What is Stan Store? At a glance, it might seem like just another link-in-bio tool; that’s what I thought before I started experimenting with the platform myself. However, Stan Store is a little more comprehensive than most of the monetization tools I’ve seen for content creators.
Primarily, it allows you to create a store page where you can sell digital products to your social media profiles. However, you can also use Stan Store to create and sell unlimited courses, promote subscriptions, design email campaigns, and more.
The platform is a little more expensive than other link-in-bio solutions, like Shopify’s Starter plan, but it also offers a lot more functionality. Here’s everything you need to know.
What is Stan Store, and What Can It Do?
Stan Store is a straightforward ecommerce solution, designed for beginners who want to sell digital products online. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any options to sell physical products with this platform, but you can sell online courses, subscriptions, and appointments (with calendar bookings).
The platform comes with access to a course creator, email marketing tools, discount codes and upsell offers, in-depth analytics, and a one-click checkout.
One thing I should note is that this platform doesn’t give you a full website builder. It’s more of a user-friendly solution for anyone who needs a basic storefront, and doesn’t need to worry about things like shipping rules, inventory management, or an SEO ready blog.
Stan Store seems to be primarily used by influencers, and entrepreneurs in the course creation space. With it, you can quickly make money online by adding a custom link to any social media site (from LinkedIn, to Instagram, and TikTok).
What I do like about this platform is that it makes it feel like customers are shopping on the social media platform they were already using. This essentially streamlines the purchasing journey for your customer, rather than asking them to visit a complete online store.
The Core Features of Stan Store
Compared to a complete ecommerce platform like Shopify, Wix, or BigCommerce, Stan Store is a little basic. As I mentioned, there aren’t any inventory or order management tools, since you’re only able to sell digital products.
However, you do get more features than you would with a basic link-in-bio tool. You can create a “mobile optimized” store, hosted by the Stan Store platform, that allows you to sell digital downloads, subscriptions, appointments, and online courses.
Notably, you can also create courses with Stan Store. Personally, I think there are better platforms out there for this, like Thinkific and Teachable. But the course builder is still pretty effective. You can design courses with multiple modules, videos, text, and downloadable resources, like checklists.
Each course comes with its own landing page, course description, and pricing (plus you can showcase reviews). While you can do a lot more with Teachable and Thinkific, Stan Store is by far the easiest tool I’ve used for course creation.
I also love how many selling options you get, from payment plans, to subscriptions, and one-time purchases. You can also sell an unlimited number of products with Stan Store, although I’d recommend starting simple with just a handful of options, so you don’t overwhelm customers.
Marketing Capabilities
Notably, while you can’t create a blog for content marketing, you can use Stan Store to design email flows to promote courses and products, or nurture your audience. Again the tools are pretty basic, but you can always choose to integrate your store with something like MailChimp for more comprehensive templates.
I’d recommend considering an integration if you want really advanced email campaigns, but if you’re using the Pro plan, you can still create basic workflows that should help you boost your conversion rates and stay connected with customers.
There’s also support for sales funnels (on the most expensive plans), pixel tracking to monitor your marketing results, and discount codes and upsell offers to increase conversions. Plus, you can boost your marketing presence by creating an affiliate program, with automated commission payments for partners.
How Much Does it Cost?
Unlike some of the alternative link-in-bio tools I’ve tried, Stan Store doesn’t offer a free plan. In fact, even the 14-day trial forces you to sign up with credit card details, which is a little frustrating in my opinion, because you have to remember to go back and cancel by the end of the 2 weeks.
There are two paid plans to choose from, which are a little more expensive than some alternatives too. The Creator plan, which costs $29 per month gives you everything you need to launch your mobile-optimized storefront, track bookings with an integrated calendar, and sell unlimited courses.
You even get an optimized one-tap checkout, subscription options, and the Stan Store email list and newsletter builder. However, it’s worth noting this plan doesn’t allow you to create comprehensive email workflows – it’s more for basic email marketing.
The cheapest plan also includes analytics, which can show you everything from which of your products are earning the most sales, to how many customers complete courses. If you want to track where customers are coming from with pixels, however, you need the more advanced plan.
Creator Pro, for $99 per month includes all the features of the Creator plan, plus that handy pixel tracking functionality I mentioned. It also upgrades your email marketing tools,
You’ll also get unlimited funnels, which essentially help you build flows for nurturing customers and automating sales. Plus, you can create affiliate programs, offer payment plans, use discount codes, and create upsell offers for loyal customers.
Notably, both of these plans do offer a discount if you opt for annual instead of monthly payments. Creator is $300 per year, and Creator Pro is $948 per year.
How Simple is Stan Store?
After the pesky process of entering my credit card details for the free trial, it took me about 15 minutes to set up a basic Stan Store. All you really need to do is add your email address, write a bio, link social media profiles, and choose your brand colors.
From there, you can set up your payment system (Stripe), and create a product. If you already have something you want to sell, like a digital download, that takes seconds.
If you want to create something with Stan Store, like a course or webinar, you’ll spend a little longer configuring everything.
I created a 1:1 consulting product in about 10 minutes, and Stan Store guided me through the process, asking about by business and niche, and pushing me to set up certain integrations, like a connection with Google Calendar.
Notably, you can also integrate your account with tools like MailChimp, Google Calendar, Zoom, and Zapier, which only takes a couple of minutes.
Personally, I think designing a creator store with Stan Store is incredibly straightforward, particularly when you compare it to something like WooCommerce, or Wix. You can even access a comprehensive stan store tutorial, and step-by-step guides to help you as you work.
Even setting up an Etsy store has taken me more time in the past, so if you’re looking for something you can create and launch quickly, Stan Store is a great choice.
I also love how easy it is to keep track of important data on your store. The back-end dashboard shows you click-through rates, and there’s a separate page for email sign-ups product sales, incomes, appointments, and email flows (on the Creator Pro plan).
Customer Support
One slight downside of using Stan Store over other ecommerce solutions is that you can only access customer support via email. The company does respond pretty quickly though, and the team is very helpful and guiding you through common tasks and troubleshooting problems.
There’s also a fantastic help center with a lot of useful guides for beginners, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding answers to any questions you might have.
Stan Store Reviews and Testimonials
Although this guide acts as a type of Stan Store review, based on my own experiences with the free trial, I wanted to get a deeper insight into what other people think after using the platform for a while.
The good news is that Stan Store seems to have a good reputation among other creators. On Trustpilot, it’s earned a score of 4.3 out of 5, which is pretty impressive. In fact, 90% of the reviews on this platform give the solution five stars.
People seem to love the ease of use of the platform, and how supportive the customer service team can be. Most of the other reviews I’ve read seem to be relatively positive too, indicating anyone can use stan store for online selling with virtually no previous experience.
The only negative reviews I found seemed to focus on the limited scalability of the platform, which is a bit of an issue. However, you can definitely accomplish more with this platform than you could with something like Linktree.
Stan Store Alternatives: How Does it Stack Up?
So, how does Stan Store compare to some of the other platforms I’ve used for online selling in the past? Overall, I’d say it holds its own.
Stan Store vs Shopify
Shopify is definitely my preferred ecommerce platform for companies looking for a scalable online store with omnichannel selling features. It does have its own link-in-bio solution in the form of Shopify Starter, for only $5 per month, but you can’t use that to create courses, or sell subscriptions. You need add-ons or more expensive plans.
That being said, the $39 per month Basic plan from Shopify is still a better choice if you want to sell physical products, or build a memorable online brand.
MORE: Stan Store vs Shopify
Stan Store vs Linktree
Linktree really doesn’t compare with Stan Store as much as you’d think. It really just gives you a hub for links, that helps drive customers to other platforms. It’s useful for social media platforms like Instagram where you can only have one external link in your bio.
However, you won’t be able to use Linktree to directly sell products, create courses, or design landing pages. That’s not to say Linktree can’t improve your conversion rates, but it’s not as comprehensive of a solution as Stan Store.
Stan Store vs WooCommerce
There’s a reason why so many business owners love WooCommerce, it’s affordable, flexible, and scalable. But it’s also kind of a nightmare to get everything setup. If you’ve never used WooCommerce before, you might be surprised by just how complicated the platform can be.
Again, like with Shopify, you can sell more types of products through WooCommerce, but if you’re looking for an easy way to start selling or building a passive income, Stan Store might be a better choice. Plus, you’ll save money on an external course creator with Stan Store.
Is Stan Store Worth It?
Stan Store definitely isn’t the most comprehensive ecommerce solution I’ve used, but it’s a valuable choice for anyone who wants to sell memberships, courses, and digital products. It goes beyond the basics of a standard link in bio tool, and is much easier to use than something like WordPress and WooCommerce. There’s even built-in email marketing.
Overall, I’d say Stan Store is definitely worthwhile if you’re looking to monetize your online presence, without spending a lot of time and money on building your own store.
