The situation
Meet Amira, an illustrative example: she runs an independent gift shop with two people, selling on Etsy and Instagram too, but has never had her own online shop. Customers often ask if they can order something to be posted, or whether an item's in stock before making the trip in, and the honest answer is usually "ring us and we'll check." Meanwhile, a competitor two towns over with a basic online shop is picking up exactly those customers.
The idea of "going online properly" feels like a big step: choosing a platform, working out payments, figuring out delivery costs and getting stock levels to actually match what's on the shelf and across Etsy and Instagram. Added to that, the shop's Google listing hasn't been kept up to date either, so people searching nearby don't always find it before they find somewhere else.
"Stock is counted by hand and goes out of sync," says Amira. "I want my own online shop with stock that stays in step across the till and online."
None of this is a lack of ambition. It's that launching online properly has a lot of small decisions that are easy to get wrong without having done it before.
What we'd set up
- A Shopify online shop, with products, payments, stock levels and delivery options set up properly from the start, rather than bolted together.
- Google Business Profile setup, so the shop still shows up on Maps for people searching nearby, since most independent shops get as much from local search as from the shop itself.
- Local SEO foundations, making sure the shop's details are consistent across the web, which helps both the physical shop and the new online store get found.
- A website care plan, so updates, backups and small content changes are looked after each month, rather than being one more thing to learn.
How the project would run
Weeks 1-2: a free call to understand the product range and how stock is currently managed, followed by setting up the Shopify store structure and getting the product catalogue built or imported.
Weeks 3-5: payments, stock levels and delivery options are configured and tested with real orders, including how the shop's current till or stock system connects in, where that's possible.
Week 6: Google Business Profile setup and local SEO foundations are completed alongside the final testing of the online store.
Week 7: the shop launches, with a short training session on managing orders and stock, and a written guide to the whole setup.
Week 8 onwards: the website care plan begins, covering updates, backups and small content changes going forward.
What changes day to day
A customer who used to ring and ask "have you got this in stock" can check online themselves, and order it for delivery if they'd rather not come in. Someone searching nearby on their phone finds the shop on Google Maps with accurate hours and photos, rather than a competitor further away. Stock levels online reflect what's actually on the shelf, instead of someone having to manually check and reply. The shop on the high street stays exactly the same. What's added is a second way for customers to find and buy from it.
What you get back
Checking stock for a customer on the phone stops meaning a walk to the shelf and a call back, because stock levels online match what's actually there. Counting stock across the till, Etsy and Instagram by hand stops being a weekly job in itself, because the numbers stay in step on their own. And keeping the shop's Google listing accurate stops being something that only gets noticed when it's wrong, because it's set up properly once.
If this sounds familiar, start my project like this.
Tools involved
A project like this is built on Shopify, with payments typically through Shopify Payments, Stripe or PayPal, and delivery set up through Royal Mail, a courier, or click-and-collect depending on what suits Amira's shop. Where the shop already uses a till or stock system, we look at what can realistically connect in, rather than asking you to manage stock twice.
Related
If this sounds like where your shop is now, see Our website doesn't bring in enquiries and Customers can't find us on Google. Further reading: How much does a small business website cost in the UK? and WordPress vs Squarespace vs Wix vs custom: which is right for you?. For the wider picture on this sector, see retail.