How To Make Money On Shopify – The Top 17 ways

If you’re looking to make money with Shopify, there are plenty of ways to do so.

You can sell physical products, and digital products, get affiliate commissions, and more.

In this post, we’ll go through some of the most popular methods for making money on Shopify.

Shopify is a great platform to sell your products and services.

If you are looking to start an online business, Shopify will help you create a store that’s easy to use with all the tools you need to sell online.

Page contents:

• How Does Shopify Work
  
• 1. Selling Products Online with Shopify
  
• 2. Dropshipping
  
• 3. Lease Your Store To A Dropshipper
  
• 4. Print On Demand (POD)
  
• 5. Wholesale
  
• 6. Sell Other People’s Products
  
• 7. Become An Affiliate With Shopify
  
• 8. Become A Shopify Blogger Or Create A Shopify Podcast Or Youtube Channel
  
• 9. Becoming a Shopify App Developer
  
• 10. Memberships
  
• 11. Sell Unique Products
  
• 12. Sell Digital Products on your Shopify Store
  
• 13. Sell Services Through Your Shopify Store
  
• 14. Sell Custom/Private Label Products
  
• 15. Shopify Consulting
  
• 16. Creating Courses
  
• 17. Create themes For Shopify
  
• Bonus:
  
• Conclusion

How does Shopify work?

Shopify is a platform that allows you to create an online store.

It’s a hosted platform and is fully featured, meaning you don’t have to worry about buying software or renting servers.

Shopify makes it easy for anyone to start an e-commerce business.

It offers a wide range of features including an integrated payment gateway, inventory management, content management system (CMS), reporting and analytics, email marketing tools, and more!

1. Selling products online with Shopify

The first method of making money with Shopify is to simply sell physical products.

A lot of people are doing this right now and making a ton of cash.

This is a great way to get started if you don’t have any experience selling online, but it’s also possible to make more by selling digital products as well.

To sell physical products:

• Have your product line (like t-shirts or hats) or resell other people’s products (like books, toys, etc.) through your Shopify store

To sell digital products:

• Create eBooks or courses on a particular topic that you know about and sell them through your online store

2. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a very popular business model for Shopify sellers. It’s perfect for those who are just starting, and it’s even easier if you already have an Amazon FBA account.

You don’t need to order products in advance or keep any inventory.

You simply find a dropshipper, set up your account with them and they will ship the items directly to your customers on your behalf.

This method is one of the most popular ways to make money on Shopify.

This is good because there’s no risk of holding on to inventory or having buyers claim that something was broken when they receive their order.

This means that all your products are “virtual” because you don’t physically own anything aside from your website code and its assets (images/videos etc.).

The most important part of this process is finding reliable suppliers who offer high-quality merchandise at competitive prices.

You’ll want to find suppliers that can ship worldwide.

This way you can open up markets across borders without having to worry about extra fees or delays.

Examples of delays are international shipping restrictions like those found in China and India where many people can’t receive packages from overseas providers such as Amazon due to import taxes imposed by their governments.

Related: 37 Best Part-Time Online Jobs

3. Lease your store to a dropshipper

Leasing your store to a dropshipper is one of the best ways to make money on Shopify.

You can lease your store for as little as $1 per day.

This means that you earn money every day, whether or not you are working towards making sales and getting customers.

You can lease your store for as much or as little time as you want—and even change the terms of the lease at any time.

You could decide to get paid daily, weekly or monthly with no lock-in period.

Or if you prefer an hourly rate, this option is available too!

4. Print On Demand (POD)

Print-on-demand (POD) is a great way to make money from your Shopify store.

It allows you to print products as customers order them, rather than having to manufacture the product in advance and then wait for it to sell before moving on to the next one.

This model is common with custom products like t-shirts and mugs.

It can also be used for regular items that are not available in stores or through other retailers.

For example, if you want to sell shirts with your designs on them but don’t have the budget (or time) to have mass quantities made up by a manufacturer, using POD is an excellent option.

5. Wholesale

Wholesale is one of the first ways to get started with your Shopify store.

It’s a great way to make money with no inventory, and no overhead costs (except the monthly Shopify fees).

What Is Wholesale?

Wholesale means that you purchase products from a manufacturer at a discounted rate, then sell them in your shop for full price.

The difference in price between what you paid and what you charge is your profit.

How To Find A manufacturer?

There are a lot of manufacturers online these days, so finding one shouldn’t be a problem.

Just search for “manufacturers” on Google or another search engine, and look through some of their websites until something catches your eye.

6. Sell Other People’s Products

When you start selling other people’s products, you are creating a passive income stream.

You do not need to keep your store open at all times.

This is the perfect option for those who are looking for ways to make money on Shopify but cannot commit to full-time hours.

There are many reasons why people would want to sell someone else’s product instead of their own:

• When they don’t know how or don’t want to create a product themselves
  
• When they’re great at marketing and want an already proven product that they can promote as their own
  
• When they don’t have enough time or resources to create their products

7. Become an affiliate with Shopify

Becoming an affiliate is easy.

To earn money by referring customers to Shopify, you’ll need:

• An account on Shopify that you can use to promote your referral links.
  
• A referral link (you can get one from the Shopify Partner Program).
  
• You can also refer apps through the app store in your dashboard if they don’t already have a dedicated site or domain name.

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money on Shopify.

Not only Shopify, but you can also promote other people’s products and services on your Spotify store.

It’s a great way to get started with making passive income by promoting other people’s products and services.

There are no set hours, no employees, and no overhead costs for you as an affiliate marketer.

You simply sign up with a company that pays you commissions when someone buys from them through your website or social media channel.

8. Become A Shopify Blogger Or Create A Shopify Podcast Or Youtube Channel

If you are an experienced blogger or podcaster, then there is a good chance that you can make money by writing articles and creating podcasts on the subject of Shopify.

Your content will help newbies learn how to set up their stores and how to promote them effectively.

This will result in more clients for them (and thus, more sales).

The most popular types of podcasts for this include:

• Shopify Masters
  
• The Amazing Seller
  
• Affiliate Marketing Podcast

If you have access to Google Ads or Facebook Ads and want to start generating leads right away, then this is probably the best way for you to start earning money from your blog or podcast today.

Blogging in general is an essential part of your Shopify store.

If you don’t have a blog, it’s like having a store without any products.

You need a blog to drive traffic and engagement for your store to work properly.

In order to create a successful blog, you need to create quality content that people want to read.

Don’t just write about what you sell or what you’ve been up to lately.

Create content around topics related to the niche that your store serves (if possible).

This will help attract new customers and keep existing ones happy by providing fresh information they can use every day.

There are many ways that you could make money from your blog.

This includes Display ads, affiliate links/referrals, sponsorships or partnerships with other companies… the list goes on.

Related: How To Start A WordPress Blog In 10 Minutes

9. Becoming a Shopify App Developer

If you want to become a Shopify app developer, you’ll need to be comfortable with coding and have some experience with CSS.

This is an excellent way to start earning money on Shopify because it’s not as competitive as other methods.

There are two ways to get paid by being a Shopify app developer:

• Commissions – You can get paid a commission for every app sale that comes through your store.
  
  This means you don’t have any upfront costs like you would if you were creating and selling apps yourself.
  
• Premium Apps – If your app becomes one of the most popular ones available on the marketplace, then there may be
  opportunities for future revenue streams.
  
  Revenue streams such as “Premium” or “Pro” versions of your services (at an additional cost).

10. Memberships

Memberships are a great way to make money on Shopify.

They can be used in many different ways, including:

• Membership sites, where people pay an annual fee for access to exclusive content.
  
  This could be information about a specific topic, or an online course.
  
• Subscription sites – these are similar to membership sites but they charge a monthly fee rather than an annual one.
  
  
• Subscription sites for kids and teens – these are subscription sites aimed at children and young people (teens).
  
  There can be various things that members get access to such as printables, digital resources, etc…

11. Sell Unique Products

Unique products are products that you’re the only seller of.

This can be because your product is an invention or a custom-made item.

It can also be because you’re selling something that no one else is selling on the internet.

The first step to selling unique products is to find them.

Find out what people want but don’t have access to and then resell it at a higher price point than other people would charge.

Take this example: Someone saw that people wanted a product with high-quality lenses in sunglasses but couldn’t afford them.

So they found a company that made glasses with high-quality lenses and sold them online as well as at retail stores around town, making themselves both suppliers AND sellers!

12. Sell Digital Products on your Shopify Store

Selling digital products is a great way to make money on your Shopify store.

Digital products can include ebooks, courses, and even software.

You can also sell digital products on other platforms such as Amazon or Clickbank.

To sell digital products on your Shopify store, you need to create an account with a vendor such as Clickbank or teachable and then learn how to integrate the payment system into your site.

If you’re looking to sell [the same] type of product across multiple platforms, then it makes sense that you might want to use one platform in particular (think Apple vs Android).

Shopify has integration with both Stripe and PayPal so there’s no reason why someone couldn’t have both of these integrated into their site if they wanted to take advantage of them both equally.

• Digital products also have an advantage over physical products.
  
  They are easy to sell and you can sell them anywhere.

13. Sell Services through your Shopify Store

If you have skills or know-how that other people could benefit from, then it’s time to get paid for them.

If you’re an expert at something and want to earn more cash, then consider setting up a Shopify store that sells services.

Services such as graphic design, SEO optimization services, web development, video creation/editing, and content writing can all be done by freelancers on Fiverr and Upwork.

The best part about selling these types of services through Shopify is that once the project is complete there are no delivery fees.

You can sell your services directly to the customer or you can sell them to other businesses.

You could offer a free consultation for new clients, then charge per hour for ongoing work.

14. Sell Custom/Private Label Products

If you’re a brand new shop owner or are just looking to sell some custom products, a great way to begin is by creating your own branded products.

If you have an idea for a product that can be customized, then this method could be right for you.

You can then set up your own Shopify store and sell these custom/private label products.

You get to customize the product however you like and also build up your brand identity in the process.

It’s important that when selling private label products on Shopify, you don’t just push out anything that comes into your head.

Instead, think about what people want from YOU as their supplier.

15. Shopify Consulting

Consulting with Shopify is the process of helping out a business owner who wants to sell their products online.

Shopify consultants work with their clients on a variety of projects, including:

• Designing their website and buying a theme from Shopify
  
• Setting up an online store on Shopify
  
• Creating some custom integration between their existing system and a new one like Shopify.
  
• Adding payment gateways like Stripe or PayPal so that customers can pay for products through these platforms

16. Creating Courses

Creating a course is one of the best ways to make money on Shopify.

You will be able to create an online course that people can buy and learn from. More so, you can use your skills and knowledge to teach others.

When creating courses for sale on Shopify, you have two main options:

• Create a physical product that has an e-book or PDF attached to it which covers the topic in depth (this is what I did with my first course)
  
• Create the entire course as an online video series where students watch each video at their leisure (this is what I’m doing now with my second course)

17. Create themes for Shopify

Creating themes for Shopify is one of the fastest ways to make money on Shopify.

There are many different types of themes and they can be created in many different ways, so it’s important to know what you’re getting into before you get started.

Themes that are sold on the Shopify app store have a great advantage over other types of themes, as they’re easy to add and most customers won’t need any customization.

Because of this, there’s less work involved in creating them, which makes them more profitable than other kinds of customizations.

Bonus:

Build and sell plug-ins for Shopify store owners and merchants

A plug-in is a software application that can be integrated with your Shopify eCommerce store.

It can provide functionality that you don’t have, or it can add new features to your existing store.

The benefits of using Shopify plug-ins include:

• Increased sales & profits – The most basic reason why a merchant should use Shopify plug-ins is that they increase sales and profits.
  
• User experience – Plug-ins are great for improving the user experience of an existing app or product.
  
  They help attract new customers by providing them with more value than what’s already available in the market today (or at least, more than what’s on offer from competitors).
  
  This will lead them towards buying products that may not necessarily be directly related to yours but instead could come from another niche altogether.

Conclusion

We hope you found these ideas helpful and inspiring.

We know that everyone has different needs, so we wanted to make sure that there was something here for everyone.

If you have any other ideas for ways we could make money on Shopify or questions about the ones we shared above, let us know in the comments below!