For experts selling knowledge instead of products, Shopify offers a practical way to package online courses, classes, and memberships into a polished storefront.
Key Takeaways
- Using Shopify for online courses works best when you plan access, pricing, and course format before building the store.
- Apps help turn Shopify into a stronger course platform with subscriptions, bookings, tickets, and gated content.
- Some Shopify themes can improve the user’s learning experience by making it easier for students to browse courses, sign in, and find live and on-demand options.
Shopify has a reputation as one of the most user-friendly platforms for launching online stores, but it’s not just for selling apparel. You can also use Shopify for online courses, training workshops, certification programs, and live classes. Integrated e-commerce tools and payment features give you the flexibility you need.
How Do You Set Up Shopify for Online Courses?
The first step of offering online courses is to design your content. This guide can help with the process of creating an online course. Afterward, you’re ready to launch your Shopify store.
1. Create a Shopify Account
Anyone can create a Shopify store with the free trial, but you need a paid plan to sell products or courses. For many e-commerce course providers, the Basic tier ($19/month) is more than enough. If you need multiple staff accounts to manage your store’s courses and classes, you can always upgrade to a $49/month Grow plan.
2. Plan Your Store’s Design
Before adding courses, take a moment to decide how your store should function and look:
- Feel: Are you aiming for a comfortable and friendly vibe or something professional and formal?
- Style: Do you have specific colors or brand concepts to include?
- Device: Are your courses designed for PC users, mobile devices, or both?
- Payments: Will you sell individual courses or an all-access subscription?
- Certifications: Will your courses provide separate testing and professional certification services?
- Additional products: Will you sell physical course materials, guides, curated products, or items related to your courses?
All of these decisions have a big impact on the next steps. It’s easier to create a Shopify course platform once you have the basic outline down on paper.
3. Choose a Store Theme
The Shopify Theme Store includes free and paid themes. Similar to store templates, themes give you a starting point for page designs, layouts, text styles, and colors. You can customize most page elements with a user-friendly editor, no programming experience necessary.
4. Add Product Pages and Collections
Shopify treats courses and products the same during store creation. To add a new course, open your management dashboard and click on the Products tab, then “Add product.”
Name the course and add a description of what students will learn. Include bullet points, an image carousel, or a preview video if possible.
Course pages should be simple and easy to understand. That said, they generally include more details than regular product pages. Be persuasive and convince visitors why your course is worth their time.
5. Upload Your Content or Link to a Learning Management System
One way to use Shopify for online courses is to host your content on a third-party learning management system. Students pay and sign in on Shopify. Many online course platforms integrate with Shopify and provide value-added tools for interactive course materials.
The other option is to host on Shopify. You can upload video content and sell access codes or downloadable files. These features require installing the free Digital Downloads app.
6. Use Shopify Apps for Online Courses
You can offer recurring subscriptions with the Shopify Subscriptions app, but advanced features such as membership perks and exclusive events usually require a third-party app. The good news is that the Shopify store includes nearly 1,000 apps that integrate smoothly with your site.
Here are a few app features you shouldn’t miss:
- Booking calendar that lets members schedule one-on-one classes or sign up for courses
- Ticketing app for webinars, workshops, and instructor-led courses
- Event management tools for handling scheduling, reservations, and cancellations
- Content locking app for keeping courses behind a paid subscription or access token
The advantage of an event management app for online courses is that you can coordinate a variety of classes, webinars, video courses, and one-off events from your dashboard. For example, Evey Events lets you sell store-specific tickets for individual users, corporate groups, and larger class sizes.
What Are the Best Shopify Themes for Courses?
Some Shopify themes have unique features that make it easier to manage online courses and customer experiences. For example, if you plan to use a subscription-based access model for your courses, it’s smart to look for a Shopify theme that offers an account menu or sign-in features. For live workshops, event signups are a must.
1. Queen
Online courses that revolve around technology, art, personal development, and other trending themes benefit from Queen’s contemporary style. This theme has an account menu and a sidebar for effortless navigation. Sidebar menus are a great fit for stores that have many different online courses, subjects, or services.
2. Caffeine
Are you providing courses based on your personal expertise, such as wedding tips for couples or beauty classes? Choose a Shopify theme that feels warm, welcoming, and beautiful.
Caffeine is an excellent example, with friendly fonts, rich tones, and a laid-back layout. An advanced search menu helps clients quickly find their favorite courses, videos, or tests.
3. Borders (and More)
Many premium Shopify themes come with several variants. For example, the Borders theme also includes Folio, Mosaic, and two others.
Borders is edgy, irreverent, and colorful. This theme appeals to audiences who are bored with “traditional” learning models. Courses for tattooing, urban art, photography, and creative writing are a perfect fit.
Folio has a relaxing, homey feeling. It fits themes like wellness, emotional care, and interior design.
Mosaic has a bold, editorial style that helps large headlines, featured content, and products stand out. Because the preset is built for flexible sections and strong product merchandising, it works well for businesses that want to sell courses alongside related products, such as photography classes and photo prints.
4. Beatnik
One of the most popular themes on Shopify, Beatnik is pricey but worth it for stores that sell a wide variety of courses. The minimalist style, sign-in menu, and easy-to-configure sections provide an air of professionalism. If you partner with a university or a prestigious industry expert, this is the theme for you.
Examples of Shopify Stores With Online Courses
If you’re still not convinced that you can sell courses on Shopify, a few real-life examples can provide some inspiration. Plenty of innovative business owners have made it work.
Learning Evolution
Learning Evolution offers business-focused online courses for individuals and corporate teams. Its store layout is simple yet powerful and professional. In addition to its subscription-based courses for consumer goods sales and marketing, Learning Evolution delivers professional certifications and training programs in partnership with Western Michigan University — 100% online.
Transformation Academy
The online courses at Transformation Academy help clients become trained life coaches. What’s interesting about the academy’s approach is that they give customers several flexible options for accessing courses.
Some people pay a per-course fee, such as $297 for an online instructor-led course and certification. Other students pay $149 monthly or $895 annually for access to all 60-plus courses on the site.
Matt Murphy Art
A good example of how to sell courses and products on Shopify, Matt Murphy Art uses a simple layout and sidebar for navigation. Clients can easily book classes or purchase the oil paintings covered in the courses. The course pages include video previews and clear explanations of what is covered.
Making It Easier To Manage Online Courses on Shopify
Whether online courses are your main business or a way to attract attention and sell other products, Shopify’s flexibility works in your favor. Intuitive controls make customizing your site easy, and apps provide the add-on features you need to offer courses.
For a convenient user experience, use Evey Events to manage webinars, Zoom classes, instructor-led courses, and certification exams. Evey helps you create professional registration forms, account signups, tickets, and booking calendars for your site, all with your unique branding.
Discover how this Shopify events app can take online courses on Shopify to the next level.
