Shopify E-Commerce Business For Sale By Owner Vs. Create A Profitable Shopify Store From Scratch: Pros & Cons

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that provides you all the necessary tools to either start or grow your e-commerce business. It has several tools that manage your e-commerce store and connects you with millions of potential customers. In order for a person to operate an e-commerce business, one must have an interface to deal with the customer. This interface is the modern-day e-commerce platform. E-commerce marketplaces such as Shopify have been in good business due to the demand of connecting suppliers with consumers with ease.

Overview: What is Shopify e-commerce business for sale by owner?

On the internet, Shopify e-commerce businesses for sale by owners are present, which can be bought, and business operations can begin directly. It means that a Shopify e-commerce business is put on sale by an owner over Shopify. Then, a potential buyer clicks on the platform and ends up buying it directly from the previous owner to become the new owner of the previous account. This way, only the owner of the platform changes, and the rest of the business is unaffected.

Pros Shopify E-Commerce Business For Sale By Owner :

• Ready to use e-commerce platform.
• Already has traffic.

Cons Shopify E-Commerce Business For Sale By Owner :

• No platform design is set according to your brand.
• The business may be on a different e-commerce platform.                                            

Note: If you bought a website such as Woocommerce or Magneto and want to convert them to Shopify, you should consider using Folio3 Shopify migration services. (Discussed later)

• Mismanagement of the platform by owner.
• Poor design of the e-commerce store.

Note: If you have already bought a Shopify platform from an owner and are struggling to manage it by yourself, you should check out Folio 3 Shopify maintenance services and manage your Shopify platform by professionals while you devote your efforts to your products.

How to Create a Profitable Shopify Store from Scratch?

Shopify is, without a doubt, a very innovative platform for e-commerce. We break it down step by step. Creating a Shopify e-commerce store from scratch is a difficult task if you want your store to stand out amongst other stores.

1) Log on to the Shopify page.

2) Enter your email address and start with the trial and click on Next.

3) Enter the default address for your business and click on Next.

4) Add the products you want to sell.

5) Create key pages for your store.

6) Pick a theme and customize your online store.

Note: Consider using a responsive theme to attract your audience. You should use highly convertible themes to get the best response from users.

7) Customize your shipping settings.

8) Configure your tax settings.

9) Set up your payment gateway and payouts.

10) Prepare your store for launch.

11) Launch your store.

There is a great number of e-commerce stores but standing out amongst other competitors is a tough task. If you want your platform to be developed expertly, consider Folio3 Custom Shopify Website Development Services in order to develop your e-commerce platform on Shopify because they have 15+ years of experience. As per a study by Marketing Signals 90% of e-commerce businesses fail after 3-4 months, according to a study. In order for a business to not compromise on its quality and be safer in the long term, it is imperative that your Shopify platform be designed by experts. Your Shopify store should be designed from scratch in order to complement your product.

Online stores for sale vs. create Shopify store from scratch: Functionality

What is Functionality?

Functionality is defined by the ease of navigation your business provides to a client for the product. This means if a buyer can navigate through your store and will subsequently understand the product he wants to buy.

Online stores for sale and their functionalities

With an online store for sale by an owner, there are very limited options. A ready-made store can barely be functional since it is not aware of your specific product. The product is always overly generalized in ready-made online stores. For example, if you plan to sell kid’s watches and choose to buy a ready-made e-commerce platform. It is highly likely that they provided you with a store that was developed for adult watches, thus conflicting the design and marketing of your product. Thus, eventually damaging the functionality of your business.

Create a Shopify store from scratch and its functionalities

If you develop your Shopify store from scratch, you will keep it easily navigable. For example, you will develop functions that make it easy for users to buy kid’s watches by displaying fast colors and other business strategies. This means that your store will be incomplete in accordance with your product.

Note: If you are not aware of which tools to utilize in your Shopify store for the business to be long-term, it’s safer to make use of services like Folio3 Shopify maintenance services.

E-commerce business for sale vs. Create a Profitable Shopify Store: Design

What is a design?

An e-commerce platform design is a process of arranging your product and content with such display that it subconsciously attracts the buyer. The contrast, colors, pictures, outlay, and text all play a vital role in attracting the buyer to your product.

E-commerce business for sale design strategy

An e-commerce business for sale by owner’s design will be generic. It will not be specified if you plan to sell a new product. For example, if you are selling products to senior citizens, you should likely keep the description short and the font big. You will prevent using fast colors and rather opt for plain colors, but a ready-made business may not provide you with such tools.

Create a Profitable Shopify Store design

Since you create the design of your store, you will do so whilst keeping your products in mind. Your Shopify store will be relevant to your product. The store design should be extremely exemplary, or you may be surpassed by your competitors. There are complete departments allocated for Shopify platform designing, so companies have mastered the art of designing e-commerce stores as they know the importance of a good design. You can use Folio3 Shopify Website Designs Company to design your Shopify store.

Buy e-commerce business vs. Profitable Shopify Store from Scratch: Themes

What is a theme?

The theme of a website is the general outlook, feel, and style of your E-commerce website on a specific electronic device. The themes can be variable on desktops and smartphones. A theme should be responsive to your website. A theme is closely related to design.

Buy an e-commerce business with its theme

A ready-made e-commerce business sold by an owner will not have a practical theme because your store didn’t practically have its own design. Your store may be well designed (for desktops), but if the content is stuffed on a small screen(smartphone), the user will have a hard time pinching, tapping, or stretching the screen just to access the content and will subsequently leave.

Profitable Shopify Store from Scratch and its theme

A custom-developed Shopify store will always have a practical theme because the theme will be chosen in light of your product. This will optimize your design and theme to ensure that your traffic does not face any difficulty on variable platforms. To get an idea of what are the highest converting Shopify themes, have a look at this blog.

Buy e-commerce website vs. create a successful Shopify store: Development Time

What is development time?

Development time in e-commerce is very important. Development time is defined as the ability of your website to be functional in time.

Buying an e-commerce website, expected development time

If you plan to buy an e-commerce website, it can take anywhere from two to 12 months. It takes this long generally because you have to ready all your product photos, copy, and everything else ready to paste onto the site.

Creating a Shopify store, expected development time

It can take as little as 3-4 days to complete your custom Shopify store with all the content and products done. For some people, it may take longer if they decide to build it themselves. The Shopify store gives 14 days of trial as it expects your website will be up and running within that time. If you want to focus on your product and cannot invest time to learn and make a custom Shopify store, it is preferable to use Folio3 Custom Shopify Website development services, so you handle the product whilst they take care of your Shopify store.

Buy established e-commerce website vs. building a profitable Shopify store: Features

What are the features?

The features of your store are the driving force of your business. If people can access your e-commerce platforms and are able to return satisfied, it means that the features you provided are satisfying the customer. The dominant features of e-commerce businesses include an easy-to-remember URL, a thorough description of your products, a title followed up by images, etc.

Features on an established e-commerce website

On an established e-commerce website, the features are already added. This means that all of the website features must be managed by contacting other platforms, especially in payment gateways. This wastes valuable resources as you may be using services that are not profitable to you.

Features of building a profitable Shopify store

Shopify offers its customers several tools.  These features include product management, titles and fraud analysis techniques, relevant photos and descriptions as well as a responsive store, all because it is a dedicated e-commerce platform. In order to manage and maintain the traffic, you can use Folio3 Shopify maintenance services.

Buy ready-made e-commerce website vs. create a profitable Shopify online store:  Payment Gateways and Fees

What are a payment gateway and its fee charges?

A payment gateway is a process of authorizing details of a card entered by the buyer as payment for the product. The payment gateway ensures that the buyer has possession of his card and sufficient funds to cover the transaction. This process happens within a few seconds and is partially the reason for the success of e-commerce as the transaction is completed hassle-free. The payment gateways charge fees for these transactions from e-commerce websites and stores.

Payment gateway and fees for ready-made e-commerce website

Since an individual creates their own e-commerce website, this means that they will have to manage this whole website by themselves. They may need to self-develop payment gateways by employing developers or use other payment gateways to add themselves to the user’s website. The payment gateways have to be paid, and they can also charge your website per transaction. This means additional costs keep rising.

Payment gateway and fees for a profitable online Shopify store

Shopify facilitates payments for the users with their Shopify payments department. They have major payment gateways such as PayPal, Amazon Pay, Stripe, and even Apple pay. These gateways ensure the best services in transferring funds, especially preventing fraud. They take 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction. However, you can also use your own payment gateway, but a user will then have to pay their minimum fees which range around 2-4 $.

Buy ready e-commerce website vs. How to Make a Profitable online Store: Budget and Pricing

What is budgeting and pricing?

These are the costs of hosting, payment processing, designing, add-ons and extensions, and business growth.

Buying a ready e-commerce website, budget, and pricing

Since your e-commerce website is independent, this means that you must separately pay each of the above mentioned to budget your business. This means that you will have to pay huge sums of money to host your website, then design it, and then cover the payment gateway fees. These will amount and may cost up to approximately 10,000 to 25,000$.

How to make a profitable online store budget and pricing?

This is where online stores come to our aid. For a small business, such a huge sum of money is not possible to pay, so it is preferable to use online stores, read other article is Shopify Good For Small Businesses to get more details . Online e-commerce stores such as Shopify, Woo-commerce, and Magneto provide all the same features you would expect in an e-commerce website. However, the catch is that these prices are highly affordable for businesses. In fact, Shopify offers different business plans for different businesses.

• Basic Shopify for 29$ a month.
• Shopify for 79$ a month.
• Advanced Shopify for 299$ a month.

These cover all the costs of running your Shopify store.

E-commerce website for sale vs. how to make a profitable online store: Marketing Tools

What are marketing tools?

If an entrepreneur wants to grow their e-commerce business, they should understand the importance of marketing. Marketing tools allow your product to improve and increase its potential customers. These marketing tools make use of strategies such as advertisements, market analytics, and SEO.

E-commerce website for sale marketing tools

Again, since your website is independent of any features, you will have to separately manage your marketing. You will have to perform Search Engine Optimization and analyze the data all independently. These may cost you up to 3500$.

How to make a profitable online store marketing tool?

Marketing tools are already provided on online stores such a Magneto, Woo-commerce, and Shopify. This means you do not need to sit and record your data. You should know how to manage the data already provided by e-commerce platforms. They offer all the general marketing tools within the cost of your registered plan. If you need help managing your online store, consider Folio3 Shopify Maintenance services.

E-commerce business for sale by owner vs. build an online store from scratch on Shopify: SEO

What is SEO?

SEO means that the keywords entered into search engines are recorded and then used in product advertisements. The more these keywords are detected, the more people arrive at your website. This results in increased traffic on your website. This strategy increases your brand awareness. SEO is another field that requires considerable time to look up and optimize to its fullest potential.

SEO in e-commerce website on sale by owner

To manage SEO on your online website, you must employ independent servicers or do it yourself. Based on Ahrefs research, the cost of an average agency SEO plan is $2819 per month. The cost ranges from around $500 per month to somewhere between $25,000 and $50,000 per month.

SEO on an online store from scratch

The top online stores such as Magneto, WooCommerce, and Shopify provide built-in SEO features. These online stores have all the SEO tools which cover the basics in order to analyze the data. So you do not need to work on SEO separately and have increased costs like e-commerce websites have.

Buy Shopify store dropshipping vs. how to set up Shopify store for dropshipping.

What is dropshipping?

When a consumer purchases products from a dropshipping store, a third-party supplier will ship them to the consumer directly. The customer will pay you the retail price, and you pay the supplier’s wholesale rate. The remainder will be your profit.

Buy a Shopify store dropshipping:

You can buy Shopify store dropshipping directly from Shopify. This means your store’s inventory will be drop-shipped by using services on Shopify. The ease of use and the variety of apps available to add inventory to your store make it understandable why Shopify is a popular platform choice for dropshipping.

How to set up a Shopify store for dropshipping?

To set up your dropshipping store on Shopify, you will need a supplier for your goods.

1. You will have to set up your Shopify store.
2. You will install and make use of Oberlo, which is a Shopify dropshipping tool that integrates with Shopify to import products from other e-commerce platforms such as AliExpress.
3. You need to add a category to your Shopify store.
4. You use the Oberlo application to search for items you are interested in selling.
5. Now you must launch marketing campaigns to attract potential customers.
6. Your Shopify store is ready for business.

Note: If your marketing campaign is not attracting traffic or you cannot market your product, consider using Folio3 digital marketing services.

B2B strategy for suppliers

If you are a supplier, you can cut out the cost of the middlemen by directly selling the product to the consumer. For example, websites such as Magneto are specially used for bulk supplying online. Shopify has B2B businesses running as well, such as Death Wish Coffee and Lair Superfoods. If you are hesitant to advance yourself for this business as it is new for you, consider using Folio3 Custom Shopify Website development services to start your B2B business on any e-commerce platform, be it Magneto or Shopify.

Want to know more about top Shopify B2B Examples in E-Commerce? Check this out

Integration

If a businessperson does not want to shift platforms completely and rather expand the business, they should integrate their custom-built website with another platform such as Magneto or Woocommerce. This means linking both of the website’s data in order to increase traffic. This integration means that you can transform, shape, and analyze your business performance. If you want all your e-commerce businesses serviced by a single company, you should choose a company that deals with all your Shopify stores by making use of Folio3 Shopify Integration Services. After assessing the data of your website, it can be deduced whether to integrate the stores or migrate them.

Website migration

The volatile nature of e-commerce means that the marketplace is constantly changing. In order to keep up with the dynamic changes, and e-commerce businessperson should understand that they can migrate their e-commerce business stores to other e-commerce business stores as well. There could be several reasons for this. For example, expansion of the business or increased traffic on other platforms. For example, if I have a store on Shopify and I want to start my business on Magneto or Woocommerce, I will migrate my store from Shopify to the platform of my choice by using Folio 3 Shopify migration services. The change of platforms is a sensitive task as one must ensure that the standard of the store is not affected as migrations tend to drop the traffic and quality of an e-commerce store.

Inventory Management

Inventory management for your business means managing the space and products of your business. Companies with efficient inventory management present several advantages such as reduced waste of resources, thus reduced expenses, timely replenishing the products of your business, resulting in a constant supply chain, these in turn increase profit margins and allow for business expansion. Furthermore, connecting customers, items, orders, payments, and shipment data is made quick and easy with the help of such software. Folio3 Inventory Management Guide can explain the methods for inventory management. When a businessperson decides to start their business on online stores such as Shopify, the most important concern they have is, how much inventory should I start with on an online store on Shopify? The generalized answer to that is to have at least 10-25 pieces of stock on startup. After the initial phase, you must remember to manage the inventory. If you think managing the inventory is over-burdening your business, you can always use Folio3 Shopify Maintenance services to manage your online store inventory

Mobile Responsiveness

In the information age, one of the most important tools is the smartphone. According to Statista, almost half of the world’s population possess smartphones. This is why a majority of businesses are expedited on smartphones. This means the traffic on online businesses makes use of smartphones. This huge amount of traffic requires expertly built applications. An application should be able to cope with the sudden changes occurring on smartphones. If your application’s foundations are strong, they will never have scalability issues. Consider using Folio3 App Design Agency to ensure that your applications are highly responsive, which makes them an essential medium for e-commerce.

Final Thoughts

After reading this article, we can conclude with several decisions which will allow an e-commerce businessperson to start and grow their e-commerce business.

• First of all, we should always opt for a custom-made e-commerce platform because of its tremendous advantages, such as relevant design, correct themes, functionalities, and cost-effectiveness.
• Secondly, we should use existing online e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magneto to market our business. These platforms connect us with potential buyers and provide inexpensive pricing plans as compared to websites.
• Finally, we should make use of service companies which manage our online stores and enhance their growth. One such company providing these services in a professional manner for 15+ years is Folio3.

FAQ’s About Shopify E-Commerce Business For Sale By Owner

Online businesses for sale under $5,000 vs.  Creating your own online store: Which one is best?

You should always create your own online store from scratch in order to grow with the business. You should choose an e-commerce platform such as Shopify and make your website there. Since a basic plan on Shopify costs 29 dollars a month, you have a sufficient budget to run your business on Shopify for more than a year. Furthermore, you can avail services of Folio3 Custom Shopify Website Development Company to produce a presentable Shopify store and still have your investment leftover.

Do I need a service company that will manage my Shopify account If I am working on my product?

Yes, if you want a long-lasting business, you should definitely choose a service provider. The reason is that it’s better to let servicing companies build your Shopify account to ensure quality management. If you do not ensure quality, your business will face losses. This research paper, published by Ovidius University Annals, shows the challenges face by independent businesses if they ignore quality assurance. You can always use Folio3 Shopify Maintenance services as your Shopify manager.

Online business for sale under $10,000 vs.  Create your own website store: which one is the best option?

If the business is going for sale, don’t you think that the business was facing a loss? It means that the business was not profitable. With your investment is 10,000 $ it is better to create your own website store. Since you have a budget of 10,000$, you can easily afford a good service agency to create, maintain and expand your business.