How to Close a Shopify Store

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

When it's time to close your Shopify store, here are the steps to help you make sure you save the information you want and close your store properly. Learn about other options too, in case you want to pause or sell your Shopify store.

[Featured Image] A male shopify user is closing his shopify store.

If you are in the e-commerce business and selling products on Shopify, there may be a time when you need to close your store and move on to something new. This doesn’t have to be a stressful process, but it involves a series of steps to ensure you close your store without losing the information and data you want to keep. 

By the end of this tutorial, you will know how to close your Shopify store and export any data you need to keep before doing so, as well as look at alternative store closure options. 

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How to close your Shopify store

Here is a quick rundown of the steps you take to close your Shopify store:

  1. Log in to your Shopify account.

  2. Save your data.

  3. From your admin panel, go to Settings > Plan.

  4. Click Cancel subscription.

  5. Review your options and click Cancel subscription and close store.

  6. Select a reason for closing your store and click Continue.

  7. Enter your password and click Close store.

Let’s take a closer look at each step.

1. Log in to your Shopify account.

Log into your Shopify account in the same way you would do to access your shop daily. 

2. Export your data.

Before closing your store, you must export any data you want to keep so you still have access to it. This is so you can access payment records and customer information and use products and other data in the future if you reopen your store or decide to sell your products elsewhere. The simplest way to do this is with the Shopify Data Exporter app or directly from your website. Here’s an example of how to export products from your store without the app:

  1. Go to your Shopify admin page and click Products.

  2. Click Export.

  3. A dialogue box should appear. From here, select all the products you want to export and the type of CSV file you prefer.

  4. Click Export products.

Follow this process for anything else you want to export from your store.

3. Select your plan.

Once you've saved all of the data you want to keep, access your admin panel and click on Settings. From here, select Plan. 

4. Cancel your subscription.

After you have accessed your plan, you should see the option to Cancel subscription. Click on this.

5. Review your options.

When you select Cancel subscription, you can review other options before you continue. Shopify gives you the option of pausing your subscription instead of canceling it. If you are sure you want to close your store, click Cancel subscription and close store.

6. Select a reason.

Shopify wants to collect data about why people close their stores, so if you choose this option, a pop-up box will ask for a reason. Select your reason from the predetermined list and click Continue.

7. Close your store.

As a final measure before closing your store for good, Shopify asks you to enter your password again and confirm that you want to Close the store. Once you do this, you deactivate your account, and you can no longer use your store. 

Can you reopen your Shopify store?

Once you’ve closed your store, Shopify stores your information for two years, so you can reopen it to access past bills and view any information you need. Within these two years, you can reopen your store and start trading or put it on pause for future sales.

Consider pausing your store.

In some circumstances, you may consider pausing your Shopify store instead of closing it. Pausing, rather than deactivating your store means you can reopen it at any time without losing any functions, apart from being able to sell momentarily. You can access your admin panel, but customers cannot access and purchase products. 

This is a great option if you are going on vacation, you want to update your store, or you're overwhelmed with the orders you need to process. 

Sell your Shopify store.

If you have an e-commerce store that is doing very well and turning a decent profit, you may opt to sell it instead of closing it. Shopify used to have its own platform called the Exchange marketplace, but it closed in November 2022. Other platforms are available, such as Flippa and Foundy.

Learn more with Google.

If you want to strengthen your e-commerce skills or learn digital marketing to go with your e-commerce skills, the Google Digital Marketing and E-commerce Professional Certificate on Coursera is a great option. Learn the skills to be job ready or ready to open an e-commerce store in six months or less.

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professional certificate

Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce

Get on the fast track to a career in digital marketing. In this certificate program, you’ll learn in-demand skills, and get AI training from Google experts. Learn at your own pace, no degree or experience required.

4.8

(31,496 ratings)

898,970 already enrolled

Beginner level

Average time: 6 month(s)

Learn at your own pace

Skills you'll build:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-Commerce, Email Marketing, display advertising, Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Portfolio preparation, Building customer loyalty, E-commerce store optimization, Job preparedness, Social Media Branding, Social Media Analytics, Social Listening, Customer Engagement, Social Media Bidding, Google, Search Engine Marketing, Customer Awareness, Website Structure, Email marketing analytics, Email Writing, Contact management, Email marketing strategy, Email list segmentation, E-Commerce Strategy, Seasonality, E-commerce platforms, Fulfillment and delivery, Customer loyalty, Customer Outreach, Marketing Analytics, Media planning and strategies, Spreadsheet management, Presenting to stakeholders, Digital marketing KPIs

Updated on
Written by:
Coursera Staff

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