If you’re at the beginning of your ecommerce journey, setting up your own online store can seem intimidating at first. But with Shopify’s Starter Plan — a streamlined service designed especially with new sellers in mind — you can be ready to go in no time at all.

The good news is that you don’t need a dedicated website to start selling with Shopify’s Starter Plan. In fact, you can promote products and make sales using nothing more than a social media account. So if you’re just dipping your toe into the world of ecommerce, it lets you try out your business idea without committing to a full subscription or plan.

For just £5 a month, Shopify’s Starter Plan provides everything you need to sell your products across platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Etsy, TikTok and more. This includes as many product pages as you want, plus secure checkout facilities, shopping cart functionality, and a customer contact page. There are also tools to help you manage and fulfill your orders, making it easy to find your feet. And you don’t even need a laptop or desktop computer to start selling: you can do everything via your smartphone.

With a Shopify Starter Plan, you’ll also get access to Linkpop, an innovative tool that allows you to add a shoppable link in your bio on blog posts, social media, and more. In other words, it provides multiple routes for would-be customers to find and purchase your products with minimum fuss.

Say, for example, you’re looking to develop your hobby into a profitable side hustle. You might not have the time or the money to develop a professional website or fork out for a full ecommerce plan, but you want to know how viable your idea really is. In this case, the Starter Plan is the perfect solution. All you need is some photographs of your products and you’re ready to go. You can share shoppable links on Facebook and Instagram, send them via direct message, or even post them to relevant forums across the internet.

Looking to sell crafty items online? The Starter Plan makes it easy to promote your products across special interest Facebook groups aimed at independent sellers, such as the popular NOT ON AMAZON. Or perhaps you want to market your foodie business to the subscribers of an existing mailing list? With Shopify’s Starter Plan, you can embed a shoppable link directly into the text, connecting customers to your secure checkout in just a few clicks.

In fact, whatever your business, the Shopify Starter Plan is a fantastic way to get a taste of ecommerce without any of the financial commitment. And if things go well, you can easily upgrade to another plan, gaining additional features and tools without losing any of your data or sales.