How to launch an online store: a practical checklist

Every founder we meet has the same late-night thought: what if I launch and nobody buys? Close behind it comes the second one: what if I launch and everybody buys, and it all breaks?

Both fears are reasonable. Both are smaller than they look at 2 am. Here is a calm way through.

Before you build: three decisions

1. What are your first twenty products?

Not your whole range. The twenty you would bet on. Fewer products means better photos, better descriptions and fewer things to keep in stock. You can add more once you know what sells.

2. How will you get paid, and how will you ship?

Pick one payment gateway and set up the merchant account early, because approval can take a few days. Decide your shipping rules in one sentence: "Free above ₹999, ₹60 below" is a perfectly good shipping policy.

3. What happens when something goes wrong?

Write your returns and refund policy before launch. Customers read it more often than you think, and it is much easier to write calmly now than angrily later.

What to launch with

• A homepage that says what you sell and who it is for, in one line.
• Product pages that answer questions: size, material, delivery time, returns. Every unanswered question is a reason to leave.
• Real photos, on a plain background, from a few angles. A phone and daylight from a window go a long way.
• A checkout you have tested yourself, on your own phone, with a real order you then refund.
• Policy pages: shipping, returns, privacy, terms. Payment gateways often ask to see them.

Launch is not the finish line. It is the moment you start learning what your customers actually want.

What can wait until the first hundred orders

• A mobile app.
• Loyalty points, referral programmes and gift cards.
• Twelve payment options. Two well-chosen ones are enough.
• A custom-built platform. Established store platforms handle the hard parts so you do not have to.

After launch: the gentle loop

Look at three numbers once a week: visitors, orders, and how many people added something to the cart but did not buy. If carts are being abandoned, the problem is usually price surprises at checkout (shipping, taxes) or a step that is confusing on a phone. Fix one thing, wait a week, look again.

That is the whole method. It is not exciting. It works.

Shelfstarter, our package for ecommerce entrepreneurs, covers these launch essentials: store set-up, products, payments, shipping and policies. Until 30 November 2026 it includes ten additional products and abandoned-cart reminders. See the offers page.