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Adding business settings for your store

Before you start setting up your Shopify store, you need to create a Shopify account and add business information for your store. You don't need to include every detail right away, but be sure to add the following items:

  • Store name
  • Legal business name and address
  • Store time zone
  • Default store currency
  • Default weight unit
  • Password to protect your online store

On this page

Create your Shopify account

Create a Shopify account to start setting up your store. You'll need to enter a valid email address and a password.

During account creation, you're assigned an automatically-generated myshopify.com domain name, such as 1a2b3c4-5.myshopify.com. Your myshopify.com domain is unique to your store, and is used to log in to your Shopify admin and to identify your account. For example, third-party apps or services might ask for your myshopify.com as a Shopify account ID or account number to connect your account.

You can choose a new myshopify.com domain name one time only.

This domain name is also considered to be your store's primary domain by default, although you can buy a custom domain to replace your myshopify.com domain as the web address that customers use to visit your store.

Your store name is the name that's displayed on every page of your website. By default, your store name will be "My Store". To open a Shopify account, you must provide your full legal name, your business address, an active phone number and a valid email address. You might be required to provide further information on request. This information is used to verify your identity when registering for a Shopify account and is not shared with your customers. You might be required to provide further information. Learn more about Shopify's Terms of Service.

You can choose to share information such as your phone number with customers to provide customer service.

Steps:

Desktop
  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.
  2. Click General.
  3. In the Store details section, click the pencil icon.
  4. In the Edit profile dialog, under Store name, edit your store name.
  5. Click Save.
iPhone

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the … button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store details section, tap the pencil icon.

  5. In the Edit profile dialog, under Store name, edit your store name.

  6. Tap Save.

Android

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the ☰ button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store details section, tap the pencil icon.

  5. In the Edit profile dialog, under Store name, edit your store name.

  6. Tap ✓.

If your store uses Shopify Payments, then you also need to contact Shopify Support to change the business name on your Shopify Payments account. Otherwise, there's no limits to changing your store name and contact information. You can change them as often as you want, at any time.

Set or change your legal name and business address

Your legal name and business address displays on your bill. With the correct name and address listed on your Shopify bill, you might be able to claim Shopify as a business expense.

Steps:

Desktop
  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.
  2. Click General.
  3. In the Store details section, click the pencil icon next to the Billing address.
  4. Enter your legal business name and business address, and then click Save.
iPhone

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the … button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store details section, tap the pencil icon next to Billing address.

  5. Enter your legal business name and business address.

  6. Tap Save.

Android

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the ☰ button.

  2. Tap Settings

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store details section, tap the pencil icon next to Billing address.

  5. Enter your legal business name and business address.

  6. Tap ✓.

If your store uses Shopify Payments, then you need to deactivate Shopify Payments before you can change your store's country in your Shopify admin.

Set or change your store time zone

Desktop
  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.
  2. Click General.
  3. In the Store defaults section, from the Time zone list, select a new time zone.
  4. Click Save.
iPhone

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the … button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store defaults section, from the Time zone list, select a new time zone.

  5. Tap Save.

Android

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the ☰ button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store defaults section, from the Time zone list, select a new time zone.

  5. Tap ✓.

Select a store currency

In the General settings page of your Shopify admin, you can choose which currency your store uses (for example, USD, EUR, CAD, AUD, JPY).

If you're using Shopify Payments as your credit card payment gateway, then you must change your currency by editing the bank account and currency settings used by Shopify Payments.

Steps:

Desktop
  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.
  2. Click General.
  3. In the Store defaults section, click … > Change store currency.
  4. Select a new monetary unit with the drop-down menu.
  5. If you're changing your currency after your first order, then you also need to check I understand the risk of changing the store currency. You can also optionally select the reason for changing the currency. Click Save.
  6. Optional: To change the way monetary amounts are displayed, complete the following steps:
    1. Click … > Change currency formatting.
    2. Make changes to your currency formatting.
    3. Click Save.
iPhone

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the … button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store defaults section, tap … > Change store currency.

  5. Select a new monetary unit with the drop-down menu.

  6. If you're changing your currency after your first order, then you also need to check I understand the risk of changing the store currency. You can optionally select the reason for changing the currency. Tap Save.

  7. Optional: To change the way monetary amounts are displayed, complete the following steps:

    1. Tap … > Change currency formatting.
    2. Make changes to your currency formatting.
    3. Tap Save.
Android

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the ☰ button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store defaults section, tap … > Change store currency.

  5. Select a new monetary unit with the drop-down menu.

  6. If you're changing your currency after your first order, then you also need to check I understand the risk of changing the store currency. You can optionally select the reason for changing the currency. Tap ✓.

  7. Optional: To change the way monetary amounts are displayed, complete the following steps:

    1. Tap … > Change currency formatting.
    2. Make changes to your currency formatting.
    3. Tap ✓.

Display multiple currencies

If you use Shopify Payments, then you can set up your store to sell in multiple currencies. Customers can browse your online store and checkout in their preferred local currency.

If you don't use Shopify Payments, then you can customize themes to include multiple currencies on your online store for display purposes only. Your customers can check out only in the currency that you set on your General settings page under the Store defaults section.

Learn more about how to support multiple currencies in your theme.

Set or change your store's default weight unit

You can choose from the following default units of weight:

  • Pounds (lb) - Imperial system
  • Ounces (oz) - Imperial system
  • Kilograms (kg) - Metric system
  • Grams (g) - Metric system

Choose the weight unit that is most appropriate for your business. This is just the default value, and can be edited on a product-by-product basis later on.

Before choosing your default weight unit, you should choose your Unit system from the same screen.

Steps:

Desktop
  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.
  2. Click General.
  3. In the Store defaults section, use the Default weight unit drop-down menu to select the weight unit of your choice.
  4. Click Save.
iPhone

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the … button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store defaults section, use the Default weight unit drop-down menu to select the weight unit of your choice.

  5. Tap Save.

Android

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the ☰ button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Store defaults section, use the Default weight unit drop-down menu to select the weight unit of your choice.

  5. Tap ✓.

Set or update your home page metadata

Metadata, such as a page's title and meta description, is displayed in search engine results. It doesn't affect your chances of being listed by a search engine, but a good meta description can increase the likelihood that visitors will click through to your store. It's a great way to attract more traffic.

The title and meta description must be unique for each page, and must describe the content of that page. For every product, page, or blog in your Shopify admin, there's a search engine section where you can input the information as you want it to display on search engine results pages.

There is a 70 character limit for titles. Not all search engines will truncate after the character limit is reached, but most will truncate on a word, rather than in the middle of a word, to improve readability. Search engines list only about 140 characters of your meta description below your title tag, so keep it short.

You can view a preview of how your page displays as a search result on a Google result page.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Preferences.

  2. In the Title and meta description section, enter your home page metadata under Homepage title and Homepage meta description.

  3. Click Save.

Learn more about adding keywords for SEO to your Shopify store.

Format your order IDs

By default, your first order ID is given the format #1001. Orders after that are incremented by 1 for each new order. You can't change the number that your orders begin at (1001), but you can customize the format of your order IDs by adding or editing an order ID prefix or suffix.

Add or edit an order ID prefix

You can delete the # in the Prefix field or replace it with any characters A-Z, 0-9, or symbols. You can replace it with multiple characters if desired.

Steps:

Desktop
  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.
  2. Click General.
  3. In the Order ID section, click the Prefix field, and then enter a prefix for your order format.
  4. Click Save.
iPhone

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the … button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Order ID section, tap the Prefix field, and then enter a prefix for your order format.

  5. Tap Save.

Android

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the ☰ button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Order ID section, tap the Prefix field, and then enter a prefix for your order format.

  5. Tap ✓.

Add or edit an order ID suffix

You can delete the # in the Suffix field or replace it with any characters A-Z, 0-9, or symbols. You can replace it with multiple characters if desired.

Steps:

Desktop
  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings.
  2. Click General.
  3. In the Order ID section, click the Suffix field, and then enter a suffix for your order format.
  4. Click Save.
iPhone

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the … button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Order ID section, tap the Suffix field, and then enter a suffix for your order format.

  5. Tap Save.

Android

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the ☰ button.

  2. Tap Settings.

  3. In the Store settings section, tap General.

  4. In the Order ID section, tap the Suffix field, and then enter a suffix for your order format.

  5. Tap ✓.

Choose a new myshopify.com domain name

When you sign up for Shopify, your default myshopify.com domain name is generated for you. This domain name displays in your web browser's address bar when you're in your Shopify admin, and is the default storefront address that displays to customers who visit your online store.

If you want to emphasize your brand to customers browsing your store, then you have the following options:

  • Buy and add a custom domain. When you use a custom domain as your primary domain, your myshopify.com domain name isn't displayed to customers, and is used only by you and your staff when logging in to your Shopify admin.
  • Choose a new myshopify.com domain name for free to display to customers. You can do this only one time.

Steps:

Desktop
  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Domains.
  2. On the Domains page, click Change to a new myshopify.com domain for the relevant domain name.
  3. Enter a new name, and then click Add domain.
iPhone

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the … button.

  2. Tap Settings > Domains.

  3. On the Domains page, tap Change to a new myshopify.com domain for the relevant domain name.

  4. Enter a new name, and then tap Add domain.

Android

  1. From the Shopify app, tap the ☰ button.

  2. Tap Settings > Domains.

  3. On the Domains page, tap Change to a new myshopify.com domain for the relevant domain name.

  4. Enter a new name, and then tap Add domain.

The new myshopify.com domain automatically becomes your primary domain, and the previous myshopify.com domain automatically redirects to the new one. You don't need to create any additional URL redirects.

You and your staff still need to use your previous myshopify.com domain for logging in to your Shopify admin, and for when you contact Shopify Support about your store.

Next steps

After your business information is set up, it's time to start building your store.

Can’t find the answers you’re looking for? We’re here to help.