Starting an online store is easier than ever with AI, but you must also plan for tariffs, costs, and sales growth. Learn how to start an online store with this step-by-step guide covering setup, design, operations, and marketing.
How to Start an Online Store: A Beginner’s Guide
Your Step-by-Step Blueprint to Business Success
Learn from industry experts and avoid costly mistakes.
This article is part of a larger series on Retail Management.
Online shopping is now the default way people buy, which makes learning how to start an online store a smart move for any small business. Expanding into ecommerce not only grows your reach beyond a physical storefront but also gives you new sales channels across social media, marketplaces, and direct-to-consumer websites.
AI-powered platforms like Shopify, Wix, and GoDaddy make it faster and easier to design an online store, upload products, and run campaigns — even for first-time sellers with limited resources. But it’s not without challenges. From shipping costs to tariffs on imported goods, every dollar matters in your first year.
In this guide, I’ll show you step by step how to launch your store, avoid costly mistakes, and set up a business built for long-term growth.
Before you begin:
An online store is just one of the sales channels you can set up when you decide to sell online. If you’re learning how to start an online store for beginners, think of this as “Step 0” — a quick checklist before you build. Before you set up an ecommerce store, you need to perform market research, decide on the products you want to sell, identify your target market, and take care of all the branding and legal requirements for starting a business.
Here’s a simple pre-launch checklist:
- Market research completed
- Products selected
- Target market defined
- Branding assets ready (logo, store name, domain idea)
- Legal and business registration handled
Skipping these steps is one of the most common pitfalls for beginners, often leading to wasted time or money. To make sure you’re covered, read my in-depth guide on how to sell online.
Step 1: Choose an ecommerce platform
The first and most crucial aspect of starting an online shop is choosing an ecommerce platform. The best ecommerce platform for small business doesn’t just build a website — it acts as the control center of your online business. Inventory, order management, fulfillment, product listings, and marketing are all done through its dashboard. It also provides secure and safe integrations to allow you to connect to payment platforms and accept payments.
If you’re looking for cheap ways to start an online store, many platforms offer free ecommerce website builders or $0 to $5 starter plans. These can be great for testing, but you’ll eventually need to upgrade to unlock features like advanced inventory, analytics, and omnichannel sales. That’s why I encourage you to do your research and sign up for free trials. Most ecommerce platforms offer free trials, 14 days on average. That is more than enough time for you to see if the ecommerce builder is right for your skill level and business needs.
As Fit Small Business’ resident expert on retail and ecommerce, I regularly evaluate ecommerce platforms and keep up with updates in the industry. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the biggest drivers of change. Today, you can:
- Use AI-powered website builders like Shopify Magic or Wix ADI to design a storefront in minutes
- Generate product descriptions with ChatGPT or Jasper to speed up product listings
- Run AI-driven ad targeting on Meta Ads or Google Ads to reach the right audience faster
For small business owners and solopreneurs, these AI tools act like extra team members, helping you launch and manage an online store more efficiently.
A comparison of my recommended best ecommerce platforms and online store builders
I have rounded up my top picks for online store builders in my best ecommerce platforms buyer’s guide, and you can see the top five out of the 10 below.
Ecommerce PlatformStarting Monthly FeeBest ForRead More$5$39$0+$29$25
Ultimately, the choice of an ecommerce solution for most small businesses usually comes down to BigCommerce vs Shopify. Shopify is my top-recommended ecommerce platform for small businesses, whereas BigCommerce is better suited for larger-revenue businesses, especially those that have complex inventories or want to save on processing fees.
To see how Shopify compares with the rest of my top picks, read these comparison guides:
When to use a WordPress site: If your business is not a dedicated ecommerce site but rather a blog, coaching, or publishing site that also sells merchandise, you may also create a WordPress site and add a WooCommerce or other WordPress shopping cart plugin. Businesses can turn any existing WordPress site into an ecommerce store by using these plugins, so it is a good option for those looking to sell merchandise or expand into retail sales.
Our related resources:
How do you choose an ecommerce platform for your online store?
Most ecommerce website builders offer mobile-first website templates, inventory management tools, reporting dashboards, and built-in payment processing. I recommend looking for these key features when deciding on an ecommerce platform:
- Mobile-first website templates and drag-and-drop builders: Mobile commerce accounted for 40% of US ecommerce sales in 2024, so it is imperative that your online store be mobile-first. Also, look for an ecommerce builder that features a drag-and-drop online store editor to help you easily create your online store.
- Ease of use: Go with ecommerce software that is easy to use and navigate, especially for tech newbies. Ecommerce website builders should be intuitive and quick to set up. Like I mentioned earlier, sign up for a free trial to help you decide which platform is a better fit for your business needs.
- Customer support: Most ecommerce platforms provide support, but it is helpful to go with a platform that offers support all, or most, of the time. For example, Shopify provides 24/7 support through live chat, email, and phone in 19 languages.
When setting up an online store, also consider whether platforms offer native or plug-in tools for social media selling, in-person sales, marketplace connections (like Amazon), and blogging. These omnichannel features make it easier to scale and market your online store.
AI assistance is increasingly built into the platforms themselves. Shopify, for example, uses its own AI tools to help merchants write product descriptions, generate emails, and even suggest design elements. These features save hours of work and let small teams get stores live faster.
It’s also worth thinking beyond just the “website builder” function. A full commerce platform will let you handle hosting, analyze customer behavior, ship orders, run marketing campaigns, and even sell in physical retail locations. Even if you don’t need all these tools right away, choosing a fully featured platform now can save you the hassle of switching later as your business grows.
Lastly, consider your current and future needs. While some may be the best solution for today, it might be a wiser investment to go with a more powerful platform if you wish to have one that can support your future growth.
Step 2: Design your online store
After choosing a platform, the next step is to design your online store. This stage covers everything from applying your brand identity to choosing a mobile-first ecommerce website theme, customizing layouts with drag-and-drop tools, and adding the essential ecommerce website pages that customers expect.
AI-powered design is one of the biggest trends right now. Shopify’s Horizons themes include built-in AI editing, while Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy now offer AI ecommerce website builders that can generate layouts, product sections, and even starter copy in minutes. These tools make it easier for small businesses and solopreneurs to create professional-looking stores quickly, without coding or a full design team.
In this step, you’ll learn how to:
- Apply your brand identity consistently across your store design
- Select a mobile-first theme optimized for conversions
- Customize navigation, reviews, and UX features
- Add the essential ecommerce website pages your store needs
- Decide whether to use a template or consider a custom build
Short on time? Try an AI website builder
If you want to launch quickly, AI-powered builders like Wix’s AI website builder, Shopify Magic, Squarespace AI, and GoDaddy AI can generate a professional online store in minutes. You simply answer a few questions about your business, and the AI produces a ready-to-go design you can tweak in the editor. It’s a fast way to get a polished store online while still leaving room for customization later.
If you want to launch quickly, AI-powered builders like Wix’s AI website builder, Shopify Magic, Squarespace AI, and GoDaddy AI can generate a professional online store in minutes. You simply answer a few questions about your business, and the AI produces a ready-to-go design you can tweak in the editor. It’s a fast way to get a polished store online while still leaving room for customization later.
Take a look at how Wix’s AI Builder creates an online store. Building on its earlier ADI technology, the tool starts with a quick chat where you describe your business goals. The AI then generates a ready-to-go site, complete with layouts, colors, and starter content. You can accept the design, ask the AI to make adjustments, or fine-tune details in the Wix Editor.
Branding your online store for ecommerce website design starts with applying your brand identity across your website design. By this time, you should already have your brand identity — your branding kit and collaterals — completed. In a nutshell, your business should have:
- A logo
- Brand colors (color scheme)
- Font types (typography)
- Packaging designs
- Imagery (stock and lifestyle photos)
- A brand story, which helps define voice and tone for written copy
Use these brand assets consistently throughout your ecommerce website, but balance is key. For example, your homepage should highlight your brand colors and fonts, but avoid overloading product pages where high-quality photos should remain the focal point.
You can also reinforce your brand identity by displaying your mission and vision statements, core values, and brand positioning statement on key pages, such as the About page or homepage. This creates trust, helps customers connect emotionally with your brand, and gives your store a professional feel.
Related resources:
- Best Sites for Logo Design (Paid & Free)
- How to Create a Brand Style Guide (+ Free Template)
- How to Choose Brand Colors (+ Examples)
- Guide to Brand Color Psychology (+ Examples)
- How to Write a Brand Story (+ Free Template)
- What a Favicon Is & How to Use It (+ Design Tips & Examples)
Your ecommerce website theme sets the foundation for your store’s design, so choose one that is both mobile-first and flexible. Most ecommerce platforms provide free and paid themes, and WordPress has thousands of ecommerce website themes available for popular shopping cart plugins.
Shopify’s newest theme family, Horizons, even integrates AI assistance to make creating and editing your store faster. This shows the growing trend of platforms using AI to help merchants launch polished stores with less effort.
Horizons is Shopify’s latest set of website themes with built-in AI to make creating and editing easy. (Source: Shopify)
When choosing a theme for your online store, remember to:
- Invest in quality: Don’t shy away from paid themes; spring for the one you think is best. It’s not impossible to change themes later, but it is easier to pick the right one from the start.
- Opt for a mobile-responsive or mobile-first theme: Mobile browsing makes up a large portion of online shopping, so ensure your theme is optimized for mobile.
- Evaluate product pages: Quality product pages help increase conversions. Choose themes with options for lots of high-quality photos and/or images, multiple types of product descriptions, and other dynamic content.
- Filter themes based on your business needs, size, product catalog, etc.: Some themes are better suited for apparel because of their catalog presentation, while others are designed for restaurants and service-based businesses, as they provide booking forms and provisions for displaying menus and service pricing.
- Look for specific website features that are a priority for you: These include a search bar that auto-completes queries and a section that displays user-generated content.
Most ecommerce platforms let you filter their themes by industry, catalog size, and features. Focus on these instead of website colors, since you will be changing these to your brand colors. (Source: Shopify)
Ecommerce website customization depends on your chosen platform, but most modern store builders now include drag-and-drop editors that make it easy to customize your online store without coding. This is where you bring your brand and theme together into a fully functional shopping experience.
To learn how to set up an online store using different ecommerce platforms, see my guides below:
Follow ecommerce website design best practices, including:
- Prioritizing navigation features: Easy navigation is critical for a positive user experience, so ensure your site has great header, search, and related product navigation features. Don’t forget to add a sitemap to make your website easy for search engines to navigate.
- Displaying customer reviews: Have a way of collecting and displaying reviews and other user-generated content on your website from the get-go. This type of content helps build confidence and trust among potential customers. User-generated content (UGC) builds trust and helps boost SEO.
- Making it easy for customers to contact you: Include a chat option, like Facebook Messenger, and a phone number with clear support hours. Add an FAQ section with store policies and common questions.
- Focus on UX (user experience): Every visitor should have a smooth shopping journey. Optimize load speeds, minimize clicks to checkout, and keep product pages uncluttered. See our ecommerce UX best practices guide for detailed tips.
When I reviewed different ecommerce platforms, I replicated the same store across each site builder for an apples-to-apples comparison. This is our demo store built on Ecwid’s Instant Site Builder.
Your ecommerce website needs more than just a homepage and product listings. Adding key store pages builds trust, improves SEO, and ensures that customers find the information they need. At a minimum, every online store should include:
- Homepage: Showcase products, promotions, and brand story at a glance.
- About Us page: Share your mission, values, and story to connect with customers. Learn how to write a mission statement for your small business.
- Contact page: Phone, email, live chat, and social links.
- FAQ page: Cover shipping, returns, payment methods, and policies.
- Privacy policy and terms pages: Build trust and meet legal requirements.
- Returns and shipping policy pages: Increase buyer confidence and reduce support requests. Learn how to write a returns policy.
By setting up these foundational pages, you make your online store look credible and professional while improving the shopping experience.
Should you build a custom store? If you’re weighing custom ecommerce website design vs templates, it depends on resources. Larger businesses with in-house developers may benefit from a fully custom build. But for most small businesses, a theme-based store offers flexibility and scalability at a fraction of the cost.
Even if you start with a template, remember you can customize your online store extensively with plugins, apps, and AI tools. Like I said earlier, Shopify, Wix, and Squarespace all allow merchants to add advanced integrations as they grow.
Step 3: Set up your product listings
With your online store framework in place, it’s time to add products and create product listings that convert. This process includes uploading inventory data, writing compelling product descriptions, adding photos and videos, setting prices, organizing your catalog, and optimizing listings for SEO.
In this step, you’ll learn how to:
- Write well-crafted product descriptions
- Upload high-quality product photos and videos
- Set clear and competitive prices
- Organize your product catalog for easy browsing
- Optimize listings for search engines
Tip: Let AI handle the heavy lifting
Writing dozens of product descriptions and uploading images can be time-consuming. AI tools can make this step faster. Platforms like Shopify, Square Online, and Squarespace now offer AI product description generators and image editors. Standalone tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, and Canva can also create copy, resize product images, and even generate lifestyle photos to help your listings look professional.
Learn how AI product description generators work in my article, Should You Use AI to Write Product Descriptions?
For ecommerce websites, product pages are arguably the most important element of the site. Shoppers can land on a product page after browsing your store, from a Google search, or via a targeted advertisement.
A product page should have:
- High-quality photos: Product photos can make or break sales. Use high-quality images that show products from all angles, in all variants, and in action where situationally relevant.
- Customer reviews or social proof: When buying online, shoppers can’t see or feel the product for themselves, so they rely on customer reviews to assess product quality. Incorporate user reviews in product pages and/or photos and testimonials from social media—most ecommerce platforms have these features built-in or available through a plugin.
- Clear pricing information: Pricing should be displayed prominently and clearly indicate whether or not the price displayed is before or after any promotions.
- Easy “Add to Cart” buttons: Add a large “Add to Cart” button next to product images and below pricing information; the goal is to get shoppers to buy, so make sure the button is a color that stands out.
- Detailed product descriptions: Product descriptions should be concise and include precise product information like size and material, but should not be sales-y.
- Proactively addressed customer concerns: Indicate whether or not shipping is free or calculated at checkout, or if there is a minimum order for free shipping.
Related products: At the bottom, display similar products or items people who bought the item also purchased—some ecommerce platforms have this built-in, while others have this feature available through plugins.
There are multiple layers to uploading products. First, you’ll need to enter all the inventory data for each item — like wholesale price, retail markup, vendor information, SKUs and barcode information, categories, colors, sizes, quantities, and other data points relevant to your specific merchandise.
Related resources:
- How to Make a Barcode + Free Barcode Generator
- What Is an SKU Number? A Complete Guide
- How to Price a Product + Profit Calculators
If you already have your initial inventory, you can upload this information in bulk via a CSV or Excel file. You can also use our free inventory templates to help you get started. Otherwise, you can manually enter each product.
After you enter the data, create a detailed individual product page for each item.
Product descriptions should be uniform across the site, following the same template and tone throughout. In general, there should be three elements to a product description: a short intro, bullet points outlining high-level features, and a longer description at the bottom for shoppers who want greater detail.
To write well-crafted product descriptions:
- Keep your target market in mind. Write in their language.
- Keep text easily scannable. Break copy up into short sentences and paragraphs, and make use of bullet points.
- Anticipate common questions. Also, ensure you can address them in the description.
- Make it easy for customers to see themselves using the product. Since they cannot physically touch or try the product, include materials used, size charts, and anything that can help them imagine how it looks when tried on.
We have an in-depth article on how to write product descriptions that convert if you need guidance.
Product photos are one of the most important elements of an online store. Clear images showcase details and build trust, while poor photos create hesitation. Many suppliers provide professional images — ask for them to save time and money. If not, you can shoot your own using a plain white background and good lighting; even a smartphone works with the right setup. For faster results, consider ecommerce photography services.
In addition to product-only shots, include lifestyle photos (products in use). Apparel, accessories, and beauty items benefit from try-on shots, while home goods look better when shown in real spaces. Adding both product and lifestyle images helps shoppers picture the item as their own.
We have an in-depth guide on how to take professional-level photos at home. We show you how to build a DIY photo studio and take different types of product photography shots.
Don’t forget about video! Adding video to your product pages can increase conversions, reduce return rates, improve buyer confidence, strengthen brand image, and even boost search engine rankings. Learn how to create a product video at home.
Several factors affect your products’ prices, and these include raw materials, overhead expenses, and shipping costs. The perceived quality of your product and demand for it also greatly impact how you can price it.
Remember, you can adjust prices based on what happens after your product launch. Read our pricing strategies, which come with examples, to learn how to competitively price your products.
Ensure that when you set the price on your product page, it is clear and there are no hidden fees that might surprise the customer during checkout — this can lead to cart abandonment. Having set shipping options or even a range (which we discuss in detail in Step 5) contributes to transparency.
Related reads:
- How To Price a Product in 5 Steps
- Profit Margin & Retail Markup Calculator: How to Use Pricing Tools
- Pricing strategies: Penetration and dynamic pricing
Your ecommerce platform comes with built-in features to organize your products. We recommend that you utilize these to organize your catalog, especially if you have an extensive product line.
You can organize your products by:
- Product type (shirt, pants, scarves, socks, etc.)
- Supplier vendor (your manufacturer, wholesaler, or third-party vendor for the product — this helps easily reorder inventory)
- Keywords or tags (this helps customers search by keyword, product type, or format — anything you’ve set that helps organize your products).
- Category or collection (Best sellers, on sale, limited edition, or by season — this can be a curation of your products for specific purposes and audiences)
Part of setting up your products for success is to optimize them for search engines. Setting details — such as a good product title, a short description, and a URL that contains your product name — go a long way in helping your products show up in search results.
In Shopify, you can easily set these inside a product page, as shown below:
You can also manipulate the meta information that Google and other search engines display on results pages.
Here is what a product page usually looks like in a search result in Google. As you can see, consumers see your store’s name, logo, and product URL, as well as the product’s name, description, and price (plus whether it’s available!).
Step 4: Integrate payment processing
Integrating payment processing is one of the most important steps in setting up your online store. It directly affects checkout speed, customer trust, and cart abandonment rates. Choosing the right provider, offering the right methods, and streamlining checkout can have a major impact on your sales.
To accept online payments securely, you’ll need a PCI-compliant processor (Payment Card Industry). Many ecommerce platforms have built-in payment processors or a few select payment partners that are compatible. Any built-in payment processors will be PCI-compliant, e.g., Square, Shopify Payments, Stripe, and PayPal.
Square, Stripe, and PayPal are three of the most popular online payment options. To find out which is right for you, read our Square vs Stripe vs PayPal comparison.
Related reads:
- Ecommerce Payment Processing: Guide for Small Businesses
- What Is a Secure Payment System? and Ecommerce Payment Security Best Practices
For most small businesses, opting for a built-in payment processor is the easiest option. Payment processing rates across ecommerce platforms are usually competitive. For example, Shopify has its built-in payment processor called Shopify Payments, while Square Online works with Square Payments.
However, once you start to grow larger (processing more than $15,000 per month), it may be worthwhile to actively shop for a payment processor that can offer lower rates or negotiate a lower rate with your existing processor, as you could qualify for volume discounts. BigCommerce is a popular choice for large-volume sales-based businesses because it doesn’t charge transaction fees when you go with a different provider.
Credit card processing fees are a necessary cost of doing business. Learning about credit card processing and transaction fees will help you find the cheapest credit card processing companies that will work well for your business.
Related reads:
- How Does Payment Processing Work? Small Business Guide
- How to Accept Credit Card Payments Online for Free
- Payment Gateway vs Payment Processor: Differences & Choosing
As an online seller, it’s critical to have an option for shoppers to enter their credit or debit card information. However, having more user-friendly options like one-click and e-wallet payments, PayPal, and installment options (buy now, pay later) is important for increasing conversions and sales.
Most major ecommerce platforms have a direct integration for accepting PayPal payments, and many also accept NFC payments, such as Apple and Google e-wallet payments.
For example, Shopify provides stores with a feature called Shop Pay (formerly Shopify Pay), a customer-facing checkout that saves a buyer’s details. This allows shoppers to purchase items quickly just by clicking the Buy Now button. It’s exclusive to Shopify stores, but it works across every Shopify store that uses Shop Pay.
Related resources:
- Shopify Payments and Square Payments reviews
- Pros and Cons of PayPal: Guide for Small Business
- What Is BNPL?, How to Offer, and Best BNPL Apps
One of the biggest reasons for cart abandonment is a complicated checkout process — shoppers said that when it is too hard to navigate, lacks security seals, or asks for too much information, they abandon their carts.
So, simplify your checkout process by doing the following:
- Only ask for essential information
- Provide guest or express checkout options
- Display secure payment badges and SSL seals
- Offer a variety of payment methods (credit, wallet, BNPL)
- Show clear links to shipping and return policies
- Make coupon, discount, or gift card fields easy to find
Related resources:
- Shopping Cart Abandonment Statistics to Know
- What Is One-click Checkout & How Does It Work?
- Checkout Optimization Tips for Small Businesses
Sales tax works differently for online businesses, as you’re operating in multiple states. Luckily, most ecommerce platforms, including Shopify and BigCommerce, automatically calculate sales tax at checkout.
See our guide to ecommerce sales tax for more information.
Step 5: Manage inventory, fulfillment, and shipping
Once your product listings are live, the next step is to manage the behind-the-scenes logistics: inventory, order fulfillment, and shipping. Getting this right ensures your products move smoothly from store to customer while keeping costs under control.
Part of efficient order fulfillment is having an effective inventory system. Inventory management is the process of ordering, tracking, and storing your products to meet demand efficiently. It’s a crucial part of any retail or ecommerce business.
Tracking inventory stock effectively helps businesses prevent stockouts (minimize carrying costs and shrinkage), manage multiple locations, and ensure accurate recordkeeping. An inventory solution makes these processes easier than trying to do them all manually.
There are paid inventory solutions and specialized systems, such as POS inventory software, for those managing a storefront or doing in-person sales. However, there are also free inventory management tools and inventory templates to help you get started.
If you need more help establishing a full process, read our guides to retail inventory management, stock-keeping unit (SKU) vs universal product codes (UPC) numbers, and SKU generation for products.
Related resources:
- How to Organize Inventory for Small Businesses
- Best POS Inventory Systems
- Best Inventory Management Software for SMBs
- Safety Stock Definition & Calculator
Processing, picking, and packing customer orders are part of the order fulfillment process. When starting, many small businesses handle this process themselves out of a garage or storage space. However, some companies handle order fulfillment for ecommerce sellers.
There are four different ways to do this: in-house fulfillment, outsourced third-party fulfillment, dropshipping, or a hybrid approach.
- In-house: This type of fulfillment is literally in-house — all your customer orders are processed, picked, packed, and shipped under your roof. Your business handles all phases of the order fulfillment process, including receiving and storing inventory. This type of order fulfillment works best for businesses with full-time store owners or those that process fewer than 10 orders daily (usually startups or young businesses).
- Third-party provider: If you want to outsource fulfillment, order fulfillment companies and third-party logistics (3PL) providers will store your products and then pack and send orders as they come in. With this fulfillment method, ecommerce businesses still purchase inventory upfront and send it to the order fulfillment company to store. This method is often ideal for ecommerce businesses that have outgrown their at-home fulfillment space and do not want to start their own warehouse and large-scale fulfillment operation.
- Dropshipping: Dropshipping companies serve as the product suppliers and fulfill customer orders, so ecommerce businesses don’t have to purchase upfront inventory. When working with dropshipping companies, ecommerce sellers are limited in that they can only sell products the dropshipper has available. However, there are fewer upfront costs and a lot less work involved for ecommerce businesses.
- Hybrid fulfillment: A hybrid fulfillment approach combines some (or all) of the above order fulfillment methods. This is a popular solution for growing businesses because it offers a lot of flexibility. It is also ideal for brick-and-mortar stores expanding into online sales by allowing shoppers to buy online and pick up purchases in-store.
Related resources:
If you are packing and shipping customer orders in-house, choose a shipping software or service, look for cheap shipping supplies, and shop around for the most efficient shipping rates among FedEx vs UPS vs USPS — the most popular shipping platforms. However, if you plan to ship internationally, there are different ways to do so, such as cross-border international shipping and localized fulfillment.
Choose a shipping strategy that will work with your business needs. Some of these strategies include:
- Offer free shipping. You can use this as an incentive for customers. You can tie this offer to a minimum required spend, to certain product purchases, or specific regions.
- Charge real-time carrier rates. Many ecommerce platforms have built-in integrations with USPS to generate real-time pricing on shipments.
- Charge a flat rate for shopping. This strategy is ideal if your product line has similar weights and sizes. This makes actual shipping costs easier to predict.
Check out our guide to ecommerce shipping and handling (with free SOP checklists).
Popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and Square Online have built-in shipping tools. They have discounted shipping rates, automatically calculate shipping costs for customers at checkout, and make it easy for ecommerce businesses to print shipping labels directly from the order management system.
Step 6: Get your store ready for launch
You’ve done all the big tasks — you just need to get your store ready for launch! Before opening your store to customers, make sure everything is launch-ready. This step is about final preparation, setting up a custom domain, adding sales channels, and reviewing your store on desktop and mobile to ensure a smooth customer experience.
Think of this as your launch checklist: domain connected, payments tested, policies visible, and checkout working without issues. These details help build trust and prevent costly mistakes once shoppers arrive.
Set up your custom domain name
Think of a custom domain as your website address. Having your own website address builds credibility for your online store. It will look professional and help instill trust in your customers. Ecommerce platforms make this process easy, you just need to register your domain first.
Related resources:
- Business Domain Name: A Quick Overview
- How to Register a Business Domain Name
- How to Choose a Domain Name (Dos & Don’ts)
Add sales channels to expand reach
I recommend adding sales channels on top of your online store, but they need to be relevant and worth the addition. For example, is the sales channel a place where your target customers are? Is the sales channel a part of your overall business goals and marketing strategies?
Remember, you don’t need to be all over the place, just a few key places where it’s worth investing your effort. Here are some that are worth highlighting:
- Marketplaces: Many successful ecommerce businesses grow by selling their products in more than one place, branching out to sell on Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy. These platforms likely won’t drive traffic to your main store, but they are a good way to bring in revenue and can help strengthen your brand credibility and recognition.
- Social media: For new online brands, advertising and selling on social channels are popular ways of gaining recognition. Check out my how-to selling guides for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube.
Step 7: Launch and market your online store
Going live is only the beginning. To drive traffic and sales, you’ll need a multi-channel marketing plan that blends SEO, email marketing to bring in returning shoppers, and social media marketing. Many businesses also mix in offline efforts like pop-up shops or local events to attract new customers.
Tip: Use AI to supercharge your marketing
AI-powered tools can now handle everything from writing product descriptions to generating email campaigns and even building ad creatives. Shopify Magic, Wix AI, and tools like Jasper or ChatGPT help small businesses market with the efficiency of a larger team.
AI-powered tools can now handle everything from writing product descriptions to generating email campaigns and even building ad creatives. Shopify Magic, Wix AI, and tools like Jasper or ChatGPT help small businesses market with the efficiency of a larger team.
Online stores need at least a basic SEO strategy to make sure that product pages appear in search results. To do this, ecommerce sellers need to target a keyword with each individual product page (such as “striped polyester t-shirt.”) Ecommerce websites should also make sure to add product titles and descriptions that will appear in search engine results and alt text for images.
Online store builders like Shopify and BigCommerce have built-in tools to set SEO up easily. In addition to optimizing individual pages, ecommerce sites should have a logical and user-friendly structure so that shoppers can easily navigate through them. For example, all BigCommerce websites include SEO features, such as an automated image optimizer, on-page SEO capabilities, sitemap generation, and site speed enhancers.
Read also: SEO for Ecommerce Websites: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide
Email promotions are one of the best tools an online store has for driving repeat sales and connecting with customers. Ask customers to provide their email addresses with orders, but also have a sign-up option for people who visit your site but do not make a purchase. Most ecommerce platforms have either built-in tools for email marketing or integrations with email marketing solutions like Mailchimp.
Free download: Online store launch checklist
You now have everything in place to launch your online store. To make it easier, I’ve created a free checklist with all the steps plus a 90-day marketing plan to guide your first months online.
Get a step-by-step checklist plus a 90-day marketing plan to guide your first months in business.
How much does it cost to run an online store in 2025?
Don’t overlook this — estimating startup costs is essential for learning how to start an online shop. While the average cost to build a functional ecommerce website can be as low as $300, total startup expenses for a business are often much higher once you factor in product sourcing, marketing, and operations. For many small ecommerce businesses, first-year startup costs can range from $5,000 to $40,000, depending on inventory strategy, staffing, fulfillment, and how aggressively you invest in marketing.
Related: Ecommerce Website Cost: Complete Pricing Guide
Shopify research shows that new online store business owners can expect expenses to reach up to $40,000 in the first year, recoverable through profit margins (with a timeframe set up to 18 to 24 months).
Shopify found that general expense categories during the first year would look something like:
- Product sourcing and procurement (31.6%): Raw materials, manufacturing, patents, etc.
- Operating costs (11%): Legal and accounting fees, business insurance
- Online store costs (9%): Ecommerce platform subscription, web developer, etc.
- Shipping costs (8.7%): Packaging and labels
- Offline/Overhead costs (10.5%): Rent, equipment, etc.
- Employees/hiring costs (18.8%): Salaries, benefits, compensation
- Marketing costs (10.3%): Logo, branding, printed materials, business cards, etc.
Consider these hidden costs when operating your online store
Beyond these major categories, factor in additional expenses that can impact your profit margins:
- Payment processing fees: Typically 2.4%-3.5% + 30¢ per transaction
- Apps and integrations: $10-$200/month, depending on your platform
- Inventory storage: Warehousing fees if you scale beyond in-house storage
- Tariffs and import duties: If you source internationally, customs and tariffs can add a significant variable cost per order — sometimes eroding profit margins if not budgeted upfront.
- Returns and refunds: Replacement inventory, restocking fees, and shipping.
How to estimate your online store startup costs
Based on the estimated expenses above, categorize your spending allocations by the following:
- Essential vs Optional Expenses: When budgeting, classify expenses that are absolutely necessary (and even critical) to your business. This will boil down to priorities, but we recommend having a rigid standard when you are just starting out. For example, paid ads will likely help your business garner attention quickly, but you can get the same result in the same amount of time with a carefully planned marketing strategy.
- One-time vs Recurring Expenses: One-time expenses include patent filings and business formation documents. Recurring expenses are your operational or overhead expenses, like subscriptions and employee salaries. Keep an eye out for recurring expenses so that you can estimate how much you will be spending on them over your first year.
- Fixed vs Variable Cost: These are usually part of your recurring expenses. Your subscription fees are likely to stay fixed during the year, but utility bills can vary monthly.
It’s crucial to spend the first year of your online store’s operations tracking expenses, testing cash flow, sticking to set budgets, and reinvesting sales back into the business.
What are the most common mistakes when launching an online store?
Even with a solid platform and a well-designed site, many first-time sellers stumble over the same pitfalls. If you’re learning how to start an online shop or researching how to set up an online store, avoiding these mistakes will save you time, money, and frustration.
- Underestimating startup costs: Many new sellers budget only for the website, not realizing that marketing, product sourcing, shipping, and tariffs can quickly add up. Without a full budget, cash flow issues appear fast.
- Skipping product research: Choosing a product just because it’s trending is risky. Without validating demand, competition, and margins, you may stock items that don’t sell or produce slim profits.
- Publishing weak product listings: Low-quality photos, vague descriptions, or missing details like size charts and materials reduce customer trust and increase returns.
- Overcomplicating checkout: Long or confusing checkout processes are a top cause of cart abandonment. A single-page checkout with multiple payment options works best.
- Ignoring mobile optimization: Nearly half of ecommerce sales happen on mobile devices. A site that isn’t responsive or mobile-friendly will instantly lose customers.
- Overextending sales channels: New owners often try to sell everywhere — Amazon, TikTok, Instagram, Etsy — right away. This dilutes focus and burns budget. Instead, choose sales channels that align with your goals and test a few proven online store marketing tips before scaling.
- Choosing the wrong fulfillment model: A common pitfall when deciding between dropshipping vs. inventory models is not thinking long-term. Dropshipping keeps startup costs low, but you sacrifice control over shipping and quality. Inventory-based selling requires more upfront investment but often delivers higher margins and customer satisfaction.
- Neglecting SEO and marketing: A “build it and they will come” approach doesn’t work in ecommerce. Without SEO, email, and social marketing, even the best store struggles to attract customers.
- Forgetting customer service and policies: Missing return policies, unclear contact details, or slow responses drive shoppers away. Clear customer service pages add credibility.
- Not tracking performance early: Waiting months to review analytics means missing red flags like high bounce rates or abandoned carts. Use reporting tools from day one.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Click through the tabs below to get answers to your frequently asked questions about how to start an online shopping site.
Square Online has a forever-free option that allows you to build a multipage online store. Once you gain traction, you can upgrade your plan for more advanced features.
While there are no guarantees you’ll make any money, you may make a profit with the right resources. Whether you’re covering the costs of your monthly hosting or making a full-time income, any of it is possible given the time, talent, and resources. Your income depends on your niche, audience, and expenses.
You can get products for selling online by importing products from China, dropshipping, starting a private label brand, or manufacturing your own products.
Our top pick for the best ecommerce platforms is Shopify. It is an easy-to-use platform that gives you all the essential features you need. You can build a full website, use its built-in payment provider (no need to apply on another platform), sell products online (and on social channels like Facebook), and have marketing tools at your disposal—all within the Shopify dashboard.
Whether you’re starting a brick-and-mortar store or an online store, most states will require a business license. This is so that you can collect taxes from your customers and the Internal Revenue Service can track tax revenue. Your state’s department of revenue should have the info you need.
Bottom line
Statistics show that more than 55% of consumers prefer online shopping. It is clear that ecommerce is here to stay, and having an online store should be part of a retail business’ growth plan.
Shopify makes it easy for individuals or businesses of any size to start an online store. Preset templates and built-in inventory and order management features make it simple to get an ecommerce business up and running in no time. With several plans, individuals can start a small online store and grow it to an ecommerce enterprise. Visit Shopify today for a three-day free trial and to unlock a $1 per month price for three months.
