How To Use Shopify Lite? And Quickly Sell At Little Cost

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UPDATE

April 2023: the Shopify Lite plan has been replaced with the new Shopify Starter Plan since June 2022. As a result, new merchants can no longer sign up for the Shopify Lite plan and are advised to use the Shopify Starter plan to sell products without an online store. Existing merchants on the Lite plan Shopify who decide to switch plans will not be able to revert back to the Lite plan.

Shopify is one of the most-used eCommerce platforms globally, with many pricing plans that are suitable for different types of users. Among those, the cheapest plan - Shopify Lite stands out at only $9 per month and can let users create a simple eCommerce store within minutes. Sounds really tempting, right? However, like any other plan, it kinda depends on the situation.

For some businesses, Shopify Lite can be the perfect solution to sell products online, even without a website. But, for others, maybe a standard Shopify pricing plan starting at $39(Shopify basic plan) per month is better. That is the main thing we will talk about in this article: What is Shopify Lite? Why is it worth considering? How to use it to quickly sell products at little cost?

Not only that, but we will also dig deeper into the pros and cons of Shopify Lite and if you should consider mixing it with other Shopify plans to maximize your store’s potential. At the end of the article, you will be able to answer the question of whether Shopify Lite is the right plan for you or not. So keep reading until the end to find out!

Shopify Lite first look

As mentioned before, the Shopify Lite plan is 9 per month. It’s the cheapest plan you can find on Shopify, and it is also cheaper than many other eCommerce platforms on the market. The main difference between Shopify Lite and other Shopify plans is that you don’t get a full online store with a shopping cart. That said, the plan can still be game-changing for some entrepreneurs.

The Shopify Lite plan’s basic premise is that it integrates with an already existing website or social media account to create eCommerce functionality. For example, if you own a Wordpress blog and want to start selling some merch, Shopify Lite would allow you to keep blogging on the site and adding products to sell too. Whereas other Shopify plans would force you to make a completely separate website on its platform, available side by side with the blog.

Here are some business types that will fit the Shopify Lite plan perfectly:

• Blogger who has a site that can monetize with services or products
• Existing small businesses that get sales mostly from Instagram or Facebook
• New businesses that focus on social media to sell
• Hobbyists who don’t want to create a whole new website
• Cottage industry businesses

The Shopify Lite plan comes with a buy now button feature for the website, an integrated Facebook shop, a POS toolkit to sell in person, an overview dashboard, data report, and 24/7 support via live chat or email from Shopify should you have any problems.

It is a pretty good deal to try the Shopify Lite plan if you are among the suitable customers. But, let’s take a look at Shopify Lite’s pricing and fees to have a better overview.

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• Shopify Fees - Transaction, Monthly fees Calculator
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• Shopify 1 Dollar (2024): Get 33 Days For Just $1

Pricing plans

We know that the Shopify Lite plan has a monthly fee of $9. This gives you access to all features like setting up your products and integrating them on your own website or social media channels. Until you make your first sale, you still only need to pay $9 per month.

When you get the first sale, you’ll have to get familiar with something called transaction fee. That’s the industry standard, and it’s how credit card processors make money so you can’t avoid it with a low-price plan.

With Shopify Lite, you pay 2.9% + $ 0.30 per online transaction. This means if you sell $40, you actually get only $38.54. When $1.46 is for credit card processing. This rate is the same for every sale, so keep it as a factor in your margin.

If you want to know the monthly cost of your Shopify store across different Shopify plans, check out our Shopify fee calculator tool. It will give you insights to select the best plan for your business.

In-person sales have a different rate, in which Shopify Lite charges 2.7% + $0.30 for each sale. So for that same $40 of sale, you get $38.62. This fee may not seem like too much, but these can add up when you process a lot of transactions. With a higher plan such as Advanced Shopify ($399 / month) with lower transaction fee, you can save up to $3480/year.

Check our article comparing Shopify pricing plans.

Shopify Lite best features

Although having a small price, the Shopify Lite plan still has some awesome features that can help store owners gain more profit through the platform. Let’s see what they are.

Social media selling

One reason you should consider the Shopify Lite plan is if you’re just trying to make a sale on Facebook and nowhere else. The same goes for those who may already have a blog and want to sell products on both blogs and Facebook.

With Shopify Lite, you can have a fully integrated Facebook store. Therefore, you can advertise on Facebook and then lead people to what you have to offer. Users don’t even have to leave the Facebook page to buy, saving them and yourself time. The store integrates with your existing Facebook Business page with a Shop tab on the page and allows you to publish galleries of products and shopping carts inside Facebook.

The cool thing about this feature is that all the products in your Shopify Lite plan can be synced with the Facebook store. There’s no need to upload your products multiple times, so you can just work on the Shopify dashboard and don’t have to switch to Facebook to check the progress. Each of your products syncs seamlessly with your Shopify account. So if you make changes to a product’s price, image, or description, it will also be updated automatically in the Facebook store.

What’s more, Shopify Lite also includes a beautiful payment module, right inside Facebook. The purchase is guaranteed to be secure and buyers won’t have to go to your website - which can annoy people and make them rethink of buying from your store. Customers can also save their contact and payment information on Facebook. So they can purchase more items from your store in the future without having to enter the same information.

Overall, Shopify Lite provides a solid, customizable Facebook store with syncing tools included. Some people prefer selling exclusively on Facebook, which makes Shopify Lite an ideal option. Same for people who have a blog. There’s no reason to invest for a full Shopify website unless you want to sell hundreds of products.

Read more:

• How to Promote Shopify Store on Facebook?
• How to Add Facebook Pixel to Shopify

Messenger customer support

Since the Shopify Lite plan involves selling on social media, customer support is also available on Facebook as well. As a result, you get a live chat module working on the Facebook Messenger app. If you’ve used the app before, you know that it’s a great app to chat with your friends. For businesses, it has many great functions for customers to contact you and get relevant answers to their questions, with the help of automation.

For example, a customer might find that you are selling a pair of shoes on your Facebook page. He has a few questions about how it compares to other items your store has. Facebook Messenger will send you a notification when his messages come in. You can use Messenger from anywhere in the world to talk to him and support his needs.

The Messenger app by Facebook allows you to reply with information available on your devices, and you can also send product details easily without hiring many people. Another great thing about the modules is that they have call-to-action buttons for online viewing, making purchases, reading descriptions, and more.

After the chat is over, customers can buy the product right from the Facebook Messenger chatbox. Better yet, you can send delivery updates, tracking codes, and also a View Orders button so your customers can read necessary information about the shipping process. It’s all done in the Messenger app, so your customers can shop from as comfortable as possible.

Easy invoices

Another reason that you should use Shopify Lite is to process wholesale, phone, or custom orders. It is an affordable plan to send invoices and accept payments from customers smoothly.

The process involves creating a custom invoice for your business. It will then be sent to the customer, who will then make the payment through the shopping cart. It’s not that different from normal invoicing tools, but with Shopify Lite, you also get additional tools for selling online, offline, and Facebook. Therefore, you have more options to bring in more revenue, based on your own business model.

If you are thinking of creating a custom PDF invoice to send to customers, then try app Shopify Order Printer+ to save some time and make a beautiful invoice with ready-to-use templates. The app is also free to use!

Ability to accept credit card on-the-go

Last but not least, if you want to sell your products offline (in person), Shopify Lite can be a good solution for you. There are many processing tools to sell in the real world - like PayPal, Square, and Stripe. However, Shopify Lite opens up the opportunity for you to sell in both ways, offline and online.

With the Shopify Lite plan, you get the features needed for an online store, and also a card swiper (for free!). This is great for companies that sell at a craft show or trade fair, or you may be selling online but also try to make money on the road when you can. The POS tool is also valuable for using Shopify Payments with higher pricing plans to reduce the transaction costs.

Another cool thing is that your inventory is tracked across all channels, so you can sync your products on your Shopify store with both online and offline channels. It also allows you to process any form of payment, customize taxes, process refunds, and apply discounts.

Great customer support

Shopify is selected by many because of the great customer support the company offers. If you use the Shopify Lite plan, you can still receive the same support as Basic Shopify plan users with 24/7 support via live chat or email. So, at any time of the day, you can reach out with questions about using POS, setting up the store, or integrating the Facebook module.

Not to mention, you get access to all the resources and tips for entrepreneurs made by Shopify, including strategy, tactics, and case studies. If that is not enough, you can always check out other sources like our large eCommerce resources.

Pros & Cons of Shopify Lite

With the great features in mind, let’s see all the pros and cons of Shopify LIte.

Shopify Lite Pros

• Low cost: Just $9/month, lowest among Shopify plans
• Many ways to integrate: The Shopify Buy Button feature is compatible with WordPress, Instagram, Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly..
• Social media selling: Turning your Facebook page or blog into a convenient eCommerce store.
• User-friendly for beginners: Easy to operate on your already familiar platform.
• Easy invoices: incredibly useful if you offer services and want to receive payments.
• Selling everywhere: With Shopify POS, you can sell in person easily.
• Support & resource: 24/7 support via email or live chat, and access to the Shopify knowledge base.

Shopify Lite Cons

• Limited user: You can have only one admin and one staff using the plan, so it is a very small operation.
• No storefront: Your own website still provides more freedom and control compared to just eCommerce functions.
• Hard to scale: The plan can limit the business’s growth with transaction fee and functionality.

How to use Shopify Lite to its max potential

Shopify Lite is effective because it lets customers buy right from your existing platform. Instead of redirecting them to another website and hope they convert, they can make the sale right there and then. For Facebook and Instagram, customers can buy when they are browsing, which is great for two reasons:

• It provides a smooth experience. When people have to move from page to page, they have the risk of losing interest and abandoning the shopping cart.
• Everyone still uses Facebook and Instagram for many transactions. In fact, many people have already used Facebook to send and receive sensitive information or make charitable donations. The platforms are not to be gone any time soon.

But, to use Shopify Lite to its max potential, you should know to add a Shopify Buy button in the right way. It is a good feature to add into your existing website.

Let’s say you’ve built a popular blog and want to start selling merchandise like t-shirts or caps with your catchphrase. Your audiences are demanding to buy them from you. All you need is Shopify Lite and a good Buy button as a call-to-action.

Here’s how you should do it:

You should customize the look and feel of the Buy button to match your current website theme. And as you would expect from Shopify, the available button is fully responsive, which means it will appear beautifully on every mobile device.

And, if you are selling multiple products, you should include an embedded shopping cart. This can make any website look like a professional eCommerce website instantly. Customers can easily add multiple products and pay only one time at the checkout.

By doing this, you just turned your blog or social media pages into an eCommerce machine that can start producing profit right the way.

Try Shopify Lite

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Conclusion

To conclude the most important things, if you are one of the people below, you should definitely try using the Shopify Lite plan:

• A Facebook or Instagram user that wants to start selling products through the platforms with the help of a live chat module.
• A small website owner (like a blog or a hobby site) that wants to begin offering merchandise to your audience right on your popular sites.
• A cottage-industry business owner that wants to sell at flea markets, traid fares, festivals, and more. You would benefit from accepting payments in person and a few eCommerce features.
• A temporary seller who is just selling a product or service for a while to make a profit. Then you don’t want to spend time and money making a new website, and Shopify Lite is perfect.

And that is it, and now you know how to use Shopify Lite and quickly sell at little cost! With a bit of testing, you will be able to know which Shopify plan is the right choice for your business. Even if you don’t choose Shopify Lite in the end, it is still an incredibly useful plan at a really low cost.

If you have any more questions, leave it in the comments section. And, if you have used Shopify Lite, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!

Read more: Shopify Plus Calculator: Breaking Down Shopify Enterprises Plan