Shopify in Kenya: A Beginner's Guide (2026)

What is Shopify and does it work in Kenya?

Shopify is a fully hosted e-commerce platform. You pay a monthly subscription, and Shopify provides everything needed to run an online store: hosting, SSL, checkout, a theme editor, a product catalog, order management, and reporting: all without you needing to manage servers or write code.

Shopify works in Kenya in the sense that any Kenyan merchant can sign up, build a store, and start selling. The platform is available worldwide. The Kenya-specific consideration is payments: Shopify Payments, the platform's built-in payment processor, is not available in Kenya. You will connect a third-party gateway to process M-Pesa, card, and bank transfer payments. This adds a setup step and an extra transaction fee, but it is a well-established process that thousands of Kenyan merchants have completed.

Setting up your Shopify store

Creating your account

Go to shopify.com and start a free trial. Shopify offers a trial period before requiring a paid plan. During sign-up, enter your store name, your location (Kenya), and your email. You do not need a business registration or existing bank account to start the trial: but you will need these to activate a payment gateway later.

Choosing a domain

You can buy a .com domain through Shopify's domain service, or connect an existing domain you have registered elsewhere. For Kenyan merchants targeting local customers, a .co.ke domain (registered through a Kenyan registrar) adds local credibility. You can connect a .co.ke domain to Shopify by updating the domain's DNS records to point to Shopify's servers.

Choosing a theme

Shopify's free themes (Dawn, Refresh, Sense) are well-designed and mobile-responsive. They are a solid starting point. Paid themes offer more design options but are not necessary for a functional store. Choose a theme that matches your product type, Dawn is clean and image-forward, well-suited for products where photography is the selling point.

Configuring payments for Kenya

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings then Payments. Under "Third-party payment providers," click Choose third-party provider. Search for your chosen gateway. The most commonly used options for Kenyan Shopify merchants are:

• Pesapal, Supports M-Pesa, Visa, Mastercard, Airtel Money. Has a Shopify app in the Shopify App Store.
• IntaSend, Kenya-built gateway with M-Pesa STK Push and card support. Developer-friendly API.
• DPO Pay, Multi-currency and multi-country support, covers M-Pesa and major card networks.

Create a merchant account with your chosen provider, complete their verification process, and enter the API credentials they provide into Shopify's payment settings. Test the integration in sandbox mode before going live.

Note that because you are using a third-party provider, Shopify charges a transaction fee per sale (2% on Basic, 1% on the Shopify plan, 0.5% on Advanced) in addition to the gateway's own fees.

Shipping and fulfillment in Kenya

Go to Settings then Shipping and delivery. Create a shipping zone for Kenya. Set your rates: flat rate, free shipping above a threshold, or weight-based. Common approaches for Kenyan merchants:

• Flat rate of KES 200–400 for Nairobi delivery, KES 400–700 for upcountry.
• Free shipping on orders above a threshold (e.g., KES 3,000).
• Local pickup option for customers who want to collect in-store.

For courier integration, check whether your courier (Sendy, G4S, Fargo, Wells Fargo Courier) has a Shopify app. If not, you can manage fulfillment manually by entering tracking numbers in Shopify after creating the shipment with your courier.

For international shipping, you can add additional shipping zones for other countries if you want to sell beyond Kenya.

Adding your first products and going live

Go to Products then Add product. Fill in the product title, description, price (in KES: set your store currency to KES in Settings then General), images, and inventory quantity. Assign a SKU and barcode if you have them. For a clothing or accessory store with size/color variations, use the Variants section to add all combinations.

Before you go live, work through this checklist:

• Place a test order using your payment gateway's sandbox mode. Confirm it appears as paid in Shopify.
• Check that your email notification settings are correct. Both the order confirmation to the customer and the notification to you.
• Review your checkout on mobile. Most of your Kenyan customers will buy on a phone.
• Set up your tax rates. In Settings then Taxes, add Kenya VAT at 16% for applicable products.
• Add your returns and refunds policy to the footer pages.

What Shopify really costs a Kenyan merchant

The plan price is only part of the bill. Shopify charges in US dollars, so the cost in shillings moves with the exchange rate on the day you are billed. Plan on these lines:

To estimate your monthly cost, convert the plan price at today's rate, then add your gateway and transaction fees on your expected sales. A shop selling KES 200,000 a month pays both fee layers on that whole amount, so the percentage fees can matter more than the plan itself. Get the gateway's current M-Pesa rate in writing before you compare.

How you get paid when customers use M-Pesa

Shopify has no built-in M-Pesa. Your gateway takes the customer's STK Push payment, holds it, and pays it out to you on its own schedule. Before you pick a provider, ask three things: how long payouts take, what the fee is per M-Pesa payment, and whether you can reconcile each payment to an order. Our guide to Shopify M-Pesa setup and gateways compares the options, and accepting M-Pesa on your online store covers what works for checkout.

Common mistakes Kenyan merchants make on Shopify

• Waiting to set up payments. Gateway verification can take days. Start it on the first day, not the day you want to launch.
• Leaving the store in dollars. Set your store currency to KES so customers see shilling prices.
• Ignoring mobile checkout. Most Kenyan shoppers buy on a phone, so test the full checkout on a phone before you launch.
• No delivery plan. Set shipping zones and rates for Nairobi and upcountry before the first order. See shipping and delivery for online orders.
• Counting stock in two places. If you also sell from a shop, connect your till to your store so the stock count is shared. See how to sync online and in-store inventory.

Is Shopify right for you?

Shopify suits you if you want to be live quickly, do not want to manage hosting, and can pay the monthly fee in dollars. WooCommerce may suit you better if you want lower running costs and have a developer or WordPress experience. Read WooCommerce vs Shopify for a physical store in Kenya, or the wider comparison of ecommerce platforms in Kenya.

Connecting Shopify to a physical shop

If you have a physical shop alongside your Shopify store, connecting the two prevents the stock discrepancies that come from running them separately. WebpinnPOS connects to your Shopify store and keeps inventory in sync: an in-store sale reduces your Shopify product quantity, and a Shopify online order reduces your in-store stock count.

WebpinnPOS also handles in-store M-Pesa via STK Push: the native integration that Shopify POS does not have on its own. Your shop staff use WebpinnPOS at the counter, while your Shopify online store serves customers on the web. Both channels draw from the same stock.

See how the WebpinnPOS Shopify integration works, then install the WebpinnPOS app from the Shopify App Store and follow the setup flow in your dashboard. The initial product import brings your Shopify catalog into WebpinnPOS, and the live sync starts immediately after.