Truth is, launching an online store isn’t as easy as pie. There’s a lot to think about, from making your products attractive on your pages to figuring out shipping channels so your customers aren’t left high and dry. I’ve walked dozens of store owners through this process, and the difference between having a launch flow smoothly and launching in chaos is having a good checklist!

As you know, Shopify is constantly changing, and it has changed quite a bit in 2025! I thought I’d share a detailed launch checklist that includes everything you’ll need to consider, so no matter if you’re a complete newbie or just want to confirm you haven’t missed anything, I can help.

Building the foundation: Store Setup Essentials

Your Domain & Branding

domain and branding

Before you add your products, you need to set the basics. Your domain name is effectively your store’s address on the internet, as it is what customers will type in to find you.

  1. Select & purchase your domain Your domain will ideally be easy for your customers to remember, relevant to your business and includes a keyword or two specific to your products. In 2025, Shopify allows you to actually register your domain directly through Shopify, and you can use a third-party registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap as well. Protip: Before you settle on a domain, check potential usernames on social media to make sure you can use the same name on those platforms! Having consistent branding across platforms will make your business look more professional and will give your customers a better way to find you.
  2. Establish your brand basics Upload high resolution logo for desktop and mobile. You’re going to create your brand colours and fonts – consider how that might look in vibrant colours, versus more sleek and professional colours and fonts. You’ll love how much more customized the newer Shopify themes are, than previous iterations. Use the brand settings available to you so you can have a consistent experience across your store.
  3. Configure your store general settings Don’t skip over the boring admin part! You will want to update your store name, contact e-mail and timezone. These little details can matter more than you think, especially when it comes to processing orders and communicating with customers.
  4. Create your store policies Clear policies are great for business, but are a must have for the trust factor. For starters, you should have at minimum pages for:
    • Returns and refund policy
    • Privacy policy
    • Terms of service
    • Shipping policy
    Shopify has new AI-generated policy generators that create legally sound templates based on the type of business you have and what province you are located in. Just be sure you review, and change as necessary!

User Experience and Navigation Setup

website nevigation

The journey your customers take through your store can be make or break for sales. Here is what you want to focus on:

  1. Develop your navigation menu Keep it simple and straightforward. Your main navigation should consist of:
    • Homepage
    • Collections/Categories
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Any flagship products or services
    In 2025, using Shopify’s new themes you can create mega menus that allow you to show featured products or subcategories at a glance, without overwhelming visitors.
  2. Establish collections Organize your products in a way that makes sense to the customer. Create collections based on:
    • Product Type
    • Use Case
    • Price Range
    • Seasonal
    Just remember customers may not know what they are looking for exactly; when you have established collections your customers can find what they need.
  3. Create important pages In addition to product pages, you will want:
    • About Us page (tell your story!)
    • Contact page (provide multiple ways to reach you.)
    • FAQ page (answer common questions to limit help requests.)
    • Size guides or product care (if applicable.)
  4. Mobile Friendly This is not optional anymore. In 2025, there was nearly 80% of all traffic to Shopify stores coming from mobile devices. Preview your store on different devices and check to see that everything looks good and works properly on smaller screens.

Product Setup for the Best Selling Results

Product setup

Your products are the star of the show. Let’s make sure they shine.

Product Listings

  1. Create product descriptions that are detailed Do not just describe features; instead tell how it’s going to benefit them. Create interest by showing customers how you are going to improve their life. Use a friendly, conversational tone in your descriptions and showcase how you are addressing their pain points. For example, do not say “100% cotton t-shirt”, instead say, “Ultra-soft 100% cotton that feels amazing on your skin and will keep you comfy all day long.”
  2. Take amazing product photos By 2025 customers expect to see product images from different angles and in multiple contexts. Here’s a list of tasks to consider in your product image and video strategy:
    • Clear, white-background product images
    • Lifestyle pictures with the product in use
    • Close-ups of significant details
    • Size/scale reference
    If you are selling clothing, the augmented reality try-on features on Shopify have become much more accessible lately. Consider implementing this functionality to decrease returns and abandoned carts.
  3. Add product videos Even simple 15-30 second videos can help improve conversions significantly. Show the product being used, or showcase certain features that are hard to capture in still images.
  4. Optimize product variants and options Make it as easy as possible for customers to select sizes, colors, or other options. Use detailed names for the different product variants, and offer a size selection chart if necessary.
  5. Enable inventory tracking Customers finding out that the item they just ordered is out of stock is one of the most frustrating scenarios. Only to find out the product was listed as available. Set the inventory tracking from the beginning to avoid overselling.

Product Pricing and Upsells

  1. Set up strategic pricing Utilize psychological pricing, 29.99 instead of 30. If you are running a promotion pricing, make sure they can see the original price so that they feel have seen the value.
  2. Enable volume discounts Encourage customers to buy more with tiered discounts – buy more, save more. This works especially well for consumables, or items that have colors or styles that customers want.
  3. Set up product recommendations Shopify’s recommended products section has come a long way in AI-powered recommendations in 2025. Turn on the “Customers also bought” and “Complete the look” settings. Now, you can increase average order value.
  4. Set up product bundles The product bundles feature allows you to bundle the products that go well together at a small discount. This adds perceived value while increasing your average order size.

Payment and Checkout Optimization

payment and checkout

The checkout process is the primary area where you will gain or lose a sale. All of those pesky little friction points can lead to an abandoned cart.

Payments

  1. Enable multiple payment methods At a minimum, be sure to include:
    • Credit/debit cards
    • Shop Pay
    • PayPal
    • Digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay)
    The big user change in 2025 is that cryptocurrency payments, and buy now, pay later services like Klarna and Afterpay are much more widely adopted. Check your ideal customer, and see if these options are a fit.
  2. Enable tax calculations From the outset, ensure you are charging the right tax rate based on your customer’s location by using Shopify’s automatic tax calculations. Taxes change frequently, so having a setting for automatic updates is a true godsend.
  3. Set shipping rates Establish shipping rules that make sense for your products and business model.
    • Free shipping (might require a minimum order value)
    • Flat rate shipping
    • Weight-based shipping, and levels
    • Real-time carrier rates
    Shopify’s delivery systems have become more widely accessible in 2025 with carbon neutral delivery, so check, if appealing to environmentally punitive customers is an option!

Checkout Process

  1. Clean up checkout settings Allow guest checkouts to ease friction of your checkout but also provide the customer with information on the advantages of creating a customer account (e.g., order tracking, faster future purchases)
  2. Set up order status notifications To keep the customer in the loop, set up automated emails for:
    • Order confirmation
    • Shipping confirmation (with tracking)
    • Delivery confirmation
    • A follow up after delivery
  3. Set up abandoned cart recovery Have automated reminder emails sent when a customer has left items in a cart. You can set reminders for when the customer goes back and even use shopify’s new AI driven abandoned cart recovery, which provides personalized incentive suggestions based on the customer.
  4. Add trust signals to the checkout process Add security badges, satisfaction guarantees, and highlights of your return policy to the checkout process to reassure any hesitant buyers.

Marketing and SEO Setup

marketing and SEO setup

Preparing your store for launch means planning how customers will find you.

SEO Basics

  1. Configure storewide SEO settings Update your homepage title and meta description to include the most relevant keywords. These should accurately describe your store, while also including potential search terms and verbiage a potential customer may use.
  2. Optimize your product page SEO For every product:
    • Write a unique title for the product that contains as many keywords / terms as relevant.
    • Create a meta description that describes the product in detail.
    • Use descriptive image alt text.
    • Ideally include keywords in the product description that you have included in other areas. Do this naturally without keyword stuffing.
  3. Submit your sitemap Shopify automatically creates a sitemap for your store. Just ensure you have submitted it to tools like Google Search Console and Bing for faster indexing.
  4. Install an SEO monitoring app The Shopify App Store has multiple good options that can help you track your rankings and identify opportunities to improve your optimization. Ensure the app you choose allows for integration with Google’s latest ranking factors.

Marketing Channels

marketing channels
  1. Set Up Google Analytics 4 You will likely want to set up Google Analytics 4 for your store to track behavior consumption, conversion rates, and traffic sources. The 2025 version should contain greater tracking features of e-commerce than any previous versions.
  2. Set Up Facebook Pixel and Conversion API Even considering privacy changes, you can still track effectively with Facebook and Instagram through these methods.
  3. Set Up Email Marketing Integrations Connect your store with your email marketing platform of choice such as Klaviyo or Mailchimp. Create sign-up forms and place them visibly throughout your store for the best opportunity of actual sign-ups.
  4. Set Up Social Media Accounts Create business accounts on any platforms, your target consumers spend time using. Link the social channels back to your store and create content to announce your launch.
  5. Set Up Google Merchant Center If you plan to run Google shopping ads, make sure to set-up the Merchant Center account and product feed. This is now very easier with Shopify’s native integration.

Must-Have Apps & Tools in 2025

shopify apps

The Shopify ecosystem has grown tremendously, and a few apps have become the must-haves:

  1. Customer Support Solutions Implement a helpdesk or live chat help option like Gorgias or Zendesk. These newer options, often with AI assist can automatically handle upwards of 70% of normal customer questions.
  2. Review Management App Social Proof is very important! Get set-up with a reviewing app like Judge.me or Loox which will automatically ask for reviews after a purchase and display nice plaques on your site.
  3. Inventory Management If the product you’re selling spans across different channels, a good inventory management app should be an obvious must-have to help you limit the amount of overselling or inventory discrepancies.
  4. Analytics & Reporting In addition to the basic Shopify analytics, you may want to consider adding a more advanced solution that provides more advanced analytics and reporting features for customer behavior and sales.
  5. Subscription Management If you have subscription based products, using dedicated apps makes managing repeat orders, subscription discounts, and any customer subscription changes that much easier.

Pre-launch Testing

Doing testing correctly before launch is absolutely essential. Here are the important things to test:

Functional Testing

  1. Testing order functionality Look over the entire buying process yourself/not just what you think might be the typical experience. Test:
    • Arriving on your store homepage
    • Add products to cart
    • Add discount code
    • Checkout process
    • Payment process
    • Confirmation/receipt email
    Shopify has a test mode that allows you to make an order, without charging any cards!
  2. Testing links/forms Test any forms that you have on your store (contact forms, newsletter sign-up, etc.) to make sure they go to the appropriate places.

Testing for Compatibility

  1. Cross-browser testing Look at your store from different browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge) to make sure it looks the same in each browser.
  2. Mobile responsiveness testing Look through the entire shopping experience using smartphones and tablets so you can find any issues where the experience would be different for mobile customers compared to desktop.
  3. Check Links Use a link checker to make sure that there aren’t any broken links on your store. Having a 404 error anywhere, signals to a potential customer that you may be unprofessional.

Performance Testing

  1. Test page speed Use something like Google PageSpeed Insights to check your site speed, and run a report to find glitches/errors with performance traffic. In 2025, page speed will matter more to user experience and SEO than ever before.
  2. Test how images load Make sure product images load quickly and at appropriate resolutions for a wide variety of devices.
  3. Simulate a surge in traffic If you’re anticipating a significant amount of launch traffic, consider load testing your store to ensure that it will be able to handle the traffic without slowing down.

Legal and Compliance

Protect yourself from legal woes by ensuring your store complies with all the requirements:

  1. Make sure you’re GDPR compliant If you plan to have access to European customers, be sure that you have the cookie notices, privacy policy, and data handling process compliant with GDPR.
  2. Check ADA compliance To allow people with disabilities, you should comply with web accessibility guidelines, including alt text for images, keyboard navigation support, and color contrast.
  3. Set up cookie consent Use a cookie consent app to allow you to notify the visitors of your site about cookies and tracking technology.
  4. Verify compliance from payment processor Be sure that you meet all the requirements from your payment processors that concern product descriptions, return/refund policies, and prohibited items.
  5. Education related to your product Some products (for example, food, cosmetics, or supplements) might require additional regulation. If there are other industry-specific rules, be sure you educate yourself.

Things to do on launch day

Now that the launch is around the corner, you can prepare for launch day by completing the following tasks:

  1. Draft a launch announcement email Create an email that can be sent out to your list to announce that your store is now open for business and encouraging them to make a purchase, perhaps with a special launch offer.
  2. Schedule social posts Throught your social platforms, plan some posts to help build awareness of your store and get people launching traffic to your new store.
  3. Set up ad campaigns Set up your initial ad campaigns and get them ready to activate when your store goes live on Google, Facebook, or wherever you need to.
  4. Update your customer service staff Be sure that anyone who may be handling customer service is completely in-the-know about the various products, policies, and typical customer inquiries.
  5. Plan launch-day monitoring Be prepared to monitor the activity on your site, including performance, traffic, and orders closely, so any issues can be resolved quickly.

What to focus on post-launch

When your store goes live, the work really begins! Here are some important things to spend your time on during those important first days:

  1. Monitor your analytics closely Watch for insight into:
    • Traffic sources
    • Conversion Rates
    • Average Order Value
    • Abandoned Cart Rate
    • User Behavior through your website
  2. Get Early Feedback from Customers You can request early customers to provide some feedback on your shopping experience. This will help you discover any problems that you might have missed.
  3. Optimize around Real User Behavior Use heatmapping software, like Hotjar, to see how visitors engage with your site and any friction points.
  4. Refine Marketing Campaigns Analyze the results from your launch marketing campaigns, and use your findings on your future campaigns.
  5. Create Your First Post Launch Promotion Maintain the momentum with a post-launch promotion aimed at first-time visitors who did not convert to paying customers during your launch.

Shopify Landscape in 2025 – New Functionalities to Take Advantage Of

Shopify introduced some fantastic new capabilities in 2025, which you should be leveraging:

Augmented AI capabilities

  1. AI enhancements to product descriptions Shopify can now convert and enhance your product descriptions for better conversion and SEO results. It evaluates and makes performance suggestions based on which stores in your niches are performing the best.
  2. Intelligent inventory forecasting Shopify now also has an AI-generated intelligent inventory forecasting feature which will even mitigate stockouts or over stock – using your actual sales patterns and seasonal sales to forecast.
  3. Personalized shopping experiences You can use the new dynamic content blocks to automatically alter what products and offers each visitor sees based on their browsing and purchase behaviors.

Sustainability Capabilities

  1. Carbon Footprint tracking Shopify now allows you to track the carbon footprint of products, and additionally, to off-set shipping emissions which appears to be an increasing issue for conscientious consumers generally.
  2. Eco-friendly packaging Take advantage of Shopify’s partnerships with eco-friendly packaging suppliers – you can access their services through the fulfilment settings.

Enhanced B2B functionality

  1. B2B portal functionality If you sell to both businesses and consumers, Shopify’s enhanced B2B functionality allows you to offer custom pricing, minimum order quantities and approval workflows for business customers.
  2. Wholesale channel You can connect with retailers through Shopify’s wholesale marketplace to expand your reach without adding additional overhead.

Common mistakes at launch

Having launched or seen hundreds of stores launch I have found a commonality to the mistakes made:

  1. Trying to achieve perfection It is always going to be better to launch with a decent store and grow and improve it, rather than sat on it for months trying to achieve perfection. You will need real customer data to understand what is important.
  2. Product descriptions Many new store owners use very little description, or rely on the manufacturer’s description; taking the time to write thorough unique product descriptions will deliver a better return on SEO and conversion.
  3. Mobile optimisation I still see stores, even in 2025, that look fantastic on desktop, but do not translate to mobile. With most consumer shopping done on their phones now, this is costly.
  4. Email setup Your email marketing list will likely become your most valuable marketing asset. Having an email capture strategy in place even before you launch is a good move, from day one!
  5. Post purchase experience The customer journey does not end at checkout! Order confirmation emails, shipping updates, and follow-up emails are vital in customer retention and gather reviews.

Final Pre-Launch Checklist

So, before you publish your store, here’s a final pre-launch checklist you can use.

  • ✅ All products have product details, images, and pricing
  • ✅ All payment methods set up and tested
  • ✅ All shipping rates set up correctly
  • ✅ All legal pages and policies to cover your store are in place
  • ✅ Appears professional, functioning on desktop and mobile version
  • ✅ Contact details are outlined and correct
  • ✅ The order notification emails are set up
  • ✅ Analytics tracking is set up and installed correctly
  • ✅ Test orders are functioning correctly through the entire purchasing and checkout flow
  • ✅ Marketing channels to announce that your store has launched are set
  • ✅ Customer support systems are in place and working

Conclusion: Your Launch is Just The Beginning

You have come so far to get here. The important thing to consider after you launch your Shopify store is that it is only the first step in your e-commerce journey. Most successful stores treat launch day not as a finish line, but as a starting point for improvement.

The best thing about selling products online in 2025 is you can continually improve your store as you get real, live customer data on the way they interact with your store, what products they purchase, what products they avoid, and what questions they ask. So take in every piece of feedback you can to help you optimise what products you should be selling and your marketing strategy.

And one more thing from someone who has done this multiple times before. Do not be disheartened if your store does not blow up overnight after you launch. Building a successful online store takes time, trials and persistence. Continue to learn, continue to improve, and continue to connect with your customers. That is the real key to e-commerce success in the long game.

Wishing you all the best with your Shopify Launch! You now have this checklist that puts you ahead of most new store owners. Go ahead and create something amazing.

Janak Uparkoti is Shopify expert and writing articles on ecombuilderinsider.com, a site that helps you build and grow your e-commerce business. He also expert on about Shopify design, development, marketing, optimization, and more.

He is also Book author at Amazon.