Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. If you click through and purchase an item, I may earn a commission. See my terms of service for details.

Online retail and ecommerce are hot topics. Digital nomads everywhere discuss subjects like ecommerce software, marketplaces, and drop shipping. A desire to enter ecommerce is supported by global sales that have surpassed $2.3 trillion. Similarly, affiliate marketers want to jump on the ecommerce bandwagon by promoting ecommerce software, apps, themes, plugins, and related products and services. For affiliate marketers, Shopify might be their way to riches.

Shopify is a leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for businesses of all sizes. Merchants/sellers use Shopify to create, set up, and operate their stores across multiple sales channels, including web, mobile, social media, brick-and-mortar, and pop-up shops. The platform also provides merchants with a powerful back-office and a single view of their businesses. Shopify POS (point-of-sale) is an in-store application for iOS and Android devices. Shopify is engineered for reliability and scale, making enterprise-level technology available to every type of merchant.

Company Profile

• Founded by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake in 2004
• Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• Stock ticker: SHOP
• Five offices across North America
• 1M+ active Shopify stores
• Billions in gross product volume (GPV)

Plans & Pricing

Shopify has monthly and annual plans, and there are no setup fees. A 14-day free trial is available and doesn’t require credit card details. Shopify’s five plans include:

• Shopify Lite: $9/month
• Basic Shopify: $29/month
• Shopify: $79/month
• Advanced Shopify: $299/month
• Shopify Plus

Shopify Affiliate Program

Shopify has an affiliate program. It’s self-hosted and uses proprietary affiliate tracking software. Anyone can join the program. Let’s review the benefits, drawbacks, commission rate, cookie duration, and details of the program. Here’s a snapshot of the program.

• Cost per action (CPA): Pay per sale
• Commission rate: Up to $2,000
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Payout threshold: One sale
• Payment options: PayPal
• Affiliate software/network: In-house custom

Program Benefits

Shopify pays high commission rates. For each referral who signs up for a paid plan, you’ll receive a 100 percent commission on the first and second payment. For example, a Basic Shopify plan will net you $58 ($29/month x 2 = $58). The 200 percent commission applies to all plans except Shopify Plus. For Shopify Plus, you will earn $2,000 per conversion. For conversions in specific countries, Shopify occasionally pays up to 300 percent.

The program has a 30-day cookie. Sales attribution starts when a person clicks on your link and signs up for a free trial within 30 days. If the user becomes a customer after the trial period, you’ll earn a commission. Shopify’s 30-day referral period meets the industry standard.

The payout threshold is one sale. One conversion is all it takes to get paid, and payments are sent via PayPal.

Shopify’s affiliate portal is user-friendly and easy to navigate. The affiliate dashboard is clean and straightforward. Affiliate activity data and statistics are available on the homepage.

The affiliate landing page is satisfactory. An affiliate landing page is supposed to be informative. Aside from missing cookie length details, Shopify’s landing page hits the mark. It covers everything you need to know, and the resources tab links to its help center/knowledge base for more information.

Affiliates get banners and creative resources that are appealing and to the point. Shopify’s marketing materials are well-designed.

Publishers can create links for tracking purposes. You can create links with unique identifiers, for example, campaign name, content, source, medium, and two subs.

There’s a full-time affiliate marketing manager. When a merchant has the staff to support publishers, it quickens processes and shows commitment. Shopify’s affiliate manager is on the ball. The few emails that I’ve sent were resolved quickly.

Shopify offers an affiliate marketing course for beginners. Once you log in, you can enroll in an affiliate marketing fundamentals course, which takes around 45 minutes to complete. It covers promoting your links and marketing strategies. Give credit to Shopify for creating a course to help new and experienced affiliates.

Shopify is the market leader. It’s the go-to solution to realize your ecommerce goals and make your dreams of competing with Amazon a reality. It has a lot of things going for it, including a reputable brand, efficient and user-friendly software, fantastic content and guides, and free online courses.

Program Drawbacks

Deep linking is available, but a bit disorganized. Deep linking is the practice by which an affiliate creates a link to a specific page on the merchant’s site. For example, instead of using a generic homepage affiliate link, I can link to an article that relates to my post. Deep linking increases conversion and sales potential. Shopify affiliates can deep link by adding their IDs to URLs and blog posts, for example,

www.shopify.com/pricing?ref=[ID/Your_Unique_Referral_Handle]

Deep linking as a feature isn’t apparent when logged in. The “Create affiliate link” option above the dashboard isn’t for deep linking; it’s for campaign attribution. Deep linking is discussed in posts, but you must know where to look, for example, the article Getting Started as a Shopify Affiliate covers deep linking. Someone unfamiliar with deep linking might miss this strategy, and the potential to convert more users.

A 30-day cookie is satisfactory, but a 45 to 90-day cookie would be much better. A person must signup for a free trial within 30 days of clicking your link for you to receive credit. However, store/business planning can take a while, in which case the referral period might expire before the user signs up. A longer conversion window would benefit affiliates.

Making Money

Can you make $1,000 a month as a Shopify affiliate? You can and more. Shopify is a market leader with an excellent brand and rewarding affiliate program. It pays high commission rates, and its affiliate tracking software is efficient. It supports affiliates with a course, marketing insights, and live chat. It has many items to promote, including informative articles, guides, webinars, and free online courses from its academy.

Where should Shopify rank in your marketing activities? It should be a mid to high priority. Ecommerce is one of the best ways to make money online, and many people seek online store software and apps.

I recommend joining Shopify’s affiliate program because it pays high commission rates, and I’ve made money with it. Furthermore, it’s a Digital Fodder top 40 affiliate program.