How to Build and Grow a Shopify Affiliate Store

When starting as an affiliate marketer, it can take time to know where to begin. There are so many different techniques and strategies that you could use, it can take time to know which ones will work best for your store.

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In this blog post, we'll be discussing Shopify affiliate stores. We'll cover what they are, how they work, and some of the benefits of using one. By the end of this post, you should have a good understanding of Shopify affiliate stores and whether or not they would be a good fit for your business.

What is a Shopify Affiliate Store?

A Shopify affiliate store is an online store powered by Shopify and uses affiliate marketing to earn revenue. Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards an affiliate for each new customer or sale that they generate. 

How Does it Work?

The way that a Shopify affiliate store works is fairly simple. First, you must sign up for a Shopify account and create your store. Once your store is set up, you'll need to find products to sell and add them to your shop. Then, you'll need to sign up for an affiliate program (more on that below). Once you're approved for the affiliate program, you'll be given a unique link that you can share on your website or social media platforms. 

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Whenever someone clicks on your link and makes a purchase from your shop, you'll earn a commission on the sale. The commission rate will vary depending on the affiliate program that you're using. Typically, the commission rates for Shopify affiliate stores range from 5% to 20%. 

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There are several benefits of using a Shopify affiliate store over other types of online stores. First, using an affiliate marketing model means that you don't have to invest in inventory or worry about shipping orders yourself. 

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This can save you time and money in the long run. Second, because affiliates are only paid when they generate sales, there's little risk involved in starting up a Shopify affiliate store. And lastly, because there are no upfront costs associated with starting a Shopify affiliate store, it's easy to get started without any financial investment. 

Why should you consider starting a Shopify affiliate store as an entrepreneur?

There are many reasons why you should consider starting a Shopify affiliate store as an entrepreneur. Below are some of the reasons: 

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You can start your own business with little to no upfront investment: When you start a Shopify affiliate store, you do not need to invest in inventory or worry about shipping costs. All you need is a domain name and to sign up for a Shopify account. 

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No experience necessary: You do not need any experience in eCommerce or web development to start a Shopify affiliate store. Shopify is a user-friendly platform that anyone can use. 

Scalable business model - As your traffic and sales increase, you can scale your business by adding more products to your store. 

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Passive income stream: Once your shop is set-up, it takes very little maintenance to keep it running. This gives you more time to focus on other ventures or simply enjoy your life without having to work long hours every day. 

How to set up a Shopify affiliate store 

The first step in setting up a Shopify affiliate store is to create a Shopify account and set up your shop. Once you've done this, you'll need to sign up for an affiliate program. After signing up, you will be given a unique link that can be shared on social media platforms or on your website.

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Once the link is shared, you will earn a commission whenever someone clicks on it and purchases from your store. The commission rate varies depending on the affiliate program that you're using but typically ranges from 5% to 20%.

How to find products to sell on your Shopify affiliate store

Before you can start selling products on your Shopify affiliate store, you'll need to find products that are relevant and in demand. One of the best ways to do this is by researching popular trends or topics related to your niche.

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You can also use keyword research tools such as Google AdWords and SEMrush to help you identify products that are in demand and being searched for online. To find products to sell on your Shopify affiliate store, you can also browse the websites of other ecommerce stores or use dropshipping suppliers such as AliExpress and Oberlo.

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Once you have identified a few potential products, it's important to check their availability and pricing. You should also research the competition for those products and consider their marketing strategies. This will help you determine whether or not it would be profitable to sell them on your Shopify affiliate store.

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Once you have identified the right products to sell, you can start setting up your store by adding product listings and images. You'll also want to create marketing materials such as product descriptions and promotional banners. Finally, you can start promoting your products on social media or email marketing campaigns.

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Granted, that’s the old way of becoming a successful affiliate store. If you really want to find success with selling products that aren’t yours, consider leveraging cross-store selling.

Why cross-store selling is a complement to affiliate marketing

When we say Cross-Store selling, you might think of it as creating a marketplace similar to Amazon. Where Amazon is full of thousands of brands competing for attention, Cross-Store selling is more about helping your brand build a highly curated suite of products designed to serve customers' needs. 

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With Cross-Store selling, your brand can sell products from other brands (and they can sell your products too). With this kind of sales channel, your brand suddenly becomes the go-to destination for products similar to Amazon. 

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The reason Cross-Store Selling wins against affiliate marketing is because Cross-Store Selling allows you to sell your products alongside products that are complementary to yours. 

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Let’s say a customer wants to buy travel gear from your site. They might also be interested in hiking, hunting, and other types of gear that your site doesn’t sell. You can leverage Cross-Store Selling to add other types of gear to your site from other brands. When a customer makes a purchase, your brand gets a cut of the sale while growing your brand.

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By having a suite of products focusing on different types of travel gear, your site ensures that customers are happy and more likely to return to buy future travel products. This is because the customer knows that your site has the products best suited for their workout lifestyle.

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Turning your store into a digital mall keeps customers returning and lets you build a high-quality marketplace with products that Amazon doesn’t have. Cross-Store Selling has you covered if you’ve ever wanted your store to become the lifestyle brand for your niche.

How to market your Shopify affiliate store for maximum success

One of the most important things that you can do when marketing your Shopify affiliate store is to create high-quality content. This content can be in the form of blog posts, articles, or even videos. When creating this content, ensure it is relevant to your target audience and provides them with valuable information. Not only will this help you to attract new customers, but it will also help to build trust and credibility with your audience.

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Another effective way to market your Shopify affiliate store is by using social media. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer great opportunities for promoting your store to a large audience. When using social media, post regularly and use eye-catching visuals to capture people’s attention. You can also use paid advertising on these platforms to reach a larger audience quickly.

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SEO is another important factor in growing your Shopify affiliate store. Make sure that your website is properly optimized for the keywords that people are searching for when they're looking for products in your niche. If you can get your site to rank higher in search engine results pages, you'll get more traffic and conversions.

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Another great way to increase conversions on your Shopify affiliate store is to offer discounts and coupons. People love a good deal, so if you can offer them one, they'll be much more likely to buy from you. Just make sure that the discounts and coupons you offer are actually worthwhile; otherwise, people will see right through it and won't be back.

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Finally, another great way to market your Shopify affiliate store is through email marketing. This involves sending regular emails to your subscribers with information about your store and new products that you have added. It is important to make sure that the content of these emails is interesting and relevant to your audience, otherwise they will be quickly deleted.

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As an affiliate marketer, you can make a lot of money by promoting products from Shopify stores. However, it can take a lot of work to stand out in such a crowded marketplace. These are just a few tips for growing a successful Shopify affiliate store. By creating compelling content, leveraging social media, optimizing for SEO, and offering discounts and coupons, you'll be well on your way to making more sales and commissions.

Why you should use Carro in addition to affiliate marketing for your Shopify store

Here are the reasons why you should leverage Carro if you want to recession-proof your Shopify store.

Get discovered by customers from other brands

With Carro’s focus on Cross-Store Selling, your products become part of a highly-curated marketplace, but unlike Amazon’s bloated SKUs, your products are much more likely to be seen. Use Carro to connect with other brands to co-market each others’ products to create a win-win situation. 

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"In addition to a nice contribution to the bottom line, it was also one of the most highly-engaged social posts for the year." 

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David Krimper, Director of Ecommerce, Manduka

Fulfillment is handled for you

The beauty of Cross-Store Selling is that you don’t have to house the products for other brands in your warehouses. Orders are automatically sent to the brands so they can handle fulfillment themselves. 

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“Before we joined Carro, we had put our company on the market. We thought we needed capital to expand our traditional wholesaling. Now, we’re able to meet our goals without having any cash come out of pocket. We’re tripling and quadrupling the numbers of units that we move because we have access to so much more inventory.”

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Amy Richardson-Golia, June & January

Grow AOV, LTV, and retention

One of the most exciting reasons to use Carro is that it’s the best strategy for growing your Shopify business in the long run. By working collaboratively with other brands, your brand will set itself up for success. Your Shopify store will become THE destination for your niche. If you sell beauty products, Cross-Store Selling allows you to grow your product listings so your customers keep coming back for more. 

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One of the best reasons to shop on Amazon is convenience. Being able to buy everything you need in one place is a powerful motivator. Wouldn’t you love it if your Shopify store was the go-to place for your customers’ needs?

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"Take my word for it, if you install Carro, you are going to see what I’ve seen. Which is a dramatic increase to average order value, especially on orders that contain Carro products, which for us is over 80% increase to AOV. " 

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Ryan Pamplin, Founder & CEO of Blendjet

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To learn more about how Carro can help your Shopify store grow, check us out on the Shopify App Store. 

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