Store launch checklist: the 30 items we verify
The thirty checks a store passes before it opens, grouped by what goes wrong when they are skipped.
The short answer
A store is ready to open when thirty things are true, checked as a customer would experience them, on a phone, in each market, with a real order placed and refunded. They fall into seven groups: catalogue, checkout and payments, shipping and tax, legal and policies, performance and mobile, search and tracking, and operations. The groups most often skipped are the last four; stores launch able to sell and unable to answer a customer, a dispute or a search engine. The checklist is run by someone who did not build the store, with the owner signing off each group, and it is run again before every major campaign, because stores change between launches.
The thirty checks
| Group | Checks |
|---|---|
| Catalogue | 1. Every product has images, price, weight, inventory and a description. 2. Variants map correctly and switch images. 3. Collections are complete and sorted deliberately. 4. Out-of-stock behaviour is decided and works. 5. Search finds products by the names customers use. |
| Checkout and payments | 6. A real order placed and refunded per payment method and market. 7. Express wallets shown early. 8. Discount codes and automatic discounts behave as intended. 9. Order, shipping and refund emails arrive, on brand, with correct details. 10. Fraud analysis and payment authentication enabled. |
| Shipping and tax | 11. Zones and rates match carriers and markets. 12. Shipping cost and delivery estimate visible before checkout. 13. Tax settings per market verified on a real order. 14. Duties handling stated for cross-border. 15. Tracking page and notifications work. |
| Legal and policies | 16. Terms, privacy, returns and shipping policies present, market-specific where required, linked from checkout and footer. 17. Consent handling correct and honest. 18. Company details and contact information visible. 19. Age, product or sector-specific requirements met. |
| Performance and mobile | 20. Homepage, top collection and top product pass real-user thresholds on mobile in lab checks. 21. App scripts audited; each justified. 22. Images sized and lazy-loaded; no layout shift. 23. Keyboard and screen reader walk-through of the purchase path. |
| Search and tracking | 24. Analytics purchase event verified with a real order; no duplicates. 25. Structured data valid on product pages. 26. Sitemap submitted; robots correct; preview stores blocked. 27. Redirect map live if replacing an old site; old addresses tested. |
| Operations | 28. Support inbox monitored; response owner named. 29. Returns process runnable end to end by staff. 30. Backups of theme and data, a development store kept current, and a rollback theme unpublished and ready. |
Running it
- Assign a checker who did not build the store, and a phone.
- Work through the groups in order, recording pass, fail or fixed for each item.
- Place the real orders per market and method, and refund them.
- Fix and re-check failures; do not launch with open items in checkout, payments, legal or operations.
- Owner signs off each group.
- Schedule the launch for a quiet window with the builder available.
- Re-run the checklist before every major campaign and after any major change.
After launch
The checklist becomes the monthly maintenance routine’s foundation: the same groups, checked on a cadence, with the real order placed periodically. Stores drift: apps are added, policies age, tax rules change, carriers change. The store that re-runs its launch checks before peak season is the one whose peak season is uneventful.
What this means for you
Verify all thirty items as a customer, on a phone, per market, with real orders, before opening, with someone who did not build the store doing the checking and the owner signing off each group. Pay particular attention to legal, performance, tracking and operations, the groups launches skip. Then keep the checklist as the basis of monthly maintenance and re-run it before every campaign.
Frequently asked questions
Do we really need to place a real order before launch?
Yes, with a real card, through each payment method and market, and then refund it. Test modes miss what real processing reveals: a method not enabled for a market, a tax calculation, a confirmation email that never sends, a fulfilment step that fails. One real order per market is the cheapest insurance a launch can buy.
What is most often missing at launch?
Policies that customers and the law require, shown where they should be; a returns process someone can actually run; a monitored support inbox; analytics that fire correctly on purchase; and a redirect map if the store replaces an old site. Stores launch selling; they often launch unable to operate.
Who should run the checklist?
Someone who did not build the store, as a customer, with the builder available to fix. The builder knows where things are and unconsciously avoids what is broken; a fresh person on a phone finds it. Then the owner signs off each group.
Sources
- Shopify Help Center: Launching your online store (accessed 2026-09-12)