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Getting started with Spiffy Stores
This is a simple step by step walk-through of how to get started setting up an online store with Spiffy Stores.
There are a lot of steps to go through when getting set up, but we've made it as simple as we possibly can.
When you have completed the steps in this guide, you're well on your journey, and you'll need to follow the steps in our “How to make your first sale” guide to get your store the exposure you need to start selling.
01. Sign up for our free trial
Sign up for a 14 day free trial, which gives you time to explore different features and functions, and start setting up your store.
Once you've signed up and verified your email address, your store is then created.
We then send you a welcome email with links to preview your store and to log in to your store's admin. Make sure you bookmark these links, so you always know where to log in!
You're now able to continue with this guide. Remember that if you get stuck, we're here to help, so give us a call, email us, or contact us on chat. We also have a huge amount of info in our knowledge base.
02. Create a product
From your Spiffy Store admin, click Products to go to the Products page.
From the Products page, click the Add a New Product button.
Enter a title for your product, along with a description. Additional details such as the product type and vendor allow you to manage your product a little easier down the track. These details can help customers to find what you are selling, and can also change the way your products display to customers.
In addition to these, some product details you might want to enter include images, prices, shipping details, weight, and more.
Click the Save Product button.
If your product is available in different sizes, styles, colours, or options, you can then add in those options.
If you need to use the built-in inventory to track the stock of your products, you should set them up as “Variations”. You'll find that you can also link a variation to an image, so your customers can see a preview.
If your product is customisable and you don't need to track stock, they could be set up as custom options instead.
If you need to customise your product further by adding extra fields, you might want to check out Infinite Options.
Once you've created your product, save it and click the Preview this product button to preview it in your store. This is what it looks like in the default theme. We''ll get on to your store design in the next step.
03. Choose and customise your theme
Your store is set up with a highly customisable default theme called the “Simple” theme. It includes every feature available in other themes, and for most it's a perfect fit, as you can add your logo, a slideshow, change colours, fonts, and customise your home page layout.
To customise your current theme, go to the Design & Assets -> Theme Editor section of your store's admin.
The Theme Editor is broken up into different sections. The first section is the Theme Settings section, where you can customise your theme using a simple interface. Try uploading your logo in the Store Header section, and then click the Save Settings button.
Preview your store by clicking the Preview Your Store link in the top right.
It's best to work through each section, and save your settings as you go. You then refresh your store preview to see your changes.
It's important to have a read through of the Theme Guide so you can see how everything works.
If you want to see other themes, you can preview other themes in our Theme Store. All of our themes are free, and you're sure to find one that works for you.
To change your store's theme, go to the Design & Assets -> Theme Gallery section of your store's admin.
04. Set up your collections and menus
Now that you've chosen the theme you're going to work with, it's time to work on the structure of your store.
Don't worry, you can always go back to modify your theme as you go, and you can even choose another theme without losing any of the content in your store.
A Collection is simply a group of products. A product can belong to multiple collections. This is a new way of thinking about categories, as a category is hierarchical, and has sub-categories… collections can do the same thing by using drop-down menus… but aren't hierarchical.
It's a good idea to work out offline how you want to categorise your products before adding in stuff. From there you can work out what you want in your menus.
Collections can be added in the Collections section of your store's admin, and your menus can be edited in the Store Menus section.
When you're ready, watch our video guides to the left to get you started.
Once you have the structure sorted, it's time to continue adding your products. As you add your products, you'll see that you can choose the collections you want them to display in as you go.
If you're moving your store from another ecommerce provider, you might be able to export your products, and import them into your Spiffy Store, which will really speed up the process.
05. Set up your payment providers
Next, you'll need to connect a payment processor to your online store in order to receive payments from your customers.
You can connect payment providers in the Preferences -> Checkout & Payment section of your store's admin.
Spiffy Stores supports over 80 payment providers including Pin Payments, Stripe, Square, PayPal, Afterpay and Zip Pay.
Choosing which processor to use for your online store depends on a few factors, like where you‘re located and which payment methods you want to offer.
Connecting Stripe or Pin Payments lets customers pay with their debit and credit card. Both accept payments from Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.
Afterpay and Zip provide lay-by-type payments that are proven to increase customer spend per order.
We suggest that you use a combination of payment methods…
1. A credit card processor like Pin Payments, Square, or Stripe
2. PayPal Checkout
3. Afterpay or Zip Pay
06. Set up your shipping
We're now well into the nuts and bolts of getting things set up.
Shipping can be the biggest hurdle though. Who are you going to use to ship your items? What will you charge?
The simplest approach to shipping is to set up weight-based rates, and then set weights on your products.
The most popular shipping providers are Australia Post, Sendle and Fastway. If you're planning on activating on our Plus or Pro plan, then you can use carrier shipping to connect to Australia Post or Fastway to get shipping prices automatically based on your product weight.
If you're planning on activating on our Startup plan, then we have a guide on setting up shipping rates manually using Australia Post, and another on Sendle. These are both excellent step-by-step guides on using weight-based shipping to get you set up quickly,
If you also want to offer free local shipping or free local pickup, we have a guide for that too.
If you want to offer free shipping for orders over a certain amount, then set this up a price-based shipping rate. Price based rates override weight based rates.
There's a lot to shipping, which is why it has it's own separate guide.
07. Add content to pages & blogs
What you say about yourself and your service can be one of the most important parts of your store, so it shouldn't be an afterthought that you cram in at the last minute.
Think about what you look for when you shop online. Do you check on a store's returns or refund policy? Do you try to find out how much shipping would be, or how long it would take?
These are the kinds of questions your customers will be asking, and it's up to you to provide that info... or you will miss out on sales if it's not there.
We provide some example policy pages that you can modify to suit your business, but you should also ensure that your About
page has info there that your customers can identify with, and your contact page has contact details including a phone number they can call for assistance.
In addition to that, answering your customers questions before they ask them with a FAQ's page can make a huge difference.
One other section often missed is your blog. It's there so that you can add extra content to help you rank in search engines. You can then also share that content on social media to get extra visitors that could stumble upon your site.
There's more about that in our guide on Making Your First Sale.
08. Check your tax and other settings
It's important to review all of the settings in your store to ensure it's set up just the way you want. Here's a quick checklist;
- If you have an ABN, it should be added in the General Settings section.
- Make sure that you're charging GST in the Regions & Taxes section if you're registered for GST. If you're not, you should disable GST.
- Place a test order. Make sure you either use the “Testing” gateway, or if using your own gateway refund it afterwards to ensure you're not charged a transaction fee.
- Test your shipping rates by going through to the last page of the checkout. Make sure they are working as expected.
- Update your email templates so they say what you want them to say. You might also want to add your logo and custom highlight colour to them, so their branding matches your site.
- Make sure you have policy pages set up, and that your contact page and about page have relevant info.
09. Send your new store live!
Once you have everything above in place, your online store is now ready to be officially open for business.
You'll want to make sure you've added a custom domain to your store, as that's the web address you should be shouting out from the treetops!
Custom domains give your site a professional look, strengthen your brand, and make it easier for visitors to find you on the web.
If you've already registered your domain name, check out our guide on how to add it to your store. If you haven't, then the easiest way to get one is to register it with Domain Hosting Shop. You just need to add a note when ordering to say it's for your store, and it will be registered and added to your store for you.
Once your domain has been added and it's working, ensure you enable SSL on your site. This is done on the page where you add your domain.
And remember, you can always continue editing and improving your online store later. Don't let your pursuit of perfection stand in the way of your business' big debut.
10. Set up your analytics
In order to gather data about your store and visitors, it's important to connect your store to Google Analytics or another statistics provider like Crazy Egg, Hotjar or Clicky.
With analytics, you can get a clear picture of your visitors and their behaviour through visual reports on statistics like page views, sales, referrers, and popular content.
You'll need to see where your orders are coming from and fine tune your social media and marketing efforts in the future, so start gathering data now!
In addition to this, you should consider adding a Facebook Pixel to your store, so you can start building a profile of the type of people that are finding your store. You'll likely want to use this data further down the track, so it's a good idea to set this up now.
Once you've done this, you should continue on with our Making Your First Sale guide, which takes you through the steps to make your store as successful as you possibly can.