Retail eCommerce revenue in the United States alone has grown to 431.6 Billion USD in 2020 and is expected to be 563.4 Billion USD soon, so this is the best time to sell services on Shopify.
eCommerce and dropshipping is becoming increasingly popular among everyone and it is due to the fact that it not only allows you to sell products you never even touched, but also has the potential to become an automated business.
That said, with growing popularity, it is also becoming saturated and more competitive. And it is due to this reason that the smart entrepreneurs are moving to drop servicing business. You can either offer the services directly, or get it white labeled depending upon the type of services you want to offer.
To help you sell services on Shopify, I have created a complete step-by-step guide.
Why is selling services on Shopify the next big thing?
Dropshipping is a business model where you sell physical products directly from suppliers to customers. And it is due to the ease-of-getting-started that almost everyone is jumping into the dropshipping boat.
In fact, in the last 4 years, this model has almost quadrupled. And so this is the perfect time to start selling services online, or drop service from outsourcing companies.
Here are some obvious pros of selling services online
- Less riskier than selling physical products
- Great business models for beginners
- No expertise required for getting started and running it
- No shipping cost and thus higher profits
What Services can you sell on Shopify?
Just like dropshippng, When it comes to selling services online, there is no better platform than Shopify. The main reason behind this is the everything-at-one-place interface. By that I mean, you can find an app for adding any functionality based on the services you offer.
Subscriptions or memberships
You can use Shopify for selling memberships as your services. One good example of this is California Native Plant Society. Alternatively, you can also create a subscription box business for continuous orders like coffee bags, digital magazines and so on.
Online Consultancy
If you have a passion or expertise in a particular niche, you can use that to start selling service on Shopify. With the pandemic situation, digital consultancy has skyrocketed, everyone from fitness trainers to therapists (and a lot more) are providing online consultancy for the services.
Digital products
There are tons of non physical products that you can sell on your Shopify store and generate greater revenue. Some of the most common ones are –
- Ebooks
- Software
- Video
- Audio and music
- Photography
- Graphics
- Digital art
- PDF documents
- Online courses
- Web-based applications
Event support
This service business stands somewhere between physical and digital service. You can outsource support services to help events. One popular example of this is The Mobile Locker Co, they offer event storage solutions as services.
Online experiences
During the pandemic, Airbnb made adaptations, one of which is online experiences. Many people from around the globe sold services like room games, nature tours and a lot more creative stuff.
You can create a micro niche Shopify store offering a particular service, and then add more services based on your idea to scale quickly. If you like you can also offer one of the following as services
- Classes
- Lessons
- Workshops
Rentals
Rentals fall somewhere between dropshipping and drop servicing, but it’s a great model for those who are looking to use Shopify for services. You can rent vehicles, clothes, baby products, music instruments, party suppliers and what not. But if you follow this model and you don’t have the product for renting, you can again outsource it by partnering, or offering a fixed pay to someone who owns the product you’d want to offer as rental.
Installation services
Many big brands offer products that require assembly, and you can use this gap to offer services around installation. So if you are looking for solar panel installation services and have already bought the solar panels, you can offer a premium installation experience and generate good profit by outsourcing installations.
Home services
Things like house cleaning, home-haircuts, pet care and so on, are few of the top Shopify services sold during the pandemic.
Customer support
You can outsource customer support as services. Nearly all of the companies need someone to offer professional support. You can either hire a single freelancer based on company niche, or use a white label support provider.
P. S. – These are just a few of the top services to offer on Shopify. You can sell much more depending upon your creativity. Any service can be sold digitally.
How to start selling services on Shopify
Now that you know the best products for selling as services, it’s time for a quick walkthrough for setting up your online service store in a few minutes.
1. Create or Outsource your Services
You can either sell services on Shopify from by outsourcing it from a professional creator, or create it yourself.
Now you decide to drop service, you will have to find a service creator (aka supplier). There are quite a few ways to find your services creator –
- Freelancing platforms – You can find the services to re-sell on places like Fiverr, Upwork and other freelancing platforms.
- Google search engine – Use this search operator (or string) with inverted comma on Google “White label [Your Service] provider”.
- View on Etsy – Etsy is filled with handmade creators, so if your service is related to that, you can find someone here.
- Gumroad – Gumroad is a creators’ community offering really professional services.
2. Create a Shopify for Services account
Shopify is an eCommerce platform offering 24/7 live chat, cheap functionality apps and beginner friendly interface. All this makes it easy for service providers to run their store using Shopify. There are also tons of automation features that will make it easy for you to sell services on Shopify.
3. Install a services-friendly theme
Once you sign for Shopify free trial, it’s time to install a theme optimized for selling services. There are many Shopify themes, but make sure that you only use service specific themes for best results. Here are some of my recommendations.
- Label (Paid)
- Startup (Paid)
- Narrative (Free)
- Debutify (Free)
You can customize the Shopify theme by going to online store > themes on the left sidebar. Use free tools available for Shopify like Hatchful for creating a logo,
4. Name your online store
Once your drop servicing or direct servicing business is ready, it’s time to name it. You can either use a keyword based name like PetCare Hub (for pet care services) or choose a brand based name like ShopIsle.
Whichever you choose, make sure it’s no longer than 2 to 3 words and is something remarkable. You can
5. Install Shopify Apps based on the services you sell
Shopify apps add additional functionality to help you sell services with ease. Depending upon your business needs you can choose an app from Shopify marketplace, like Sesami appointment booking, Seal subscriptions and so on.
Also, make sure that you disable shipping when uploading products. Simply uncheck the option that says “This is a physical product” everytime you add an item.
6. Market the services you are selling
Next important thing is to make sure you are properly marketing the services. There are quite a few ways to drive targeted leads to your service store
- Facebook ads – Create highly compelling ad copies and run Facebook ads for driving sales. Connect pixels for better results.
- Google ads – Another popular way for advertising your services is using Google ads. You can get some nice conversions for your services.
- Niche blogs – Use niche-specific blogs for marketing the services you offer.
7. Use Social Proof to leverage your sales
Once you have some sales (or use giveaways) for gathering social proof to your “Shopify for services” business. Social recommendations are great for boosting your brand authority and improving trustworthiness.
That was my take on setting up a drop servicing business and selling services on Shopify, should you need any help, feel free to reach us out on [email protected]
