If you run a shop on the high street, you already do the hard part. You know your products, you know your customers, and you know what sells. Getting online is not a different business. It is the same business with a longer opening time and a bigger doorstep.
This plan is written for one or two people who are already busy. Each tip is something you can do in an evening or a quiet afternoon. I have built it around Shopify because it is the platform I recommend most often to small shops: it handles payments, stock, and delivery for you, and you can be taking orders before the month is out.
Week one: get the basics right
1. Decide what you are selling online first. Not everything. Pick your ten to twenty best sellers, or the products people phone about. You can add the rest later.
2. Register a domain name. Use your shop's name if you can. A .co.uk is fine and often cheaper than a .com. Buy it directly from a registrar so you own it, not through a third party.
3. Open a Shopify account. Start on the basic plan. Do not buy add-ons until you know you need them. The free trial gives you time to set up before you pay anything.
4. Set up your payment provider. Shopify Payments is the simplest. Turn on Apple Pay and Google Pay too. A surprising number of orders come from people on their phones who will not type a card number.
5. Write down your delivery rules. What do you charge, where do you send, and how long does it take? Keep it to three lines. Confusing delivery information loses more sales than high prices do.
6. Get a good photo of your shop front. It goes on your About page and it tells people you are real. Real beats slick every time for a local business.
7. Write your About page in your own words. Who you are, how long you have been trading, and why you do it. Two short paragraphs. This is the page nervous first-time buyers read before they trust you.
Week two: products
8. Photograph products against a plain background. A white sheet by a window and a phone camera is enough. Consistency matters more than equipment.
9. Take one lifestyle shot per product. The product in use, in a hand, on a table. It answers the "how big is it?" question before anyone asks.
10. Write descriptions that answer questions. Size, material, what is in the box, who it suits. Skip the flowery adjectives. Imagine the customer is standing in front of you and asking.
11. Put your prices in clearly, including VAT. Surprise costs at checkout are the number one reason people abandon a basket.
12. Add stock levels. Shopify tracks them for you. It stops you selling something you have already sold across the counter.
13. Group products into a handful of collections. Five or six is plenty. "Gifts under £20" works harder than "Miscellaneous".
14. Set up a simple returns policy. Fourteen days, unused, with receipt. Say it plainly on every product page. It makes people more likely to buy, not less.
Week three: make it easy to find you
15. Claim your Google Business Profile. This is the box that appears when someone searches for your shop name. Add your website link, opening hours, and photos. It is free and it is the single most valuable listing you have.
16. Match your online name, address, and phone number to the shop sign. Google trusts businesses whose details are the same everywhere.
17. Add your website to your Facebook and Instagram profiles. If you post product photos there already, you can tag products so people can buy straight from the post.
18. Put a sign in your window. "Now online at yourshop.co.uk". Your walk-in customers are your first online customers.
19. Add a line to your till receipts. Same message. It costs nothing.
20. Set up Shopify's built-in email capture. A small box offering ten percent off a first order in exchange for an email address. This list becomes the most reliable source of repeat sales you will ever have.
21. Write one welcome email. Thank them for joining, remind them of the discount code, and say one thing about the shop that a stranger would not know.
Week four: get the first orders in
22. Place a test order yourself. Go through checkout on your phone, pay, and see what emails arrive. Fix anything that confused you.
23. Ask three regular customers to try it. Watch them if you can. Where they hesitate is where you need to change something.
24. Email your list with a launch offer. Keep it short. One product, one photo, one link.
25. Post the launch on your local Facebook groups. People like supporting a shop they can walk past. Say hello, say what you sell, link once.
26. Offer click and collect. Shopify supports it. It brings online customers into the shop, where they buy something else.
27. Print a thank-you card for every parcel. Handwritten if you can manage it. Include your Instagram handle and ask for a review.
28. Reply to every review, good or bad. Future customers read your replies more closely than the reviews themselves.
29. Check your Shopify analytics every Sunday. Which product got the most views but no sales? That is usually a photo or a price problem, and both are quick to fix.
30. Send one email a fortnight. New stock, a story from the shop, a seasonal reminder. Consistency beats cleverness. The shops that keep in touch are the shops people remember.
What happens after the 30 days
By the end of the month you will have a shop that takes orders while you sleep and a list of customers you can talk to directly. That list is the asset. Social media platforms change their rules, but nobody can take your email list away from you.
If you would like help with any of these steps, from setting up Shopify to writing the emails that keep customers coming back, get in touch. I work with independent shops in Norwich and across the UK, and the first conversation is always free.
