More customers now discover businesses online before ever walking into a physical store. Some want to browse products first. Some prefer ordering directly from their phones. Others may never visit your location physically at all.
Without an online store, your business becomes harder to find, harder to buy from, and limited by location and opening hours.
BrandDrive’s Online Store gives your business a digital storefront connected directly to your products, inventory, pricing, and orders. This means customers can browse your products, place orders, and contact your business without you managing multiple systems separately.
In this section, you’ll learn how to:
– Set up your BrandDrive online store
– Process and fulfil online orders
– Share your store link
– Manage your social commerce channels
Setting Up Your BrandDrive Online Store
Step 1: Open the Online Shop Section
From your dashboard, click on Bookkeeping at the top navigation bar.
A dropdown menu will appear.
Select Online Shop from the list.
This opens your online store settings page.
The setup process here is very similar to your business settings section, so most of the information will already feel familiar.
Step 2: Upload Your Store Banner
At the top of the page, you’ll see the upload section for your store banner.
You can replace the default image with your own custom cover image or shop banner.
This is the first thing customers see when they open your online store, so use a clean image that represents your business properly.
For example:
– Fashion businesses can use branded campaign banners
– Restaurants can display featured meals
– Gadget stores can highlight top-selling products
Step 3: Confirm Your Store URL
Your online shop automatically comes with a store link in this format:
For example:
This becomes your public online store link.
You can share it on:
– Instagram bio
– WhatsApp Business
– TikTok profile
– Facebook page
– X (Twitter), etc.
One important thing to remember:
Always include the / before your business name when sharing the link manually, even though it may not appear very obvious inside the app interface.
Step 4: Fill in Your Shop Information
Next, complete your store details.
This includes:
– Phone number
– Business description
– Email address
– Currency
– Country
– City or address
This information helps customers understand your business better and makes your store look more complete and trustworthy.
The setup itself usually takes only a few minutes.
Managing Your Store Status
When your online store is first created, the default status is set to Maintenance.
This means customers cannot place orders yet until you are ready to go live.
To change this:
– Locate the Status dropdown on the right side of the page
– Click on it to see the available options
BrandDrive gives you three store modes:
Live with Checkout
Your store becomes fully active.
Customers can:
– Browse products
– Add items to cart
– Place orders directly from your shop
Use this when your store is ready to receive orders normally.
Live without Checkout
Your store remains visible online, but customers cannot place orders.
This is useful when:
– Updating product prices
– Restocking inventory
– Editing products
– Making temporary changes to your shop
Customers can still view your products while checkout remains disabled temporarily.
Maintenance
This is the default mode.
You can switch back to Maintenance anytime you are making major updates or temporarily pausing store operations.
Setting Up Shipping Details
The Shipping Details section controls how delivery works for your online store.
This is where you define:
– Shipping titles
– Delivery fees
– Shipping descriptions
To add shipping details:
– Open the Shipping Details tab
– Click Add New Shipping Details
– Enter the shipping title
– Add the shipping fee
– Include a short shipping description if needed
For example:
– Lagos Delivery — ₦2,000
– Abuja Delivery — ₦3,500
– Nationwide Shipping — ₦5,000
If you leave the shipping fee empty, the delivery option becomes free automatically.
You can also turn shipping management on or off depending on how your business handles deliveries.
Processing and Fulfilling Online Orders
Once your store goes live, customers can begin placing orders directly from your online shop.
As orders come in, BrandDrive keeps them connected to:
– Your inventory
– Customer records
– Sales reports
– Payment tracking
This makes it easier to monitor:
– New orders
– Paid orders
– Pending orders
– Delivered items, etc.
Because your online store is connected directly to your inventory, stock quantities also update automatically as purchases happen.
