How to Connect a Custom Domain to Your Shopify EC Site | DNS Setup and CloudflareHow to Connect a Custom Domain to Your Shopify EC Site | DNS Setup and CloudflareHow to Connect a Custom Domain to Your Shopify EC Site | DNS Setup and Cloudflare

Introduction: Why a Custom Domain Matters for Your Shopify EC Site

When you first create a Shopify store, it is assigned a default address like your-store.myshopify.com. Operating on this address long-term limits customer trust and prevents your brand's SEO equity from accumulating on a domain you own.

Connecting a custom domain to Shopify lets you present a consistent brand identity while directing organic search traffic to a domain under your control. This guide covers the steps from domain registration to Shopify connection, and explains why Cloudflare is recommended for DNS management.

Registering a Domain

Choosing a Registrar

A domain registrar is a service through which you purchase and manage a domain name. Cloudflare Registrar offers domain registration at cost price — no markup beyond ICANN fees — and supports popular TLDs including .com, .net, and .dev. Regional Japanese registrars such as Onamae.com and Sakura Domain are common options for Japanese TLDs.

Annual domain costs vary by TLD:

• .com / .net: approximately ¥1,000–2,000 per year
• .jp: approximately ¥2,500–4,000 per year
• .co.jp: approximately ¥4,000–7,000 per year (requires a registered Japanese legal entity)

When selecting a registrar, check the renewal price — some services offer discounted first-year pricing that increases significantly upon renewal.

Choosing a Domain Name

Choose a short, brand-aligned name that is easy to remember. Verify that the name does not conflict with any existing trademarks before registering.

Connecting a Custom Domain to Shopify

How DNS Records Work

Connecting a custom domain to Shopify requires configuring DNS records. DNS (Domain Name System) translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses that route traffic to the correct server.

For a Shopify connection, two record types are required:

• A record: Points the root domain (example.com) to Shopify's IP address 23.227.38.65
• CNAME record: Points the www subdomain to shops.myshopify.com

DNS Propagation

After updating DNS records, changes propagate across the global DNS infrastructure over time. This typically takes a few hours but can take up to 72 hours. If your site is not immediately accessible after configuration, allow time for propagation before troubleshooting.

Using Cloudflare for DNS Management

What Cloudflare Provides

Cloudflare is a CDN, DNS management, and security platform. By pointing your domain's nameservers to Cloudflare, you gain access to the following features — most available on the free plan:

• Automatic DDoS mitigation: Cloudflare absorbs and filters volumetric attack traffic at the network edge before it reaches your origin server
• Bot management: Malicious crawlers and abusive automated traffic are blocked before reaching Shopify
• CDN performance: Content is cached across Cloudflare's global network, reducing load times for visitors worldwide
• Free SSL certificate: HTTPS is automatically enabled for your domain

For an EC site handling customer data and payments, these protections are material. Cloudflare provides meaningful security coverage at no cost.

Registrar Transfer vs. Nameserver Change

Cloudflare Registrar supports registrar-level transfers for popular TLDs (.com, .net, .dev, and others), allowing you to manage both domain registration and DNS in one place at cost price.

However, .jp and .co.jp domains are not supported by Cloudflare Registrar — you cannot transfer these TLDs to Cloudflare as your registrar. What you can do is change the nameservers to Cloudflare regardless of TLD. This keeps your existing registrar managing the registration while Cloudflare handles DNS resolution, CDN, and security — providing all the same benefits without a registrar transfer.

.jp and .co.jp Domains

.jp and .co.jp are country-code TLDs managed by JPRS (Japan Registry Services). While a Cloudflare Registrar transfer is not supported, pointing the nameservers to Cloudflare is fully supported. DDoS protection, bot management, CDN caching, and automatic SSL certificate issuance all work the same way regardless of your registrar.

.co.jp registration requires proof of a registered Japanese legal entity and may involve additional verification steps.

What the Domain Setup Option Includes

Our domain setup support covers:

• Domain registration guidance (registrar selection and account setup)
• DNS record configuration (A record and CNAME record)
• Cloudflare nameserver configuration
• Shopify connection verification and end-to-end testing

The estimated cost is +¥30,000. For .jp / .co.jp domains, an additional +¥20,000 applies — making the total +¥50,000. The annual domain registration fee is billed separately as a direct cost.

Summary

Connecting a custom domain to Shopify is one of the first technical steps when launching an EC site. Because DNS misconfiguration can make the site unreachable, careful setup and post-configuration verification are essential.

We strongly recommend using Cloudflare for DNS management. DDoS mitigation, bot blocking, CDN performance improvements, and automatic SSL issuance are all available at no cost and require only a nameserver change — no registrar transfer is needed. This applies equally to .jp and .co.jp domains.