Facebook and Amazon, there are loads of apps to expand the functionality of your store and they offer 24/7 live support.
They have a help center for FAQs and guides on how to get your handcrafts business up and running.
You can also connect with other craft store owners on the Shopify discussion forums to discuss how to brand and market your store.
Shopify is also good to help you build a unique store that stands out with over 70 responsive and customizable themes.
There is also an all-in-one dashboard where you can fulfill orders, keep track of inventory, and view your customers’ history.
It’s a seller-friendly website that helps people build their online businesses.
You’ll find almost anything for sale through Shopify companies.
From useful sales tools that help you manage your shop to the lack of restrictions on what you can sell, Shopify has the growth of your store in mind.
How Can Shopify Help Me Sell Handmade Items?
Shopify is an online platform that helps entrepreneurs who want to start their own businesses do so with the support of an online community of experts.
They provide an online space for you to build and grow your business with their design and sales tools to back you up.
Shopify gives store owners the freedom to sell any type of handmade item they want.
You have the choice of selling your handmade goods on your website, through social media, in online marketplaces, in person, or a combination of these.
Related Article: Is Shopify Right For Restaurants? (All You Need To Know)
It’s Easy To Get Your Store Fully Set Up And Looking Great
Even if you don’t have any experience, it’s easy to choose a free quality theme and get your handmade items listed for sale in a professional-looking online store.
Trying to set up your own store selling handmade goods on platforms like wordpress.org can turn into a total nightmare if you don’t have lots of experience.
The free themes on Shopify are super high quality and look professional so you won’t need to spend additional money on design early on.
There is also a ton of information and guides on the site to help you out with any issues you might be having when getting things set up.
There’s also Shopify University where you can learn about marketing and far more than just the basics of setting your store up.
There Are Loads Of Apps To Help You Expand
Once your store is established on Shopify, you’re going to realize that the theme you are using has some limitations and there is additional functionality that you need for your business.
When this happens, the Shopify App Store will have you covered.
Whatever functionality you can dream up that your store may need, there will literally be an app for that in the app store.
Shopify Integrates With Other Popular Platforms
If in the future you want to expand and sell your handmade products on Facebook, Amazon, eBay, etc., you’ll be glad to know that Shopify integrates with all of these platforms plus more to make selling your catalog of handmade items on other platforms easy.
It’s Easy To Offer Discounts
Offering various discounts and promotions is easy and built right into the functionality of Shopify.
You can easily set up buy-one-get-one-free promotions or discounts for people who buy in bulk and other discount types.
Shopify Can Handle High Volumes Of Customers
This might not be something you are considering if you’re just getting started.
But hopefully, one day soon, your handmade items will be a big hit and your online store will be receiving a flood of daily traffic.
When this is the case, Shopify will be able to handle the extra numbers of customers landing on your product pages.
Whereas, if you built your store on WordPress, using the cheapest hosting plan you could find, higher volumes of traffic could cause your store to crash regularly.
What kind Of Handmade Items Can You Sell with Shopify?
You can sell virtually anything through your online business when you build with Shopify.
All of your handmade items have a place if you create a business on or switch a business over to Shopify.
Are There Shopify Tools to Help Me Sell Handmade Goods?
Shopify has a whole “Launch Your Crafts Career” page full of tools to help you get your handmade items business off the ground.
You’ll find free guides that teach you about managing your business.
You can even connect with other craft business owners for advice.
The platform has website design built into your membership.
There are more than 70 themes to choose from and you can customize each of them for your unique business.
You’ll learn about creative marketing and how to use your social media accounts to grab the attention of potential customers for your handmade goods.
Shopify shares strategies for using promotional tools to boost your sales, also.
You get the support of a whole team of experts who are available around the clock.
Reach out online, by email, or by phone for help with any issue you come across.
Is Shopify Just Like Etsy For Selling Handmade Products?
Shopify is not the same as Etsy.
Yes, many business owners sell handmade items on Etsy.
But, here’s a little fact for you.
Data from recent years shows that Shopify business owners have sales dollars totaling more than 27 times the sales of Etsy sellers.
Want to know why?
How Is Shopify Different than Etsy?
The sales are different because
the platforms don’t work the same way.
Shopify helps you set up and then sets you apart from your competition.
Etsy Provides Traffic But It Is Competitive
Etsy helps you set up, too, but you’re “shop” is positioned within an online marketplace right beside many other sellers where it can be hard to differentiate your online shop from others.
Shopify Doesn’t Place Restrictions On What You Can Sell
Shopify also doesn’t place restrictions on your business as Etsy does.
That makes it easier for you to grow your business into something larger.
If you want to add a different product line, you can.
Etsy may tell you no to things you want to add because they only allow craft supplies, handmade items, and vintage items to be sold on their site.
Fees
Fees are different with Shopify, as well.
You can try the platform free most of the time, but there’s a membership fee after that.
You can choose from basic, regular, or advanced options.
Etsy has a different setup.
You’ll pay listing fees per item, transaction fees, processing fees, and potentially offsite ads fees.
Tools And Support
One more huge difference between these two platforms comes in the form of the tools available to business owners.
Shopify is at the top of the industry when it comes to tools and support for sellers.
Is Shopify Or Etsy Cheaper For Selling Handmade Goods?
Etsy may seem inexpensive with their small listing prices, but these costs and other additional fees soon begin to add up and can eventually outweigh the cost of a Shopify subscription (especially if you build up a large shop with lots of sales and inventory)
Etsy transaction fees run at about 5% on each product you sell and there is also a $0.20 listing fee.
Shopify’s most basic plan starts at around $29 per month, with a 2.9% (or about 30 cents) fee per transaction.
Where Are The Customers For Your Shopify Store Going To Come From?
Marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon come with their customer base for you to tap into through paid advertising or free organic search optimization.
When you set up your handmade store on Shopify, there’s no preexisting audience for you to leverage so it’s important to consider where your customers are going to come from.
Whatever you’re trying to sell, your options for traffic are varied and fairly standard.
Do lots of research first to find out the platforms that similar shops to yours are finding the most success on.
I would advise organic search (blogging) and one social media platform (Pinterest or Facebook) to start.
Shopify allows you to build a blog right into your online store.
Social Media Traffic (Free And Paid)
You can set up social media accounts and promote your handmade products by building up a following and posting regularly to your chosen social media channels.
You could also jump into paid advertising on social media.
This will get you instant traffic and save you loads of time by not having to build up an organic following, but it is not advised for beginners as you can quickly run into losses.
Search Engine Traffic (Free And Paid)
To acquire free customers from search engines like Google, you will need to set up a blog, find low competition keywords related to the handmade products you are selling, and write articles that link over to your products’ sales pages.
Like other free traffic methods, this will take a massive time commitment but shouldn’t be too much of a burden on your finances.
Just like with social media, you can potentially speed up the process with pay-per-click advertising but this, too, can quickly start running into losses.
Unless you have a bottomless budget, it’s always best to gain customers through free, organic methods first.
Then, once you learn how to effectively drive free traffic from a certain platform, you can venture into paid advertising with more confidence and experience.
Stick to mastering only one or two platforms at a time so that you don’t become overwhelmed.
Is Shopify The Cheapest Option To Sell Your Handmade Items Online?
Shopify is not the cheapest option for selling your handmade goods online.
By using wordpress.org, cheap hosting, a free theme, and free plugins, you could certainly get your store open with less expense.
But without a ton of WordPress experience, this would be a tall order and would take many hours of work.
Even then, your store probably wouldn’t work properly and would be looking pretty far from the way you’d like it to.
Final Thoughts
Shopify is good for selling handmade items and you won’t be restricted to certain kinds of products if you want to branch out further.
You’ll have the support of teams of experts ready to help you at any hour of the day or night.
You’ll have your separate website that can stand on its own.
And you won’t have to pay to list your items right next to similar craft stores in a saturated online marketplace.
Just don’t forget about where your customers are going to come from.
