Starting a Shopify store can be challenging. But watching something you started from scratch grow into a successful and recognized business is always a proud moment.
A successfully running store is incredibly rewarding in terms of money and personal satisfaction, which makes up for the challenges and struggles.
No matter how rewarding, there always comes a time to part ways for multiple reasons.
Some entrepreneurs get this itch to get on an adventure and entertain a new business idea. Similarly, one might just want to retire, spend some time with the family or pursue other goals.
Whatever the reason, it is always clever to sell your Shopify store to make a good profit from it.
What is a Shopify Store?
Shopify is a subscription-based e-commerce platform that allows businesses of all levels to sell services or products both physically and digitally. With a Shopify store, you can build an online store and sell online through streamlined dashboards.
These entrepreneurs mostly rely on online stores to sell their products via social media, seller marketplaces, blogs, and other websites and through email, text, and chats.
Shopify store comes with four standard subscription plans that vary in fees. You can choose the one that matches the best with your business needs.
It is a great opportunity for young entrepreneurs to launch their dream stores online and watch them reach their highest peaks.
Its scalability is one of the best factors that help build trust and reputation among its users and guarantee success.
Should you Sell your Shopify Store?
While selling itself can be a lengthy process, deciding it could be daunting too.
You need to be sure that this is the right decision for you and that you are fully confident when deciding to sell your Shopify store. You don’t want to live with regrets.
Evaluate the reasons why you are selling the store. If you are unable to look after it properly and are only facing major loss because of the lack of attention, then it is always better to consider selling it to someone who can run it dedicatedly.
If you find someone willing to take over your day-to-day business, then selling is always a good option, but first, your need to evaluate its true worth.
It is critical to analyze your business’s current performance, valuation, current user engagement and the factors you need to ensure to achieve your desired price.
Once you are completely on track with your reasons, you can go ahead and follow the process to sell it.
Value of your Shopify Store
Without proper evaluation of the right value of your Shopify store, it is heedless to try and sell it.
You must know the right value. Everyone thinks their idea is the best and invests much of their time and energy into it. Sadly, the value of your Shopify store is not determined by the time and energy you invested in.
It highly depends upon the rate of its growth, its functionality, and the profit you are getting out of it.
How do you know the true value of your store then? Well, to analyze it, you first need to calculate your seller’s discretionary earnings. It will give you a bigger picture of the earnings generated by your business to your buyers over the year.
Once you know that, you can calculate your business valuation by multiplying your annual net profit by the number of years your firm has generated net profit.
If this looks difficult to you, you can always seek help from online evaluations such as OpenStore. With it, you can get a no-obligation free offer for your business in a day to help determine the value of your Shopify store.
Who to Sell your Shopify Store?
Now that you know why to sell and the right value for your Shopify store, the next step is to know whom to sell it to.
Shopify is no doubt a rising platform that more and more businesses are growing into. You must be wondering why would anyone want to buy yours.
Buying an online store is very much convenient for buyers as it saves a lot of time by skipping the whole startup process.
There is a wide range of online business buyers who are looking for a business with room for improvement so they can implement their ideas and make a quick return on their investment.
You just need to know what you require, expects, and want from the prospective party’s plans, motives, and ambitions for expanding your business.
Where to sell your Shopify Stores?
Now the main question is where to sell the store.
Since there are several anxious online business buyers, there is a vast space to sell your stores. Here are some best places to sell your Shopify store:
Private Sale
One way is to make a private sale and freely sell it to buyers from the community who are interested.
While this approach comes with 100% freedom to choose whom you want to sell and how much you want to sell it for, this also leaves you wide open to sinister characters who can take advantage of you.
Your potential buyer could be a scam artist trying to acquire your business without giving you the funds for it.
Other than that, you may also face a challenge with savvy negotiations. You are more likely to place a higher amount for sale, considering the emotional attachment you have with your business.
Therefore, if you are choosing this route, you need to have trusted and reliable buyers and confident contracts.
Marketplaces
Online marketplaces are the best way to avoid such scam activities. You just need to make sure your sale is both legal and carried out correctly to come to terms with the marketplace.
Some marketplaces even offer casual advice and help you out in the sale process if you are incapable of doing so.
You can try the following:
- Shopify Exchange Marketplace
- Empire Flippers
- Flippa
Business Brokers
Lastly, you can seek help from business brokers. This is the safest and most effective way to sell your stores because these individuals or firms have buyer contacts.
Different brokers turn out to be effective for different types of stores. It all depends upon the nature of your store, profitability, growth, price, and functionality.
Though they will cost you a certain fee for their services, we can guarantee with this approach, you can still make more money easily and safely than going private.
These are time-proven steps to sell a Shopify store for the best value. If you follow them, you would be able to sell your Shopify account much sooner than you have imagined.
Need Help Selling Your Shopify Store?
Thinking about selling your business? It’s hard to know where to begin. How do you find qualified buyers? What’s your business worth? How can you vet prospects? If you want to sell your business quickly and discreetly, then contact Cowen Partners
