How to Create the Best Shopify Store in 2025: A Guide for Businesses

How to Create the Best Shopify Store in 2025: A Guide for Businesses

Are you looking to create a Shopify store in 2025? If the answer is yes, then you have come to the right place.

Launching an online store can be a pretty daunting task, there are a multitude of things to plan and consider when deciding to create an online store such as website development, store design, domain hosting, security, product shipment, online payment, and much more. Furthermore, even if you manage to successfully launch an online store, running the online store smoothly is a whole different story because you will have to deal with orders, finances, inventory, marketing, sales, returns, refunds, etc.

Luckily, there are a number of e-commerce platforms available these days that make creating, designing, and managing an online store a very easy task. Moreover, these platforms provide you with everything you need in one platform. In addition, these e-commerce platforms allow you to: 

1. Create a Website
2. Design a StoreFront using Various Themes and Templates
3. Display your Products 
4. Set Prices, Shipping Fees, and Taxes
5. Receive and Manage Orders
6. Ship Products
7. Accept Online Payments

As you can see, an e-commerce platform is surely the easy route to creating an online store. Moreover, there is one e-commerce platform that has proven not only to be popular and reliable, but also extremely easy to use even for non-tech people, and this e-commerce platform is Shopify.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is an all-in-one e-commerce platform that provides you with everything needed to run an online store, from web hosting, store designs, site security, product displays, and shipping to online payment methods, etc. Shopify will have you covered for every aspect of running an online store. Furthermore, they even have an app store where you can get additional plugins, free or paid, that will add more functions and features to your Shopify store so that you can have the best Shopify store in 2025 ever.

Shopify is also one of the most secure platforms to launch your best Shopify store in 2025 since only people with access to your credentials will be able to access your Shopify account.

Creating a Shopify store in 2025 is a fairly simple task, however, to create the best Shopify store you will no doubt need a bit of guidance especially if you are new to e-commerce. Therefore, we have put together a comprehensive guide that will show you 9 steps on how to create the best Shopify store in 2024.

Table of Contents:

First things first, to have the best Shopify store in 2025 you will first need a Shopify account, obviously. Furthermore, another positive thing about Shopify is that you can get a 14-day free trial before committing to any subscription plans. Moreover, with the free trial, you can begin setting up your store, get a feel of how Shopify works, and at the end of the trial you can choose to go for one of Shopify’s payment plans.

Shopify Pricing Plans

Shopify has 5 subscription plans that you can choose from to run your best Shopify store in 2025, each plan comes with a variety of features and functions with the more expensive plans having the best features and functions. The 5 Shopify subscription plans are:

1. Shopify Lite for  $9/month – Shopify Lite is the cheapest plan for people who want to add basic e-commerce features to their existing website.
2. Shopify Basic for $29/month – The most basic Shopify plan that allows you to create an online website and begin selling.
3. Shopify for $79/month – This mid-level plan is perfect for people who want all the basic Shopify features, and the ability to scale their business to larger volumes.
4. Advanced Shopify for $299/month – The most advanced plan on Shopify that gives access to advanced features, and enables your store to be ready for fast growth
5. Shopify Plus starting at $2000/month – This is a custom plan for high-volume businesses for which you pay according to your requirements. The more requirements you need the more you will need to pay.

For a full list of all the features included in each plan please visit the Shopify pricing page.

Getting Started

Now that you have a good understanding of Shopify’s free trial and pricing plans, it’s time to set up your Shopify account, so head on over to the Shopify website and please follow the below steps:

1. Firstly, click on the “Start Free Trial” Button

2. On the next page, you will be asked to enter your email, a password, and your store name to start the free trial. Fill in this information and click on “Create your store”. Note: try a different store name if you get an error message “a store with that name already exists”

3. Next, you will be asked to answer something simple about yourself, you can answer these questions or choose to skip them.

4. Next, you will be asked to add a business address, On this page you will be asked to provide your address, name, phone number, city, zip code, etc. Fill in the information required.

5. Lastly, you will be taken to the main dashboard of your Shopify Store where you can manage every aspect of your online business from website design to receiving payments.

Congratulations! You are now an official owner of a Shopify store in 2025. However, the store still needs some work, to make your best Shopify store you will need to:

1. Add a store theme
2. Add your products with prices and descriptions
3. Customize your storefront
4. Install some essential apps
5. Add shipping options
6. Setup payment gateways
7. Setup Shopify POS

In the upcoming sections, we will tell you exactly how you can do all of these 7 steps.

Step 2: Selecting the Best Theme for Your Shopify Store in 2025

Now that you have a Shopify store, it’s time to select a theme for your store. 

A theme is what will set your store apart from the rest. In addition, a theme is a way to express your values and motivations to your customers, and it’s an excellent way to showcase your brand image. Furthermore, without a theme, your store will look pretty bare-bones.

Shopify theme platform gives you a collection of both free and paid themes to choose from. In addition, the themes are also categorized according to the industry you’re working in, so you will have different themes for jewelry, furniture, food and drink, electronics, etc. Therefore, no matter what kind of business you are in you will always find a suitable theme on Shopify.

Each Shopify theme has information available to give you a better idea about the nature of the theme, this information includes:

1. Available Features 
2. Reviews 
3. Support and Documentation.

Each Theme also tells you for what purpose it will be most suited, so each theme is suitable for one or more of the following purposes:

1. High-Volume Store – For stores that deal with a large number of transactions
2. Visual Storytelling – Designed to display images to tell brand stories
3. Physical Stores – For people who also have a brick-and-mortar
4. Quick Setup – Themes that can be set up quickly and easily
5. Drop shipping – Themes that are suited for drop shippers

Adding Themes to Your Shopify Store

To add a theme to your Shopify store, please follow the below steps

1. Firstly, on the main Shopify dashboard, go to “Sales Channels” on the left-hand side, and click on “Themes” under “Online Store”

2. Scroll down on the “Themes” page and you will see a link to free themes (“Explore free themes”) and a link to paid themes (Visit Themes Store), click on the one you want to go to the theme store

3. On the theme store, you will find a variety of themes, and a filter menu on the left-hand side to filter the themes by:
   1. Price
   2. Number of Products
   3. Industry
   4. Layout
   5. Design
   6. Theme Architecture
4. Once you have selected a theme based on your criteria and requirements, click on it and press “Start with this theme” to install it on your Shopify store.
5. Lastly, go back to the main dashboard and your theme will be available there in the “Themes” section under “Current theme”

You have now successfully installed a Shopify theme to your store, no doubt this theme will go a long way in making your Shopify store look exactly as you envisioned it. Furthermore, you may even create the best-ever Shopify store in 2025 for yourself over time.

Customizing Your Theme

Now that you have a theme installed on your Shopify store, it’s time to customize it to your liking. 

Each Shopify theme has various sections you can customize. For example on your website’s homepage, you can customize, among other things, the following sections of your website:

1. Header
2. Gallery
3. Testimonial
4. Featured Collections
5. Image with Text

In addition, you can even add custom sections if you feel that your website is missing something.

Click on the “Customise” button on the “Current Theme” indicator to enter the customization page

2. On the customization page, you will find the “canvas” of the theme is already in place, and all you have to do is customize the various “sections” of your store by using the left-hand panel to:
   1. Add text,
   2. Add or change your logo
   3. Add buttons for various actions
   4. Change text size and style
   5. Change colors
   6. Rearrange the basic layout
   7. Add media items such as images, videos, etc.

3. Furthermore, you can also customize the following theme settings:
   1. Color
   2. Typography
   3. Social Media
   4. Search Bar
   5. Favicon
   6. Add to Cart Notification
   7. Checkout

4. The customization process is very intuitive, and you won’t have any difficulty changing or adding things because the layout is very well organized. So, customize the different sections of your store until you are satisfied.

5. Once you are done customizing your theme, you can preview how it will look on desktop and mobile devices by using the buttons at the very top

6. Finally, when you’re done customizing and have previewed your website, click on the “Save” button to save your changes.

You will have a fully customized store when you publish your website. Remember, you can always come back and make additional changes if you feel your store needs an update.

Changing the Store Language

You change the Shopify theme’s language into any of the 30+ foreign languages it supports, and to do so is very simple:

1. Go to the theme section on the main dashboard
2. On the “Current Theme” panel click on “Action”, and select “Edit Language”

3. Click on “Change theme language on the right-hand side 

4. Choose the language you want to change to
5. Click “Save”

That’s it! Now your Shopify website will be in the language you selected

Step 3: Adding Products to Your Shopify Store in 2025 

Now that your theme is all set up and running, it’s for the most important part of setting up an online store, adding products. Because no one is going to buy anything from you if there is nothing to buy, and it’s a bit of a stretch to tell customers to buy your products when all you’ve got is a blank website.

In this section, we will mostly be dealing with the “Products” tab on the main dashboard. The “Product” tab has the following section:

1. All Products – Where you can add products to your Shopify account
2. Inventory –
3. Purchase Order-
4.  Transfers-
5. Collections – This is where you can assign categories to each product
6. Gift Cards-

Important Note: You will need to add products to your Shopify account from the main dashboard before you will be able to display them on your Shopify website.

Before we show you how to add a product, it’s useful to know a couple of things about “Collection”. The “Collection” feature groups some of your products if they meet a common requirement. In addition, you also have the ability to set these requirements. For example, you could group products that have “hat” in the title be grouped in the “Hats” Collection. Therefore, every product you add that has the word “hat” in its title will automatically be placed in the “Hats” collection.

This way you can create multiple collections with different requirements, and then you can easily display your collections on your website via the “customize” on the theme panel. Moreover, on many themes, there are sections called “ Display Collections” which are suited to showing groups of products in one place.

Adding Simple Products

Let’s start with how to add simple products:

1. Go to the “All Products” section under “Products” on the main dashboard

2. On the next page you will have two options:
   1. Import – If you have a lot of products stored on a CSV file. Choose this option if you have a CSV file with lots of products
   2. Add Product – Click on this button if you have a few products and you want to add them one by one

3. Let’s say you went with the “Add Product” route. On the “Add Product” page you will be able to add a product to your store’s database by providing the following product information:
   1. Title
   2. Description
   3. Image/Video
   4. Product Type (optional)
   5. Vendor (optional)
   6. Collection
4. Click on “Save” once you have entered the product information, and your product has successfully been saved in your store’s database, you can now add it to your website

5. Repeat step 3 for any additional products you have

Well done! You managed to import your products into your Shopify store, give yourself a pat on the back (#sarcasm). However, just because you imported a couple of products does NOT mean that they will magically appear on your website, unfortunately, life is not that simple. Therefore, to make your products appear on your store website you will need to add them.

Step 4: Adding Your Products to Your Website

To display your products on your Shopify store, and make the best Shopify store in 2024 ever, you will first need to go to your website via the “Customize” button on the “Current theme panel”.

Once you are on the customization page, you can go to various sections on the home page and add your products. The general steps to add a product are the following:

1. On the “Themes” section in the main dashboard click on “Customize” on the current theme

2. Go to the left-hand panel on the customization page
3. Select the section where you want to add the product. For example, “Featured Collection”.

4. Click on “Select collection” to add the collection containing related products
5. Adjust the other options available (size, number of products, etc.) according to your liking
6. Click on “Save”

That’s all it takes. For example, if you have a “Shirts” collection imported in Shopify,

You will be able to display this entire collection on your website.

On some sections you will only be able to add a single product, in this case, there will be a “Select image” button. Simply click on this button to add your single product.

Editing the Products Page

Customers who visit your online store are most likely to spend the most time on individual product pages. Therefore it’s very important to make these product pages both attractive and practical.

Shopify also allows you to customize or edit the individual product pages as you see fit. Moreover, with this feature, you can do the following, and much more:

1. Add quantity selector
2. Show vendor
3. Show social media buttons
4. Change Image size
5. Enable image zoom

To be able to edit or customize your product pages, please follow the below steps:

1. Go to the product page you wish to edit
2. Click on “Desktop view” on the top panel
3. On the left-hand side panel click on “Product Information” to begin adding or removing additional features to your product page
   1. Similarly, you can go to “Product recommendation” to change the “you may also like” section (which shows complementary or similar products)

4. Click on “Save” when you’re done

That’s all you need to know about adding and editing products to your best Shopify store in 2024.

Alternative Ways to Display Products

While adding and displaying products on Shopify may be simple and intuitive, there are still other easier ways with which you can display products for your customers.

One simple and quick way is to use a product locator application. For Example, WP Maps is an exciting new product locator available on the market that does two things for your business:

1. Display Your Products – WP Maps allows you to showcase your product in eye-catching ways using images and descriptions. In addition, you are also able to display your products in neat and organized ways by arranging them into categories and displaying them in either tabs or sliders.

2. Guides Your Customers – WP Maps also guides customers to your physical store by providing them with accurate addresses, directions, and store timing.

As you can see WP Maps can add a lot of value to your business. Furthermore, the WP Maps plugin is also compatible with Shopify, which means that you can easily add the feature of WP Maps to your Shopify store.

There are many store locator applications in the market, but we believe WP Maps is the superior choice. See how WP Maps is better than the following store locator software:

1. SOCi Vs. WP Maps
2. Where to Buy Vs. WP Maps
3. Destini Vs. WP Maps

Step 5: Create Different Pages for Your Shopify Store in 2024

You are about halfway done in your journey of creating the best Shopify store in 2024 for your online business. 

Now that you have customized your store and added some products, it’s time to make online stores even more amazing by adding useful pages. A Shopify website already has pages such as “home page”, “cart”, “product page” and “checkout”. However, to make the best Shopify store in 2024, you will need to add extra pages that will give your customers a better shopping experience.

In this section, we will take a look at some of the many pages you can add to your website to raise the quality of your brand.

1-Blog Page

A blog page is a perfect place to gather your customers and visitors to form an online community.

On a blog page, you can add articles that are relevant to your brand and products. For example, you could add an article about your professional journey or an article about how your product helps people solve their problems.

Regardless, a blog page is a very easy way to engage with your customers

2- Product Locator Page

This page is especially useful if you have a physical store that compliments your online store.

Research has shown that the majority of shoppers research online before purchasing, and even today, many people prefer to go to a physical store to complete the purchase because going to a physical store allows customers to experience the product first-hand, instead of relying on images, videos, or descriptions. Therefore, to make sure your customers easily find and reach your physical store after their online search is done you will need a product locator page.

A product locator, such as WP Maps is an application that enables you to not only display your products but also to provide accurate information about your stores to your customers such as:

1. Address
2. Directions
3. Store Timings
4. Location

Clearly highlighting these key pieces of information makes it easier for customers to reach your store and avoid getting lost, which will increase your sales since a customer who searches online and later heads for a physical store is most likely in a buying mood. 

3- Contact Page

A “Contact Us” page is a great way to establish communication with your customers by providing them with your email address, phone number, or a live chat option.

By allowing customers to contact you, you increase their confidence in your brand and products by providing them with the reassurance that if they have any questions or concerns about your product, they can always reach out to you.

A contact page is also an excellent way to get customer feedback about your product or services, which you can use in the future to make improvements and increase customer satisfaction.

Creating Pages

These are just a few of the many pages you can add to your website that will add value for your customers. With Shopify, you have the ability to create any page you want by following the below steps:

1. Go to the “Online Store” section under “SALES CHANNELS” on the Shopify dashboard
2. Click on “Pages”, then click on “Add page”.

3. You’ll then be taken to the “Add page” section where you can add:
   1.  A Page Title
   2. Page Content –  You can either add the content manually or use the <> button to add the content via HTML
   3. SEO items for the website (URL, description, and page title)
4. After you have created the page, click on “Save”

Now that your page has been created on the Shopify database, it’s now time to add it to your website. To place your newly created page on your Shopify website please follow the below steps:

1.  Go to the “Online Store” section under “SALES CHANNELS” on the Shopify dashboard
2. Click on “Navigation”
3. On the “Menus” table, click on “Main menu”, this is where the link to your new page will be placed (or you could add the new page in the “footer”).

4. In the “Menu Items” table, click on “Add menu item”
5.  On the next screen, provide the Page name.
6. Next, click on the “Link” bar, select “Pages”, and then select the page you just created.

7. Press “Add” to complete the process

When you visit your website afterward, you will see that there will be a link to your new page on the main menu.

Have fun creating more amazing pages!

Step 6: Setting Up Payment Methods

Well Done! The design phase of creating your best Shopify store in 2024 is now over.

Now it’s time to add or set up a few basic features that will complete your best Shopify store in 2024.

The very first thing you will need to add or set is the payment method through which your customer can make online payments, and from where you will receive your revenue. Furthermore, Shopify enables you to add both first-party (Shopify Payment) or third-party payment solutions (Paypal, Stripe, etc.).

Before you set up a payment method, please take a look at the “SHOPIFY PAYMENTS” section on the pricing page, to get an idea about all the different credit card fees and transaction fees. However, there are no transaction fees if you choose to go with “Shopify Payments” as the payment method.

To set up your preferred payment method, please do the following:

1. On the main Shopify dashboard, go to “Settings”
2. Select “Payments” in the “Settings” menu

3. Choose the payment method you would like to go with
4. Complete the payment account setup by providing the required information

Once you are done, you’ll now be able to receive funds from customer purchases. Moreover, the funds will be deposited in the bank account that you’ll provide during the setup process.

Step 7:  Set Shipping and Tax Settings

The next step in your journey to create the best Shopify store in 2024 is to set shipping methods and adjust tax settings.

Shipping

If your business is exclusively online or if your business deals with product deliveries, then you will need to ship your products to your customers once they place an order. Moreover, you will need to set your shipping rates after consulting with a carrier service provider. Furthermore, you will need to set different shipping rates according to:

1. Local or International Delivery
2. Product Weight
3. Local Pickup

To manage shipping-related activities, please do the following:

1. Go to “Setting” from the main Shopify dashboard
2. Select “Shipping and delivery” from the “Setting” menu
3. Click on the “Manage” or “Manage rates” link to add or change the shipping rates and conditions
4. Add package sizes in the “Packages” section
5. Print shipping labels from the “Shipping labels” section

Non-Shipping Methods

Shipping your products can be one of the most challenging parts of running your online store, there are just so many complicated parts when it comes to shipping.

One way to be free from shipping costs is to use non-shipping methods to deliver your products to your customers. Non-shipping methods enable customers to collect the product directly from you themselves. For example, you could use a product locator like WP Maps to display your products online for customers to browse, and once they are done browsing, WP Maps can also provide them with accurate information (directions, address, store timing, etc.) on how to get to your store quickly and easily.

Using WP Maps is an excellent way to increase sales because a customer who heads out to a physical store after browsing online is most likely in a buying mood. Therefore, it’s crucial that you make sure this customer reaches your store to complete the purchase.

Taxes

Similar to shipping rates, you will need to charge customers for certain taxes that will be applied to your goods depending on geography. Therefore, it is very important to adjust for tax, otherwise, you will end up losing a lot of money.

To adjust any tax-related parameters, you will need to:

1. Go to “Settings” from the main Shopify dashboard
2. Select “Taxes”

3. Make the necessary changes in “Tax region” and/or “Tax calculation”

Based on your location and the location you ship your products, you will need to adjust the price of your product for taxes.

Step 8: Adding Shopify Apps to your Shopify Store in 2024

Coming to one of the most essential parts of creating the best Shopify store in 2024, which is installing additional apps to increase the functionality of your online store.

Shopify has an app store with thousands of apps, both paid and free, that add either new features to your online store or improve the existing features. For example, there are apps that allow you to run promotions, apps that streamline shipping, apps that record customer activity in detail, etc.

Installing a Shopify app is very easy, simply follow the below steps:

1. Go to the “Apps” section from the Shopify main dashboard
2. Click on “Customize your store” and you’ll arrive on the app store

3. Search for the app you’re looking for by using the search bar and clicking on this app
4. Press “Add app” on the app homepage, and follow the instructions to install the app

Once you are done installing the app, it will become available on the Shopify dashboard, and you will be able to use it to add new features to your Shopify store.

Step 9: Selling Using Shopify POS

If you sell your goods in person or face-to-face with customers, then the Shopify POS system is just what you are looking for.

The Shopify POS is a checkout system that you can use at your physical store, stall or pop-up store to process payments, keep track of inventory, store customer data, give discounts, etc. Think of it as the checkout counter at a supermarket.

Shopify POS is available in all of Shopify’s pricing plans. In addition, you will need certain hardware devices to work with Shopify POS such as a card reader, barcode scanner, printer, etc.

Using the Shopify POS

To begin using the Shopify POS you will first need to download the Shopify app from the app store and install it. Once you have installed the app, please do the following to get the Shopify POS up and running:

1. Go to the main Shopify dashboard
2. On the left-hand panel select “Point of Sale” below “SALES CHANNELS”

In the “Point of Sale” section you can get an entire overview of the Shopify POS activity. In addition, you can add locations, add staff, design receipts, and much more in the “Point of Sale” section.

The Shopify POS is only useful to you if you are dealing with customers face-to-face inside your physical store. Therefore, if you really want to get your money’s worth out of Shopify POS you will need to ensure that a large number of your customers visit your store. Moreover, there are a variety of ways you can get customers to come to your store, some of these include:

1. Advertising
2. Promotional Events

However, the best way to get customers who are browsing your products online to come to your store is by using a dedicated Product Locator. 

A Product locator can display all the products you sell in a neat and organized way. Furthermore, a product locator, such as WP Maps, also functions as a store locator which helps your customers reach your store quickly and easily by providing them with accurate information such as an address, directions, store timings, etc. With WP Maps you will no longer need to rely on Google Maps to give accurate store information to your customers.

Conclusion

Shopify may be overwhelming at first, but once you take the time to learn all the ins and outs of this platform, you will see that Shopify is indeed a very versatile and intuitive e-commerce platform. 

Furthermore, Shopify, especially in combination with WP Maps, can help start your dream of having an online business. On that note, if you are planning to start an online business, then you will need start-up funds. Here are some ways through which you can raise start-up funds for your business.

By following these 9 steps mentioned above you will no doubt be able to create the best Shopify store in 2025 that you have ever made. 

Good Luck! If you would like to explore more diverse topics related to e-commerce, please see our blog pages.