Getting started
Building new store as a Shopify Partner is slightly different than building a new store as a merchant. This page outlines the overall process and highlights the important differences.
To start building a store for a client, you need to create a Shopify Partner account.
On this page
Store-building overview
To build a Shopify store for a client, you’ll need to perform the following steps:
- Create a development store in your Partner Dashboard.
- Start building your client's store. You can choose and customize a theme, migrate information from another platform, add products to the store, organize products into collections, set up payment and shipping information, and more.
The work you'll do depends on your client's needs. For suggestions on how to add value to your client's store as a Shopify Partner, refer to Store setup basics.
Help your client migrate to Shopify
If your client is migrating to Shopify from another platform, then the methods you use to transfer their existing products, orders, and customers might depend on the amount and format of the data.
For more information about the considerations and steps merchants that are migrating to Shopify, refer to Migrate to Shopify.
Key features of development stores
Development stores have some important differences from stores that merchants create for themselves.
- As a Shopify Partner, you can create an unlimited number of free development stores.
- You'll start earning referral commissions on development stores after you transfer them to clients.
- There is no time limit on how long you can work on a development store. Clients only begin to pay for their stores when you transfer ownership to them and they select a paid plan.
Learn more about the features and limitations of development stores.