Ways to Make More Money with Shopify: Easy Expansion Ideas

By far, the most common way to make money on Shopify is to create your own ecommerce store, and sell niche-focused products to customers around the world. But if you’re looking to earn a little extra income, there are plenty of other revenue channels you can explore with Shopify. 

As one of the world’s most flexible commerce platforms, Shopify is brimming with opportunities for ambitious entrepreneurs and innovators. In fact, creative Shopify vendors generate about $444 billion in global economic activity, according to the platform. 

Today, we’re looking at just some of the ways you can increase your revenue potential, by expanding on your Shopify ecommerce store. 

1. Sell Products to Other Businesses

One of the easiest ways to make more money with your Shopify store, is to expand on your current target market. If you’re currently running a direct to consumer business, selling hand-made products, or unique items in a specific niche, you could consider selling products to other companies too. 

You might decide to sell items on a “wholesale” basis for other companies to sell on your behalf. Or you could consider creating a new selection of products specifically designed for companies. For instance, if you sell custom clothing, you could create a product line of customizable shirts for professional teams, which can be tailored to include the brand’s logo. 

Print-on-demand companies can make it easy to deliver this kind of custom service, and they don’t require you to produce any products or hold inventory yourself.  

2. Increase Your Product Portfolio with Dropshipping

Dropshipping has become an extremely popular way for would-be business owners to make money online. While expanding your product portfolio using traditional methods would require you to pay for extra inventory space, warehousing, and supplies, dropshipping gives you the freedom to explore new marketplaces and collections with minimal upfront cost. 

Instead of holding inventory and shipping it to customers yourself, you partner with a dropshipping supplier who handles your inventory and fulfillment. You can even find apps on the Shopify marketplace that make it easy to add products to your store in seconds, and automate the fulfillment process. For instance, popular options include “DSers”, Shopify’s recommended dropshipping app.

Plus, if you need help getting started, Shopify has an entire hub of resources dedicated to dropshippers, so you can find all the guidance you need. 

3. Experiment with Print on Demand

We mentioned print on demand above, but it’s not just an excellent way to create products that are more appealing to business buyers. The “POD” market is growing just as fast as the dropshipping landscape, and it offers very similar benefits. 

With print on demand partners, you can add custom designs to a range of products, including mugs, hats, and clothing. When a customer orders an item, you send their details to your POD vendor, and they print the product, package it, and ship it directly to the buyer. 

There are a host of POD apps that can integrate directly with Shopify, such as Printful and Printify, making it easy to automate order fulfillment. Plus, POD gives you an excellent way to experiment with new products, without actually producing any inventory in advance. If you find an item or design doesn’t sell, you can just remove it from your store, with no financial losses. 

4. Become a Shopify Affiliate

If you love Shopify and all of the unique features it has to offer to ecommerce vendors, then you can make some extra cash by encouraging other customers to purchase a subscription. The Shopify Affiliate program allows individuals and entrepreneurs to earn a commission every time someone purchases a Shopify plan using their custom link. 

It’s easy to get started, with a range of creative assets you can embed directly into your store. When you sign up, you’ll receive personalized support from Shopify’s specialist team, along with lead magnets and banners you can use to drive clicks and purchases. 

This strategy could be particularly appealing if your company already sells tech-focused products, such as computers or design tools. 

5. Monetize Your Shopify Blog and Social Media

Your Shopify blog isn’t just a great tool for promoting your products, sharing thought leadership articles, and boosting your SEO ranking. You can also use it to make additional money for your business. For instance, you can use your Shopify blog to review products and promote items relevant to your customers, earning a commission from affiliate programs. 

You can also share display ads on your blog, provided they won’t detract customers from the solutions you’re already selling. Alongside your blog, you can also leverage monetization opportunities via Shopify with your social media presence. 

For instance, if you have a strong social presence, you could guide your followers towards the products on your Shopify store with “buy now” buttons, or host regular sales on social shopping channels via Shopify’s integrations. 

6. Sell Digital Products and Courses

Shopify isn’t just a great platform for companies selling physical products. You can also use the platform to sell digital products, like downloads, art, eBooks, photographs, and virtually anything else you can think of. You could create a community site and ask customers to pay subscription fees for membership, using Shopify’s subscription tools. 

You could even create your own courses and webinars to teach customers about your industry, or share useful skills related to your products and services. Courses can be an excellent way to earn passive income, as once you’ve created your content, all you need to do is ensure it stays up to date. 

There are even apps available on the Shopify marketplace that can help you create and sell courses and subscriptions within your Shopify store. 

7. Take Your Online Business Offline 

Many merchants use Shopify to take their brick and mortar business into the digital world. However, you can also consider taking the opposite approach. You don’t necessarily need to build and manage a physical store permanently to make a little extra cash. 

You can host pop-up shops to capture the attention of local audiences, or consider taking part in local marketplace events. All Shopify plans already come with access to the Shopify POS Lite system, so it’s easy to sync online and offline sales in one place. 

Hosting the occasional “real world” shopping experience could be an excellent way to get customers to talk about your brand. With Shopify’s omnichannel sales tools, you can even combine brick-and-mortar selling, with sales through your own website, as well as selling on marketplaces like Amazon, and social media sites. The more sales channels, the better! 

8. Flip Shopify Stores

You may have heard of flipping houses before, but did you know you can make money flipping Shopify websites too? Basically, this process involves buying a Shopify store or website from its existing owner, improving its functionality, and selling it to another entrepreneur for a higher price. 

You’ll need to have a deep knowledge of the Shopify platform, and an understanding of how to optimize each store to increase its value. For instance, you might work on each Shopify store you purchase to improve its technical SEO, design elements, and user interface. 

While it can take a while to make a decent income flipping stores, it can be an excellent way for people with developer and design knowledge to make extra cash on the side. 

9. Help Companies Make the Most of Shopify

If building your own Shopify store has given you a deep knowledge of the Shopify coding landscape, then you could always earn a little extra cash building themes and apps for other companies. Shopify’s theme store makes it easy to list your themes on the marketplace for other customers to purchase. Plus, you can promote your themes and apps through your Shopify store too. 

Alternatively, you could consider making the most of your Shopify knowledge and becoming a “Shopify Expert”. You could build an entire freelancing business helping companies develop and design Shopify stores, run their marketing campaigns, or customize their online presence. 

Websites like Storetasker are dedicated to helping companies find the Shopify experts they need to increase sales, differentiate their brands, or improve their online presence. 

Even if you don’t have a lot of coding knowledge, you could still offer services like Shopify store management, or Shopify marketing support. 

Increase Your Shopify Income

There are more ways to make money with Shopify than simply launching your own ecommerce store. Even if you have a successful store already, you can use the strategies above to increase your revenue potential, and unlock new sources of income. 

Interested in becoming a Shopify expert, or helping other companies to make the most of the Shopify platform? Join Storetasker today to start monetizing your unique skills.