With online sales demonstrating +16% year-on-year growth there's been no better time to start your own online store and reach an expanding customer base for your brand. The following is a beginners guide to starting your online shop using the SupaDupa ecommerce website builder and outlines 5 simple steps to building a professional online store, same day with no technical skills required.
eCommerce platforms, Store Builders, Shopping Carts: What do they mean?
A service that enables you to create an online store, without needing technical knowledge is often referred to as an eCommerce platform, store builder or a shopping cart service. You may also hear it referred to as cart & catalogue software. When you create your online store using such a service your website hosting, payments facility, order fulfilment, shipping calculations, site security to name a few of the shop considerations you might have when building a store from scratch are taken care for you by the platform which gives you the time to focus on doing what you love best - creating your products and growing your business.
The idea of selling online can be overwhelming if you haven't sold online before, but it needn’t be so. SupaDupa enables you to set up your own branded online shop to take payments, handle inventory, rank well in Google and other search engines and feature a stunning shop theme to showcase your products to your customers beautifully. Selling online is no longer the exclusive domain of established businesses. SupaDupa has democratised eCommerce stores, enabling designer makers, emerging brands and online entrepreneurs big or small to expose their their products online and reach a growing global customer base.
So mentioned benefits aside? Just how easy is it really? How professional is the result? And how long does it take to get online? Well, what are you doing tonight? Let’s dive right in!
Step 1.
Start by signing up with a Trial Online Shop
Your journey beings right here on SupaDupa.me, specifically the Sign Up page. Enter your email to use for your store, choose a password and your desired store name. Submit your details and an empty store will be created for you.
Sign up with a store to get started now!
No obligation, no credit card required
Step 2.
Add your Products
Now the fun starts - here you’ll add each of the products you wish to sell online by providing a name, a description, uploading your product images and giving each a price to be shown to your customers. SupaDupa features powerful shipping functionality that allows you to offer various shipping options at the checkout e.g. Next Day Delivery, or, free shipping to a particular location.
If you sell personalised products you can also set personalised questions that are asked of a customer during checkout, such as obtaining a name to engrave onto your custom made jewellery. This, along with the ability to set up multiple product sizes, colours, available materials etc. gives you real power to make a store your own.
Step 3.
Choose a Shop Theme for your store
A first impression is everything, and at SupaDupa we have over 45 shop themes available to choose from - all built to showcase your products beautifully, and all looking and working just as well across mobile devices. Simply visit the design section, scroll through the available themes and click to apply the one that takes your fancy.
Check out a full list of the Shop themes available on SupaDupa.
Step 4.
Customize your shop theme to get the look you want!
Take total control over your store's design. Choose from over 45+ store templates or create your very own custom designed theme for your brand.
Create your own online identity and get your store to live out your brand's explosive potential. It all starts with a well placed logo; rotating banners are clickable and can be linked to any page, anywhere with a URL and a choice of sliding transition effects, then choose colours and fonts using the picker to create a look that is unique to your store.
Step 5.
Setup your Payment Details
The fastest way to start receiving payments is through PayPal. The process requires nothing more than entering your PayPal email into the corresponding field within your Shop Settings. That's it, really! Customers shopping at your store will be presented with the option of paying with either their PayPal account, or conveniently, directly with their credit or debit card. As orders for your products begin to grow, email order confirmations will be sent to both you and your new customers. Your 'Orders' section in your back office allows you to quickly and easily obtain all the information necessary to create dispatch notes, postage labels and ship to your new found customers.
Step 6.
There's no step 6!
You’re done!
Now to tell the world about your store!
Congratulations, you’ve gone from having an idea to creating a fully fledged online store same day! - now go forth and let the world know about it.
The great news is that you can start all this on the fully featured trial, so what are you waiting for? Sign up now.
But, I want more!
And more you shall have. All stores start life on a fully featured trial, so there's no reason not to get started right away. If you feel SupaDupa is a good fit for your business selecting one of the paid plans blows the doors open, with a wide array of powerful features and extra benefits to really make your online store fly.
These include:
Take the Store Builder Tour
See our Store Builder Tour for a brief overview of the features you can put to use.
There's never been a better time for you to start selling online. It's easy to get started with your own online store so here's to your success!
We'd love hearing from our customers. Please do drop us a line to let us know how you get on.
“...almost too good to be true!... I'm totally in love with your site!!...
Pam Stultz - Epicetera
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"...beats everything else I have tried...
Carola Donato
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"I have been searching for a platform as easy and as stylish as this…
Sophie Tilley
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“I outgrew my 4 year old Big Cartel store and
needed something better...
Alan Wardle - AnyForty
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Sign up with a store to get started now!
No obligation, no credit card required