How to Change Your Store Name on Shopify
As a new Shopify store owner, choosing the right name for your business can be a mammoth task.
When you do finally decide on a name and set up shop, it’s natural to consider a name change. Maybe you’ve found a name that better aligns with your brand than the one you first chose. Perhaps you’ve decided to shift into a different niche market – or, you simply changed your mind.
Whatever your reason for wanting to change your Shopify store name, doing it isn’t complicated. Before you jump in, there are a few bits of info you’ll need:
- Your store name (storename)
- Your domain or customised site name ( storename.com)
- Your subdomain name ( storename.myshopify.com)
Changing Your Store Name
It’s important to understand that your store name is what is displayed in the browser – the one your customers see on your page.
This name can be easily changed within a few seconds in your Shopify admin – there’s no need to open a new account.
- Navigate to Settings > General.
- Update your store name and hit Save.
Changing Your Domain or Customized Site Name
Good news – you can also set up and change a custom domain for your store, which is the URL your customers will see.
A custom domain will overwrite Shopify’s in-built subdomain name that was automatically created for you when you set up your store.
Your URL will change from storename.myshopify.com to storename.com.
You can purchase a custom domain from Shopify (they tend to be comparatively more expensive) or from a third-party provider (this requires some technical knowledge).
To add a custom domain to your Shopify store, navigate to Online Store > Domains. Be sure to select your custom domain as your primary domain before saving.
Changing Your Subdomain Name? Nope. (Sorry).
While it’s easy to change your Shopify store and domain name, changing your subdomain name? Not possible. Even though you’ve updated your store name, your subdomain will stay the same as when you originally set up your Shopify account. It will also remain your username.
The subdomain is what precedes the myshopify part of the URL.
If you have a custom domain, your customers won’t ever see your subdomain name, and therefore it might not be that much of an issue to you.
For example:
- Your new store name (newstorename)
- Your new domain or customised site name ( newstorename.com)
- Your subdomain name ( oldstorename.myshopify.com)
The only way you can change your subdomain name is by opening a new account. If you’ve recently started your Shopify store, this might be an option. Just make sure you duplicate your store first, so you don’t have to start completely from scratch.
URL Redirects for Best User Experience
How frustrating is it when you get sent to a broken URL link and have to find your way to the right place?
Imagine if you spent marketing cash getting your link out there which took customers to a 404 Error message. Not ideal.
When altering any of the URLs on your site, it’s a good idea to set up a redirect so that if a customer clicks on a broken link, they are automatically taken to the right place - no faff, no lost sales.
Steps to create a URL redirect:
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From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Navigation.
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Click Add URL Redirect.
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In Redirect From, enter the old URL you want to direct visitors away from.
- NB: If the URL link is not broken, the redirect will not work. You also can’t redirect URLs with the following prefixes: /apps, /application, /cart, /carts, /orders, /shop or /services.
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In Redirect To, enter the new URL that you want visitors redirected to. If this is your store hompage, enter: / .
- NB: If you are redirecting within your site, use a relative URL, e.g. /collection/shirts. If you are redirecting outside of your site, use a full URL, e.g. http://www.example.com/collection/shirts.
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Click Add.
For more information about managing your redirects, check out this Shopify blog post.
Where to Next?
Now that you’ve mastered the art of changing your Shopify store name, and you’re satisfied with how you’ve set up your account, what’s the next step if you’re a new Shopify store owner?
Well, you need customers, so you might want to read more about how to drive traffic to your Shopify store. Once you’ve got traffic, you might want to consider using the best Shopify apps to increase your sales.
Then, as your store grows and evolves, you’ll discover you need to find ways to automate tasks – so you can focus on the things that will help drive your business forward. Here are the best apps to fully automate your Shopify store.
Tidy books are essential to a growing business – if you’re not there yet, you might want to read The definitive guide to Shopify accounting for great information on accounting systems for Shopify sellers, tax software, and the benefits of a well-established back office. The guide also talks about connector apps, like A2X for Shopify.
Better Connected Accounting with A2X
A2X for Shopify helps sellers by automatically importing and generating a summary of your Shopify Payments pay-outs. This is then posted directly into your accounting system so when your Shopify pay-outs arrive in your bank account, you can easily reconcile them with your A2X for Shopify statements. This process means it’s just as easy to manage two thousand transactions a day as it is two.
Get in touch with the A2X team to find out more, or if you need help setting up your books correctly, kill two birds with one stone and have a chat with an A2X partner.
