New to the Shopify community and have been reading up on what is available on Shopify, but have not really found what I am looking for at this moment. Looking to open up a comic shop and looking to find out the best theme to use and any apps that would compliment having a comic site within Shopify. Thank you for your assistance in advance.
T.
Hi, @Thunder737 !
My name is Rae and I work for Shopify. Thanks for reaching out about your comic shop, and welcome to the Shopify Community!
In terms of a theme, are there any specific features you need your theme to have? For instance, are you hoping to showcase large images, or do you need a theme that can handle an extensive product catalog? Are you seeking a minimalist style, or something more bright and fun? If you arenât sure where to get started, and would like to test out some themes, then I recommend checking out any of the free, Shopify-developed themes. Some product-focused options from this list that would be great for your store are Minimal and Debut.
In regard to the apps you mentioned, what functionality are you trying to add to your site with apps? For example, if youâre interested in store design options, I recommend checking out this list. It is important to note that most apps incur additional monthly fees, so itâs usually best to weigh up the appâs benefit to your store, versus the cost, in order to determine if itâs necessary to use. However, once I have more details on the function, or feature, youâre looking to fill, Iâll be happy to suggest some specific apps.
Additionally, Iâd love to hear more about the types of products youâre selling, and where youâre sourcing these products from. Are you selling mainly comic books, or also merchandise?
Let me know if thereâs anything in particular that youâre looking for in a theme, or in an app, and I can certainly offer some more suggestions to suit your needs!
Hi Rae
Thank you very much in responding back to my question and providing very good questions and what I should be considering. Give me by early next week to getting more insight to be better to respond to your questions and provide what I would like to have for my site.
T.
Hi, @Thunder737 !
Thanks for getting back to me.
Feel free to take as much time as you need to gather more information on the type of theme and apps youâre looking for. Just reply back to me here once youâre ready and Iâll be happy to continue helping out.
If this is your first time using Shopify, I suggest checking out this helpful guide that outlines all the steps needed to build and launch a new store.
However, if youâre looking for someone to build your site on your behalf, then I recommend reaching out to Shopify Experts about this. Experts are third-party developers who have a lot of experience working on our platform, so theyâre a great resource to use for an entire store build, or even app installs and custom integrations. You can find out more about what they offer here.
Keep me posted on your theme and app requirements!
Hi Rae! Happy New Year!!!
I looked at the Themes you have suggested and I like the Debut theme with âPredictive searchâ, âProduct recommendationsâ and how when you go from one category to another on the phone it jumps to another screen and the ability to go back. But I will be having a large inventory of comics where Venture theme from extensive product catalog suits my needs very well. So I am looking for a combination of features from these two themes. Is that possible to take âPredictive searchâ, âProduct recommendationsâ and Phone category navigation from the Debut theme and incorporate that into the Venture theme?
In regards to Apps I have no idea if I need any as I was wondering if there was any apps useful for a Comic Store? So at this point I might not need any, but I am not sure at this moment, I did check it out but on my two searches did not really find them useful other than maybe Facebook and Google linking.
Looking to sell: Bundle comics, Back Issues comics, Current Comics, Variant Comics, Exclusive Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Supplies, Toys, Cards, Statues, and Funko Pops.
Inventory coming from Current Comics, Variant Comics, Exclusive Comics, Graphic Novels, Toys, Cards, Statues, and Funko Pops would come from Comic distributors that I would want linked to my Shopify store, is that possible? Some products I will have in stock and would want to add them to the appropriate category that I have listed.
At this moment I am just talking about Phone functionality.
Looking to have Menu on the left followed next by Logo, Search, Account and Shopping Cart on the right.
At the top have a large image of a featured comic and the ability to jump to another feature comic in a slide show format.
Scrolling down the ability to have several categories with some comics below each category.
The ability to display comics/others in a Titled or List format.
Just wondering actually is there an app for having Live Online bidding on comics?
I will leave it that to see your response and will likely have additional questions.
Thank you for your help Rae!
Hi, @Thunder737 !
Happy New Year! I appreciate you getting back to me with all of these details, and Iâm happy to continue helping out.
To combine the features of both Debut and Venture, you would likely need to use apps, or speak with Shopify Experts about customizing one of these themes to entirely suit your needs. If youâd like to explore using apps for this, Smart search bar & search icon or Predictive Search 2.0 can help add predictive search. Equally, Product Recommendations PRO and Personalized Recommendations are both great options to consider for adding product recommendations to your theme.
Your products sound great, and it looks like you have quite an extensive list of items. Since you mentioned selling comics in bundles, I suggest also checking out some apps to build these bundles on your site. Some choices I recommend looking over are Bundles and Bundler - Product Bundles.
In terms of using distributors for your products, how are you hoping to link your inventory to your store? Do your distributors already have an integration with Shopify? Or, are you hoping to receive inventory from your distributors and upload this inventory to Shopify manually, or** via a CSV file** from your distributor? Will you hold and ship your own inventory, or will your distributors manage this on their end?
The location of the logo and the way your homepage is set up will be determined by how you customize your theme. Have you had a chance to open up a 14-day free trial with us and explore the customization options further? If not, I really recommend giving this a try to check out whatâs available.
In regard to having a live auction on your site, some apps that can help facilitate this are Product Auction and Tipo Product Auction.
Itâs important to note that all of the apps I previously mentioned in my response are third-party apps, developed and supported by individuals and companies who are external to Shopify. So, if you have any questions about using these apps, or the charges associated, please reach out to the app developers directly for more help.
Let me know if you have any further questions!
Hi Rae!
Thanks for the response, will respond to your questions and suggestions shortly. But want to side track for a second and ask you what are the top 3 hosting companies Shopify would recommend for speed, uptime, security and anything else that would best connect with Shopify? My next question is would you know of a Shopify expect(s) that had created comic shop for a company or had created a shop that contains a lot of products (10,000+), looking for 5 in this case?
Will get back shortly on what you asked or suggested shortly.
Thank you
Thaddeus
Hi, @Thunder737 !
Thanks for following up with me.
In terms of the hosting companies you mentioned, are you referring to purchasing a domain? If so, you can buy one directly from Shopify. However, if you prefer to use a third-party domain host instead, GoDaddy and Bluehost are some of the options to consider, as mentioned here. If you decide to go ahead with a third-party host, itâs best to speak with that host directly about any questions or concerns you have with their hosting platform.
While I donât know of any specific Shopify Experts who have built comic book stores with large catalogs, I do recommend checking out the full list of store build Experts here. On the lefthand side of this list, you can filter the Experts by their industry expertise. You will also see a star rating for each Expert towards the righthand side of the page. If you click on an Expertâs name, youâll be able to see their reviews in more detail, and check out any feedback other merchants have left. This is a great way to get a feel for the experience others have had working with a particular Expert, and this may help you find an Expert that youâd like to work with, too.
Itâs also important to mention that you can create a job on the Shopify Experts Marketplace to get matched with Experts who can complete your task. Youâll then be able to pick the Expert youâd like to work with. To do this, just follow these steps.
I look forward to receiving your next reply, and helping out with any follow up questions you have!
Hi Rae,
Sorry for the delay in getting back, but I have dived in and setup my store, it is presently hidden, but can send you the code to see the basic layout of the store and the overall concept. Note it is still a work in progress, But question I have from testing the shopping cart. I see using test mode that I got a confirmation on an order and it generated #1001. I know if I was to test again it would generate #1002 and so forth, I looked and saw what it said and just wanted to confirm after testing can the order number reset back to #1000 so that it would regenerate #1001? Also wondering the something for Transfer Order Number, can those be reset if I use the same number in a *.CSV file when I upload?
Thanks for your help
Hi, @Thunder737 !
Thanks so much for reaching back out.
Iâm glad to hear youâve started building your store. Once your store has been launched, and the password page on your storefront is removed, Iâd be happy to take a closer look at your theme, if youâd like!
In terms of your question regarding your order numbers though, if your test orders have been cancelled or archived, they can be deleted by following these steps. That will remove those orders from the âOrdersâ page in your Shopify admin. However, when a new order is placed, it wonât show up as an order number that was previously used. So, for example, if you delete orders #1001 and #1002, and place a new order, this new order will show up in your admin as order #1003. Is there a particular reason why youâre looking to reset these order numbers, though? Iâm happy to share any feedback you have on this with our team directly!
In regard to your last question, are you referring to transfers from your suppliers? If so, can you tell me a bit more about why youâre trying to reset these transfers? Usually itâs recommended that you keep a history of all the transfers youâve received for your own inventory tracking purposes. With that said though, if youâve received a transfer by mistake and want to undo it, you can do so by following these steps.
Best,
Hi Rae
Thanks, It was much easier that I had expected to set up the site, for the most part straight forward.
The reason why I was looking to start back at #1001 because I am only in test mode so once I am done would have liked it to be reset but that is not the case, so I am ok with that.
The Transfer as well are just sample products to making sure the site is laid out in the manner I want. Once I am done using sample products I would want to delete the products and Inventory and start from scratch. Will try the steps once I am done testing, thank you.
A new question. I am trying to figure out how to create a Hold Box, meaning when a customer buy a few comics, it would be too costly to just ship 1 to 2 comics. So I would have a shipping option that would say DO NOT SHIP PLEASE HOLD, until over a few week they would then like to have a larger amount of comics to ship. I donât believe there is an option for that but is there a way to set that up and let the customer know that the items are ready but is ON HOLD and they would just need to make a request to have it shipped? I guess it would be similar to LOCAL PICK but for anywhere in Canada as it would apply to shipping.
Thanks
Hi, @Thunder737 !
Great news! Iâm so glad to hear that setting up your site was easy.
In terms of your question about the hold box, there are some options that might allow for this. However, thereâs also several reasons why setups like these arenât always recommended, so I think itâs important that we review some of the potential issues this might cause that you should be aware of, such as:
In addition to this, it may be worthwhile to take a look at your shipping prices to determine if itâs possible to lower them. That way, customers will be more likely to checkout with smaller orders, and not mind paying a shipping fee to have their order shipped right away. With this in mind, how are your shipping rates currently set up, and what carriers and shipping services do you plan on using?
If you decide to go ahead with using an order hold strategy on your site, you may want to look into setting up pre-orders to manage this. We have a tutorial on this here. However, implementing this does require advanced coding knowledge, so if youâre not comfortable with this, I recommend reaching out to Shopify Experts for more help.
Additionally, if youâre looking for a custom setup thatâs entirely unique to your site, Shopify Experts may be able to build this for you. You can learn more about having Experts build and install custom integrations here.
Let me know if you have any questions about this, or if youâd like to discuss your shipping strategy further. Iâm happy to continue helping out!