It only takes seven simple steps to create your online store.

You can quickly start a creation from Home > Setup Guide.

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In This Article

• Adding Your First Product
• Setting Payment Methods
• Setting Logistics Methods
• Creating Footer Policy
• Configuring Menu Navigation
• Storefront Decoration
• Adding Domain Names
• Self-Check for Account Opening

 

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Adding Your First Product

Uploading Individual Products

1. Create a product.

From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Products > Add product.

2. Fill in the basic product information.

• Name:
  • It should be less than 70 characters, which should be concise and specific, avoiding the stacking of keywords. The following combination is recommended: brand name + main functions + features + attributes.
  • It should start with a capital letter.
  • If there is search traffic for the brand or trademark, they can be placed in the front of the title. Otherwise, the key features of the product should be highlighted, and the brand or trademark should be placed at the end.
  • For Example:
    • Anker 89757 2-Port 18 W Power Delivery USB C Charger with LED Light
    • 40L Travel Backpack with USB Charging Port-Black as an example.

• Summary (optional):
  • This is for website SEO, it can be left blank when a store is initially created, and you can add it back later when basic store creation steps are completed.

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• Description:
  • Start with text followed by images.
  • Use bold titles to emphasize key selling points.
  • Limit the text and image introduction to 3 or 4 pages.
  • Refer to competitor product descriptions for guidance.
  • For example:
    
    
    
    

•  

• Image/ Video:
  • A consistent style of 5-8 images is recommended.
  • The suggested size is 800px by 800px; for clothing items, a 3:4 ratio may be used due to display requirements.
  • The first image should ideally have a white background; subsequent images can include information such as product features, highlights of selling points, and application scenarios. Images showcasing key features should be placed at the forefront.
  • For smart products, including a short video or animated images, enhances the presentation.

• Variants:
  • If the product is available in multiple variants, check This product has multiple variants;
  • Select a variant type, such as Size, and customers will see it in the Option name.
  • Enter variant values, using the Enter key or commas to separate multiple entries, such as "XS," "S," "M," "L," etc.
  • Click + on the left to add the main images corresponding to each variant.
  • Click the pencil button to the right of the variant name to upload small variant images with a size of 96 pixels x 96 pixels.

3. Activate product(s) and save.

After the settings are completed, click Activate in the upper right and click Update to complete the creation of a product. You can continue to optimize product descriptions and set inventory, vendor, tag, collection, and other attributes for products. For details, refer to Product Operation Management.

 

Configuring Products According to the Business Model

 

• Product customization mode:

The Product Option Customizer&ProductBundler app is recommended for this mode.

Path: App Store > Product Option Customizer&ProductBundler.

Product Option Customizer&ProductBundler is suitable for the customization of clothing, jewelry, eyewear, furniture, and other categories. This app can be used in the following business scenarios:

• Provide various customization options for products, including images, text, colors, sheets, and files to meet the personalized shopping needs of customers;
• Set up multi-level associated options for products, where upper-level options define sub-option contents, accommodating complex customization situations.
• Set up customized products in packages to bundle multiple products for sale.

          For more details, refer to the How-to Guide for the Product Customization 2.0 App.

 

• B2B inquiry mode:

The B2B & Wholesale Solution app is recommended for this mode.

B2B & Wholesale Solution is a B2B foreign trade solution integrating inquiry service, tiered pricing, and minimum order quantity. This app empowers business scenarios below:

• Enable inquiry services (Enquiries) for your online store and products, accepting and managing inquiries from customers;
• Activate wholesale features, including:
  • Set the tiered pricing for products, and offer different prices based on purchase quantities;
  • Set a minimum order quantity for products to limit the lowest quantity that customers can purchase for each variant.
• Additional features:
  • Bind product attachments (such as manuals, price lists, etc.) to the product. Users can download the relevant files from the product detail page.

          For more details, refer to B2B & Wholesale Solution.

 

Adding Product Collection

1. Setup Steps

Go to Products > Collections > Add collection.

2. Collection methods:

• Manually
  • Click Add collection, fill in the collection title and description, add the corresponding products, and click Add.

• • Smart collection (automatic collection according to product tags, titles, prices, inventory, and other conditions)
    
    
    
    

 

3. Product ranking in a collection:

You can adjust the rules for product ranking in a collection.

• You can sort products by hot-selling degree, conversion rate, product name, time of creation, time of update, selling price, pageviews, add-to-cart quantity, and other attributes.
  
  

 

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Setting Payment Methods

Steps: From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Settings > Payments to set the corresponding payment method.

The following payment methods are available for your reference:

• Europe and US: PayPal, credit card (via SHOPLINE Payments, Asiabill, Oceanpayment, Stripe, or Pacypay).
• Southeast Asia: COD, local bank transfer.
• Taiwan: COD, local bank transfer, credit card (via Oceanpayment).

PayPal is a dominant payment method in Europe and the US market. For more information, refer to PayPal Registration and Setting PayPal.

For credit card payments, a third-party provider should be involved. SHOPLINE offers payment services to cross-border merchants. For more information about country/region-specific guidelines for SHOPLINE Payments, refer to the articles in this About SHOPLINE Payments section. For more information about configuring other payment methods, refer to Other Payment Methods.

To set COD payment method, go to Settings > Payments > Add custom payment method, and select Cash On Delivery.

To set local bank transfer, Alipay, and other methods: go to Settings > Payments > Add custom payment method, and select Custom Payment. Fill in your bank account or your Alipay account & relevant information.

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Setting Logistics Methods

To set logistics methods, go to Settings > Shipping and Delivery.

SHOPLINE supports universal shipping rates (for all products) or custom shipping rates (for specific products).

To set universal shipping rates, you can perform the following steps:

1. Click Shipping rate setting;

2. Add the regional shipping rate: Click Add a shipping zone,  fill in the region, select the countries/regions to be delivered, and click Create. If you wish to exclude some countries/regions from delivery destinations, click Edit and uncheck the corresponding countries/regions.

3. Click Add a shipping rate, and fill in a name for the rate. You can select a fixed shipping rate, add conditions if applicable, and click Done. (It is suggested that you add countries/regions that are available for the delivery, shipping rate, and delivery time in the Shipping rate name.). For example, Free Shipping Worldwide (7 to 15 Days).

To set custom shipping rates, you can perform the following steps:

1. Go to Settings > Custom shipping profile, and click Create new profile. Name the custom shipping rate group;

2. Add products corresponding to the shipping rate option;

3. Select the destination zone(s).

 

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Creating Footer Policy

To gain customers’ trust and enhance brand image, content related to customer support should be displayed in in-store operations.

Comprehensive policy information and trust badges improve efficiency in formal business processes such as applying for advertising accounts and help increase successful orders and transaction conversion rates.

 

Add policy page:

1. Go to Settings > Terms and Policies. You can configure four footer policies here (including Refund Policy, Privacy Policy, Shipping Policy, and Terms of Service).

 

2. Go to Channels > Online Store > Page > Custom page, and click Create a page in the upper right. You can configure the introduction page for your online store here (including About Us, Contact Us, and FAQ). Enter content in the text editing box and click Add in the bottom right.

 

3. After finishing the settings for the policy page, go to Online Store > Navigation and click Create the navigation to create a new navigation menu and add the pages created previously into the navigation menu.

 

4. After that, go to Online Store > Design, and click Design. Go to the Footer section and click add content, select Fast navigation, and select the navigation that you set up earlier.

To set payment method icons, you can perform the following steps:

1. Go to Online Store >  Design, click Design, and click Footer.

2. Click Add content and Enable the Show payment icon and select the corresponding payment channel.

• Here are the icons of commonly used payment channels:
  PayPal:
  
  
  
  SHOPLINE Payments:
  
  
  
  

To set social media icons, you can perform the following steps:

1. From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Online Store >  Design, click Design, and select Theme settings icon on the left menu.

2. Under Theme settings, click Social Media copy your social media account’s homepage link, and paste it below the social media account.

3. Return to the Footer to enable the social media content.

 

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Configuring Menu Navigation

• Site navigation is normally placed in the header, footer, and side menu bar on the product list page.
• You can create multiple navigations at the same time.
• You can configure up to three levels of navigation menus by dragging and dropping or clicking on the arrow.
  
  
  
  

Take the configuration of the header directory as an example:

1. Go to Online Store > Navigation, Click Create the navigation to Add a navigation, or use an existing navigation, such as the Main Menu by default.
2. Click Add menu item.
   
   
   
   
3. Enter the title of the menu item and select the redirection page. If the Product category is selected as the page type, select the corresponding collections for the link. If no collection has been created, refer to adding product collection in step 1 to set product collections.
   
   
   
   

4. After adding all the items, you can sort or categorize them by dragging and dropping. This will create a directory menu.

5. To display a menu navigation in your storefront, go to Online Store > Design > Design > Header or Footer, under Navigation menu, click Change to select the navigation you configured previously.

 

6. Click Done > Finish > Save, and then it will be published, so you can preview the result in your storefront.

 

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Storefront Decoration

1. Go to Online Store > Design > Theme shop, and select a template suitable for your store.

Themes in the Theme shop are available in three versions, namely OS2.0, OS1.0 Pro and OS1.0. The theme in OS 2.0 has been optimized in terms of appearance and design openness. It is recommended that you select the theme in OS 2.0. For details, refer to the Introduction to SHOPLINE themes.

 

 

2. Store design:

• If you wish to understand the requirements and best practices for uploading images, refer to Suggestions for Image Size.
• Configure your homepage, product list page, and product details page following the customer browsing journey.
  • Go to Online Store > Design > Design, and click notice board to add and display announcements or promotional slogans of your store.
    
    
    
    
• Edit the page header, and upload logo images. You can add a Mega menu here to adequately display your collections. If you are operating in multiple markets, you can display a currency selector and a language selector here.
  
  
• Click Add component. You can edit a component or the blocks under the component.
  
  
  
  
• Click the drop-down box at the top to switch to the Collection list page. Adjust the display style of the product list, and add a sidebar filter.
  
  
  
  
• Click the drop-down box at the top to switch to the Product page, adjust the main image layout, and modify the product price information.
  
  
  
  

By now you have basically completed your storefront decoration. If you need to refine your design, refer to Store Design.

 

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Adding Domain Names

1. Domain name parsing

You can purchase domain names from AWS, Alibaba Cloud, and other service providers. 

From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Settings > Domain Name > Manage Domain > Add a domain name, and go to your domain name provider to modify the DNS record value of your domain name.

• Add a record, select record type A, and enter the record value 104.17.232.29 provided by SHOPLINE.
• Add another record, select record type CNAME. Enter www for host record, and fill in the record value vip.myshopline.shop provided by SHOPLINE.

2. Domain name binding

After modifying the record values, click Verify from your SHOPLINE admin panel. If there is no problem with the record values, the domain name can be parsed successfully and bound to your store.

In general, it takes about 10 minutes for modifications to take effect. If verification fails, check the record values or verify again.

 

 

 

 

For details, refer to Domain Name Parsing and Binding Tutorial.

 

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Self-Check for Account Opening

Once you have completed the steps listed above, you now have a perfect store. Next, you can attract customers to your store through advertising. Before launching, make sure to check the website again to ensure it is fully optimized.

1. Self-checklist:

Before submitting your application, please conduct a self-check of your website using this checklist. Failure to do so may result in the inability to successfully open an account due to poor user experience.