Launching a new e-commerce store isn’t just about uploading products and activating a payment gateway. Behind a well-functioning online store are dozens of minor and major decisions that need to be addressed before everything goes live.

To ensure you don’t forget anything and that everything works as intended, I’ve compiled a detailed checklist that should be completed by anyone opening a new e-commerce store. This also serves as a guide to understanding what you would face if you’re serious about e-commerce. It will help you go through all key areas step by step – from platform selection to technical setup to legal requirements and preparation for the first orders. In short, everything that needs to be done before launch.

Homepage/Landing Page

• Decide what will be on the homepage (which sections, which products, how ranking will work)
• Determine what must/need not/is vital for the functioning of the shop and for the customer
• Remember that the majority of traffic will likely go to your homepage, so the layout of elements can significantly impact your conversion rate and turnover
• Set up appearance and template selection (must have proper responsiveness)
• Define necessary additional plugins/modules (newsletter, cookies, price watch, etc.)

USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

• Explain why your prices are higher/lower than competitors
• Clarify if you’re a manufacturer
• Define how you’re better than the competition, and demonstrate that you’ve analyzed competitors
• Highlight delivery speed and inventory status (Do you have everything in stock?)
• Emphasize if you’re cruelty-free/vegan/environmentally responsible/family business and what benefits this brings to customers
• Clearly state if you can guarantee a certain delivery time or offer the fastest delivery option
• Promote free returns or guarantee programs
• Feature discount promotions
• Showcase best-selling products

Additional Homepage Elements

• Search functionality – decide whether to use your own solution or a third-party service
• Newsletter/contact collection – define benefits for signup and determine sending frequency
• Customer ratings and reviews – plan how to source and display these
• Contact information, opening hours, and billing details
• Quick contact options (chat, messaging apps) if you have the capacity to respond
• User account login and features:
  • Password change functionality
  • Package tracking (ideally automatic across all carriers)
  • Order history
  • Loyalty program/points system
  • Personalized discount offers based on user history
  • Customer scoring system (e.g., better prices for premium customers)

Subpages

Contact Page

• Business ID, VAT number, and address
• Instructions for sending complaints
• Opening hours and customer service contact information

Shipping and Delivery

• Available shipping methods and carriers with prices and conditions
• Domestic vs. international shipping policies
• Packaging process and efficiency
• Handling of oversized shipments
• Free shipping terms (if offered) – display prominently as this is a key purchase factor

Additional Key Pages

• FAQ page
• Terms and Conditions
• Privacy Policy:
  • What data do you collect
  • Purposes of data collection
  • Retention periods
  • Third-party tools with access to the data
  • Data deletion process
  • User rights and instructions
• Returns Policy:
  • When and where to send returned goods
  • Return conditions and process
• Complaints and Refunds:
  • Warranty periods and liability for product defects
  • Internal processes for handling complaints
  • How to submit complaints and where to send items
• Store Locations (if applicable)
• Blog/Tips/News section (serves both SEO and customer information purposes)

Other Important Pages

• Product Documentation and Warranty Information – at least this page should be clear and easily accessible, so users can understand without problem what the warranties are. The more the shop will look as complete product, the better.
• About Us
• Company History
• Company Vision/Mission
• Team/Management
• Annual Reports
• Media Resources

Additional Business Elements

Wholesale Capabilities

• Determine if a wholesale module is needed
• Create a dedicated section where business customers can contact you

Affiliate/Marketing Partnerships

• Decide whether to use third-party affiliate networks or create your own program
• Define program details and commission structure
• Create dedicated pages explaining the partnership opportunities

Payment Processing

• Select payment processors (consider fees charged to customers)
• Set up payment reconciliation systems
• Handle multiple currencies if needed
• Ensure sufficient cash flow for cash-on-delivery options and initial inventory

Store Functionality – Order Process

• Enable purchases for both registered and guest users
• Implement abandoned cart recovery (notifications, discount codes)
• Ensure easy product addition and removal in the cart
• Set up cross-selling and upselling opportunities
• Implement reorder notifications for consumable products
• Enable navigation from the cart back to product details
• Create discount coupon functionality:
  • One-time and bulk coupon creation
  • Multiple discount types (fixed amount, percentage, quantity-based)
  • Product-specific, category-specific, or store-wide discounts
• Configure multi-country selling with proper currency conversion
• Set up terms and conditions consent mechanisms

Products

• Compare pricing with competitors and consider price monitoring for key products
• Optimize descriptions for bestsellers and high-margin products
• Consider dynamic pricing based on traffic source
• Ensure category filters align with keyword research and user needs
• Display the lowest price from the last 30 days (regulatory requirement in many markets)
• Implement effective product search suggestions
• Manage product variants:
  • Train staff on proper variant creation with the correct URL structure
  • Ensure proper indexing of main products and variants
• Set up product sorting:
  • Multiple sort options (price, bestsellers, ratings, etc.)
  • Unique URLs for each sorting method
  • Ability to customize the default sorting order
• Implement proper canonicalization for products with multiple variants
• Monitor XML feeds for accuracy and updates

Product Categories

• Enable category description editing (manual and bulk options)
• Allow customization of product sort order within categories
• Implement proper canonicalization to prevent duplicate content when subcategories appear in multiple parent categories

Cookie Compliance

• Design your cookie banner and determine language requirements
• Prepare cookie policy and usage terms
• Implement proper Consent Management Platform (CMP) integration
• Ensure consent withdrawal is as easy as consent provision

Pre-Launch Technical Checks

Basic Website Functionality

• Verify integration with inventory/ERP systems
• Test accounting system connections
• Confirm CRM integration
• Check that all products appear correctly on the website
• Ensure products are in the correct categories
• Verify pricing and margin calculations
• Confirm shipping and payment price settings
• Test stock availability displays
• Verify delivery date calculations
• Check category navigation and filtering functionality
• Conduct user testing to verify intuitive navigation
• Confirm that product attributes and parameters are correct
• Test product sorting, filtering, and pagination
• Verify internal search functionality
• Test adding and removing products from the cart
• Check all checkout process steps
• Test form validation and security
• Verify the order submission process
• Test all payment methods
• Test all shipping methods
• Confirm order confirmation emails
• Verify order recording in internal systems
• Check product labeling functionality (bestsellers, discounts, etc.)
• Test the discount application
• Verify cross-browser compatibility
• Check typography, spacing, and layout
• Test mobile responsiveness and checkout
• Verify cookie notification displays
• Review Terms and Conditions
• Check the company information accuracy
• Test the new product addition process
• Define the handling of out-of-stock and discontinued products
• Confirm redirect management capabilities
• Test content editing for categories and products
• Verify social sharing functionality
• Test review display
• Implement 24/7 monitoring
• Secure admin access
• Prevent indexing of admin pages
• Test user login functionality
• Verify database migration (orders and customers)
• Implement protection against bots and scrapers
• Secure customer input systems
• Confirm admin access for all authorized personnel
• Prepare logo variants
• Test with real users before launch
• Optimize website speed for all pages

Email Marketing and Notifications

• Set up order, complaint, and general information email addresses
• Configure order notification routing
• Train staff on order processing
• Set up customer notification emails
• Define the order status workflow
• Configure email catch-all
• Set up DNS records (DMARC, DKIM, SPF)
• Implement automated email campaigns:
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • Reactivation campaigns
  • Cross-sell recommendations
  • Customer segmentation
• Test all transaction notifications
• Test the order return and cancellation processes
• Verify order fulfillment notifications
• Test order archiving
• Ensure order emails contain complete information
• Consider additional notification channels (SMS, etc.)

SEO

• Optimize page titles
• Create appropriate H1 headings
• Write meta descriptions
• Generate Open Graph data
• Create all required pages
• Write quality content for categories and products
• Optimize image alt tags
• Prevent duplicate content from parameter combinations
• Configure hidden pages correctly
• Prevent pagination duplicates
• Check sorting parameter handling
• Review robots.txt configuration
• Run a complete site crawl
• Document URL changes and set up redirects
• Check meta robots tags
• Verify redirects
• Create XML sitemaps (main, images, video)
• Implement structured data markup
• Use meaningful filenames
• Exclude non-indexed pages from sitemaps
• Check internal linking
• Backup .htaccess file
• Monitor crawler behavior
• Run mobile-friendliness tests
• Check page speed scores
• Monitor indexation metrics
• Prepare Search Console verification
• Configure 404 pages and tracking
• Create site backups
• Set up SSL certificates

PPC (Pay-Per-Click)

• Set up advertising accounts:
  • Google Ads
  • Product listing platforms
  • Facebook Business/Pixel
• Connect payment methods
• Implement remarketing and conversion tracking
• Set up spend notifications and limits
• Allocate a sufficient budget
• Prepare contingency plans for 404 errors from ads
• Monitor quality scores
• Prepare for URL changes with updated ads
• Define audience strategies
• Plan campaign structure

Product Feeds and Dynamic Ads

• Generate feeds according to platform specifications
• Check product mapping and categorization
• Verify required feed elements
• Set up daily updates
• Optimize encoding and formats
• Enhance feeds with additional attributes
• Configure Facebook catalog integration
• Monitor feed errors
• Ensure product information consistency across platforms

Facebook Pixel

• Verify pixel ID on the page and in the Business account
• Check for accidental duplicate pixel IDs
• Implement PageView tracking
• Set up ViewContent for products
• Track Add to Cart events
• Implement Initiate Checkout tracking
• Track Purchase events
• Set up Conversions API (CAPI) for critical events
• Verify event recording in Facebook Business
• Check the aggregate event measurement
• Monitor pixel implementation across domains

Google Ads

• Verify conversion tracking setup
• Check for duplicate tracking codes
• Confirm cart event tracking with IDs
• Test through Google Merchant Center

Tracking Pixel Implementation

• For order value tracking, ensure values are:
  • Excluding VAT for VAT-registered businesses
  • Excluding shipping costs

Analytics

• Set up analytics accounts with proper configuration:
  • Currency settings
  • Internal traffic exclusion
  • Payment gateway filtering
  • Cross-domain tracking
  • Time zone selection
  • Ad account linking
• Implement remarketing and conversion tracking
• Set up enhanced e-commerce tracking
• Configure product and category performance monitoring
• Set up cohort analysis
• Implement customer lifetime value tracking
• Create custom dimensions and metrics
• Configure automated reporting
• Set up alerts for traffic and revenue drops
• Implement tools for heatmaps and session recording
• Create attribution models
• Track internal search
• Ensure data protection compliance
• Connect Search Console
• Implement user behavior tracking
• Set up A/B testing capabilities
• Consider server-side tracking
• Establish regular data auditing processes

Final Preparations

• Regular testing of all pixel implementations
• Verify conversion value tracking
• Check data consistency across platforms
• Consider Tag Management implementation for easier maintenance