Top 5 Common Mistakes to avoid When Setting Up Your Shopify Store

How to Avoid This: Dedicate time to detailed market research before you launch. Use tools like Google Trends and Answer the Public to understand your audience, market trends, and competitors. A 2024 study from Statista showed that over 70% of successful e-commerce businesses rely on data-driven insights. Conduct competitor analysis, customer surveys, and stay on top of evolving market trends to ensure your store resonates with your audience.

Example: Our client, AMLY, conducted focus groups to better understand their target audience. They discovered that their products resonated more with women aged 40-50, rather than the initially targeted 20-30 demographic. Using these insights, we redesigned their website to align with this audience’s preferences, refining the design and content. This improvement led to increased engagement, highlighting the value of market research in creating a website that effectively connects with the intended audience.

Selecting the right Shopify plan is critical for balancing cost with the features your business needs. Plans range from Basic to Advanced and Shopify Plus. For a small start-up, the Basic plan may be sufficient, while larger businesses with more complex requirements may need the Advanced or Plus plans.

How to Avoid This: Review Shopify’s UK pricing plans carefully. Consider factors like the number of products, anticipated traffic, and the features you need to grow. Pick a plan that offers room for scalability as your store expands, ensuring you avoid outgrowing the plan or overspending on features you don’t need.

How to Avoid This: Regularly test your site’s mobile performance using GTmetrix and browser developer tools like Google Inspect to check how your site appears across various mobile device sizes and viewports. Ensuring your Shopify store provides a seamless experience on all devices is crucial, as mobile commerce is projected to make up 74% of total UK e-commerce sales by 2025 (eMarketer). Prioritising mobile optimisation is essential to capture this significant portion of web traffic.

How to Avoid This: Prioritise UX by simplifying navigation and streamlining the checkout process. Regularly conduct usability testing to identify any pain points in the customer journey. A HubSpot study from 2024 found that 87% of UK shoppers won’t return to a site after a bad user experience, making UX an essential aspect of your Shopify store's success.

Example: For our client, London Terrariums, we executed a complete website redesign on Shopify, focusing on a visually engaging and fully responsive design. We streamlined navigation and prominently featured customer reviews, significantly improving user experience and driving sales.

And for Deschutes Brewery, we simplified their subscription services by developing two distinct landing pages for Pub Club and the Cellar Door Society. By working closely with them, we created a dynamic and interactive experience that better engaged their audience and streamlined their subscription offerings.