More consultants are moving online, and Shopify offers a simple, low-cost way to launch a professional site while expanding your reach and turning services into scalable offers.
Key Takeaways
- Using Shopify for a consulting business gives you an easy way to sell services, manage bookings, and accept payments without building a custom website.
- Shopify’s apps and built-in tools let consultants offer flexible pricing models like subscriptions, packages, and event-based services.
- The right Shopify theme helps establish trust, showcase your consulting expertise, and create a polished client experience.
Unlike many small businesses worried about the impact of AI, consulting services are thriving. Not only is the market for consultants increasing by a healthy 5% every year, but consulting businesses also offer creativity and expertise that a chatbot can’t replace. Now is an excellent time to expand your reach by taking your business online. Getting started isn’t difficult when you use Shopify for your consulting business.
Why Use Shopify for a Consulting Business?
Some consultants hold back from creating a website because they think that it will cost too much. And if you had to hire a big firm, that might be the case. Shopify is different. It’s affordable, user-friendly, flexible, and filled with helpful features for small businesses.
Here are a few benefits by the numbers:
- Less Than $20: If you run your consulting business yourself or with a couple of employees, the basic Shopify plan is plenty. That’s just $19/month.
- No Setup Fees: You don’t have to worry about long contracts or commitments with Shopify. You can try it for $1 your first month, and it doesn’t cost anything to create your website or host it. Getting a unique URL has a small one-time fee.
- E-commerce Functionality: Your new Shopify site has payment processing tools built in automatically. After deciding how you want to bill your services, you can start selling online right away.
- Plug-and-Play Features: One of the best advantages of Shopify for service businesses like consultants is its huge app library. Basically, if you want to change how your store works — like charging a subscription instead of a fixed fee — you just need to find and install the right app.
Do consultants really need a website? In a recent survey, marketing agency Brightlocal found that 97% of people check online reviews for local businesses. And 40% do it every single time. People look for trust signals, like star ratings and client reviews.
Customers want to know why your consulting business is unique and what you offer. With Shopify, you don’t need to be an expert in marketing, design, or programming to make a great first impression.
Which Consulting Businesses Use Shopify?
Shopify appeals to a variety of consulting businesses for different reasons. Some consultants like the low monthly cost. Shopify’s e-commerce tools make it an especially good fit for consultants who sell packages, add-ons or memberships.
Management Consultants
Management consulting is one of the fastest-growing market segments, jumping by $120 billion in just 10 years. Whether you specialize in team development, business strategy, or workflow automation, Shopify helps you stand out from giants like Deloitte.
Financial Consultants
Choosing the right Shopify consulting business theme is essential for financial consultants. Shopify themes add a personal touch that resonates with people looking for investment advice, debt reorganization assistance, retirement planning services, and other personal or small business consulting services.
Certified Public Accountants
Taking your business online with a Shopify store is a good way to expand your client base. The technology is there for CPAs to provide services 100% remotely, from assisting clients with annual tax filings to auditing business financials. With a booking calendar, you can enable customers to schedule appointments in just a few clicks.
Industry-Specific Consultants
Shopify works well for consulting businesses in every niche, whether you provide on-site assistance locally or connect with customers via video conferencing integrations. Trending consulting services include:
- Data center development consulting
- AI-enhanced services or consulting for in-house ML models
- IT, help desk, and networking services
- Regulatory compliance (HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, etc.)
- Third-party hiring services
Shopify offers plenty of out-of-the-box features for fast website creation, along with a flexible backend for advanced tweaks. You don’t need to code anything, but the ability is there if you have the expertise.
Event Planners
One of the best fits for a Shopify consulting business is the event planning market. Having payment integration already set up means you can offer everything from event management to floral arrangements:
- Weddings and parties
- Corporate events
- Concerts
- Conventions and trade shows
- Fundraisers
- Catering and menu planning services
Shopify consultants can offer high-end event design and luxury experiences. Event venues use Shopify stores to manage everything, including point-of-sale and ticketing.
Online Classes and Coaching
Classes are another promising way to provide e-commerce consulting services in a variety of fields. With Shopify apps, you can create members-only content like courses, webinars, and guides, or provide one-on-one coaching sessions. Event apps can also help you schedule and manage virtual seminars.
What Does a Consulting Business Look Like on Shopify?
There are many ways to structure a consulting business on Shopify. The following sites highlight different approaches, each with a unique identity and way of delivering value online.
Wolfer & Co
Wolfer & Co leans into the strategy and coaching side of consulting. It mainly focuses on empowering DIY events. Its courses help couples understand how to plan a wedding that stays within budget and meets their dreams.
Zola
Zola bills itself as the consulting site that delivers everything couples need to organize their perfect day. It helps brides-to-be find nearby venues and trustworthy vendors. And thanks to e-commerce tools, Zola also makes money selling invitations and other consumables.
The Venlist
The Venlist is a good example of implementing subscription-based consulting services. Different membership tiers provide effortless billing for clients and make services easy to understand.
Which Shopify Consulting Business Theme Should You Choose?
For the most part, Shopify themes determine how your store looks and feels. But many themes also provide extra tools that make managing your business easier, such as infinite scroll, image and video carousels, bundles, and checkout upsells.
Highly rated Shopify themes for consulting businesses include:
- Slope: Great for visual storytelling, outdoor events, and concerts
- Haven: A warm theme that combines images and product pages; perfect for wedding planners
- Bezel: Sleek, powerful, and professional; great choice for business consultants, IT pros, and marketing agencies
- Avante: High impact and image-focused; strong choice for websites that emphasize your personal brand, such as design consultants
- Origin: Free Shopify theme with personality and warmth; highlights your small-business feel
- Morna: Professional but informal design; ideal for personal finance consulting, courses, and one-on-one services
- Cooktech: Bold and colorful theme for consultants who want to turn heads and share industry “secrets”
Free themes provide good functionality and plenty of flexibility, while paid themes often deliver an extra “wow” factor. With any premium theme, you only need to pay once. You’re free to customize colors, page blocks, fonts, and other design elements to your heart’s content.
How Do You Start a Consulting Business on Shopify?
The steps you need to follow to get your online consulting company off the ground depend on how long you’ve been in business IRL. This guide covers the most important bits.
1. Define Your Business Basics
It’s easier to use Shopify’s website builder if you have the basics on paper:
- Business Plan: What services will you offer, and what is your business niche?
- Target Audience: Are you marketing to local customers, everyone on the web, or a certain group of people or businesses?
- Brand Name: Have you already registered your business name? Your Secretary of State website can help with this.
- Tax Info: Does your state require you to pay sales tax on consulting income? Some do, and some don’t.
From there, you just need to create a free Shopify account. There is a helpful tutorial that guides you through store setup.
2. Choose How You’ll Price and Sell Your Consulting Services
The next big step is deciding how you’re going to sell your services. This affects your choice of payment processor and checkout features. Consultants can make money on Shopify with:
- A la carte pricing for specific services
- Subscriptions
- Monthly packages or tiers
- Event add-ons
- Rentals and products
- One-time fee that covers everything you offer
Shopify’s e-commerce tools work for sales out of the box, but you may need an app or two for membership content and rentals.
3. Add the Right Apps for Consultants
Apps are one of Shopify’s strongest selling points. They let you customize your store’s features to fit your services seamlessly. Consultants often benefit from:
- Scheduling app to coordinate your appointments, video chats, and webinars
- Booking calendar for the customer side of things
- Ticketing apps to manage conferences, seminars, and other virtual events
- Subscription apps to lock membership content behind a secure paywall
- Email integrations to automate content delivery, send tickets to customers, and deliver reports
What if you charge by the hour for your services or provide custom pricing for business clients? One solution is to use Shopify apps that convert your instant checkout into a quote delivery system.
4. Build Content and Connect Your Social Channels
Don’t ignore the power of content to convert visitors into excited customers. Blogs and social media posts give your site a human touch and put potential clients at ease.
Great content also helps with search marketing. Link your Shopify store with your social media profile so Instagram and Facebook leads know where to go.
Streamline Your Shopify Consulting Business With Evey Events
Using Shopify for a consulting business is easy, but the right app makes things even better. For consultants who interact with clients or coordinate events, Evey Events is an ideal tool.
Evey helps you schedule, customize, ticket, and manage virtual and in-person events, from live meetings and virtual conferences to local appointments and training sessions. Built-in QR codes make check-in simple, while integrations with email platforms help you stay connected with attendees.
Unlock more from your consulting business with Evey Events, the only Shopify events app you need.
