Web shop checklist: what you need before launching

Launching an online store in 2026 is more accessible than ever. But most shops that fail, fail for the same reasons — not the design, but logistical, legal and payment mistakes that surface only after the first order arrives.

1. Legal and fiscal setup

• Registration — LLC, sole trader, or another form. Online sales is often a separately registered activity — check what applies where you're registered.
• Fiscalization / invoicing — check your local requirements for online payments and adapt your bookkeeping system in time.
• Terms and privacy policy — mandatory even for small shops. GDPR matters if you sell to EU customers.
• Return policy — return rights are statutory in many markets (e.g. 14 days for EU consumers). Show it clearly, don't hide it.

2. Payments

This is the biggest technical hurdle. To accept cards online you need a merchant account or payment processor integrated with your e-commerce platform. A typical stack includes:

• Stripe — the most widely supported option for international customers, with broad currency and platform support.
• PayPal — a checkout option many customers expect and trust, especially for cross-border orders.
• Regional payment gateways — check your payment provider's requirements for your market; local processors are often cheaper and support the card networks and bank transfers customers actually use.
• Cash on delivery — still a meaningful share of orders in many markets. Worth offering if your delivery partner supports it.
• Bank transfer — for B2B transactions.

3. Delivery

Delivery planning is critical for real prices and conversion. Common options include national postal services, DPD and private couriers for local delivery, and DHL, GLS or FedEx for cross-border shipping.

• Which regions do you cover — local, regional, international?
• Shipping cost: flat, by weight, by order value?
• Free shipping above a threshold — reliably raises average cart.
• Delivery time and customer notifications.
• Damaged/lost package policy — which courier agreement covers you.

4. Technical platform

For most small and medium shops the best combination is WordPress + WooCommerce (full control, low recurring cost, large ecosystem). Shopify works well if you want minimum technical responsibility and have budget for the monthly subscription. Custom solutions only for special cases.

5. SEO for a web shop

• Schema markup for Product, Offer and AggregateRating
• Optimized product descriptions (not copied from the manufacturer)
• URL structure: /category/product, not random IDs
• Loading speed (Core Web Vitals)
• Google Merchant Center feed for Google Shopping
• Auto-generated sitemap.xml for all products and categories

6. Email and notifications

Automated emails (order confirmation, shipping status, abandoned cart reminder) raise conversion 10–25% in the first six months. Set them up at launch, not later.

What's next

More on our approach and pricing at web shop development. For supporting marketing, see SEO optimization and Google Business Profile optimization.