1. Define your catalogue and delivery area
Write down what you sell, who buys it and where you deliver. Physical products require different fulfilment processes from digital services. International sales add language, currency and local requirements.
Prepare titles, images, descriptions, variants, SKUs, prices, weight and stock for representative products. Include a simple product and one with variants. These examples reveal early whether your data and theme work together.
2. Create the store and check basic settings
Create the store under an account owned by your business. Check business and contact addresses, time zone and currency. Give employees and contractors their own appropriately limited access rather than sharing the owner login.
Choose a plan based on your requirements and compare current Shopify pricing. Keep a separate budget for themes, apps, payment processing and outside services. An introductory promotion does not describe long-term running costs.
3. Organise products and collections
Create your example products first. Check variant names, image associations and stock at the correct location. For larger catalogues, prepare a Shopify-compatible CSV and import a small sample before the full catalogue.
Collections group products for navigation. Organise them around how customers shop: product type, use case or range. Clear categories are more useful than many nearly empty ones. Product descriptions should explain specifications, included items and meaningful differences.
4. Choose a theme and build the important pages
Try a theme with your actual products before publishing or purchasing it. Check product pages, collections, search, cart and navigation on a phone. A polished homepage screenshot does not show whether customers can choose variants and find information.
Adjust colours, type, logo, spacing and sections in the theme editor. Use a separate template when some products need different content. Read customising a Shopify theme for the boundaries between editor settings, code and apps.
- Homepage: explain the offer and route into the catalogue.
- Product page: check prices, variants, delivery information and purchase button.
- Navigation: make products, contact and essential information accessible.
- Mobile view: test menus, real text lengths and cart behaviour.
5. Configure payments, shipping and taxes
Enable payment providers available for your business and sales countries. Check payout details, fees and verification. Shipping profiles and zones must match products and stock locations; test mixed carts and free-shipping thresholds in particular.
Configure taxes based on your business and transactions. Enabling a setting does not replace checking the actual case. Our guides to German small-business VAT exemption and OSS explain the context. Switzerland is outside the EU OSS area.
6. Add information, invoicing and necessary apps
Add contact details, delivery terms and legal information appropriate to your business. Review consent and tracking integration. Templates must reflect your store and the services you actually use.
Define who issues invoices, where they are stored and how refunds are processed. An order confirmation is not automatically an invoice with all required information. The Shopify accounting guide explains possible workflows.
Install apps for specific jobs. Record who maintains them, which data they need and their recurring costs. For requirements beyond available apps, read about custom Shopify app development.
7. Place and document test orders
Test a complete journey using the test facilities supported by your payment provider. A small real purchase can subsequently help verify payouts and documents; fees may apply. Disable any test mode before accepting real sales.
Write down the expected result for each test. This makes shipping, tax and app integration problems easier to isolate.
| Test case | What to check |
|---|---|
| Variant product | Correct variant, image, price and stock |
| Address in a delivery region | Available shipping method and total |
| Discount or shipping threshold | Correct calculation and document |
| Cancellation or refund | Payment, inventory and accounting |
| Mobile purchase | Usability from product selection to confirmation |
8. Connect the domain and launch with monitoring
Connect your domain and confirm the primary address and HTTPS work. Preserve existing email services when changing DNS. Replacing another store also requires URL mapping; see migrating WooCommerce to Shopify.
Publish after tests pass and remove storefront password protection when you are ready to sell and the relevant plan requirements are met. Monitor orders, notifications, invoices and errors during the first days. Agree support and technical responsibilities before launch.
