Opening a Shopify Store requires thorough planning. You need to establish processes, set routines, and create checklists to make things run smoothly. We have created a checklist for opening a Shopify Store in 2023.
There are many details that you might overlook if you rush through the process or try to do everything at once. That’s why creating checklists is so important. You need a way to organize tasks so you don’t forget anything and can avoid last-minute scrambles.
Table of Contents
Add a custom domain
You can’t launch your store until you created a custom domain. A custom domain is the address that visitors see when they go to your store.
Traditionally, this address would be the name of your business, such as shopify.com. However, a custom domain actually allows you to own the address. This means you can change the address at any time and start with a fresh address that has nothing to do with your competitors.
Besides owning the domain name, a custom domain also helps increase brand visibility, as it’s likely that people will type in your domain name as the address to their site. This is especially important if you have a physical location for your business, because it provides an address to visitors that is not a generic address like “shop.”
If you are unsure of how or where to purchase a domain for your business then I suggest you go with namescheap. I have tried many other businesses but names cheap have the best prices, services available and they have a very user-friendly website.
Checklist for Opening a Shopify Store

Review your checkout experience and payment options
A successful ecommerce business doesn’t just sell products, it brings people together, creates memories, and facilitates money movement. You need to analyze your checkout experience and make sure you have the right setup for receiving payments.
Your checkout experience is an extremely important part of your shop. It’s what potential customers will see when they visit your site, so it’s important that it creates a positive impression. The checkout process is also how your customers will pay you, so it needs to be extremely smooth and quick.
There are many factors that you can consider when reviewing your checkout experience, including:
- How convenient is it for customers to pay?
- Is the payment process obvious?
- Is the website easy to navigate?
- Are there any unnecessary steps?
- Are the checkout pages optimized for mobiles?

If there is one book that truly made me understand this it is “dotcom secrets” from Russell Brunson. I wrote a write up about three books he has published and if you are interested you can read this blog post for more information.
Prepare your standard pages on Shopify
This is where you can really expand your product offerings and show off your creative talents. Create a shop that makes visitors feel like they’re stepping into a new world, one that they’ll be excited to explore further.
Start with :
Setting Up a Standard Shopify Page. This is where you’ll learn how to customize every aspect of your page. This includes choosing a theme that is compatible with your store, adding products, customizing your page layout, and managing your inventory.
Each of these factors will help your customers feel even more connected to your brand.
Install an analytics tool from the Apps on Shopify
With all the data available to you through Shopify, you can discover new marketing opportunities, optimize your store, and troubleshoot issues. That’s why it’s important to have an analytics tool installed.
An analytics tool will give you an overview of where your store stands. You can see basic stats like how many visitors you get, what pages they click on, and where they leave your site.
An analytics tool also has more advanced features, like custom metrics that show you things like what times of day people are visiting your store, what days of the week they’re coming, and which pages they click on.
Checklist for Opening a Shopify Store

Focus on ecommerce search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is a fancy way of saying that you need to focus on your SEO. SEO is the practice of improving the search engine ranking of your website so that people can find your page when they search for products.
There are many SEO tactics, but the most effective SEO method is creating content that is optimized for SEO.
This means that it has a strong and well-written SEO strategy. This will help you rank better in search engines, where most of your traffic will come from.
Checklist for Opening a Shopify Store
Optimize all images on your website
Creating a memorable brand experience starts with creating quality images. Images are the first thing that visitors see when they land on your site, so you want them to have a positive impression.
You can create high-quality images using a tool like Canva. Canva is a free online tool that makes it easy to create professional-looking images. You can easily use Canva to create images for your store. The images you create can be used on your site, your blog posts, your social media posts, your product listings, and more.
Using Canva and becoming good at using Canva will be detriment to the success of your online business. Especially, if you are in dropshipping. Generally, in dropshipping you won’t have much content to work with so Canva helps stretch the content out.

Each image in your store should have a unique image ID so that Google can recognize them. You can create these IDs by naming each image and giving it a unique name. You can then customize your images by adding your name, company name, and other information.
Adjust your tax and shipping settings
This is important because it allows you to charge more for your products and better reflect your true costs.
When you set your tax and shipping options, you should also use a free shipping method. These two factors will impact how much you make per product sold. Tax is the value added tax (VAT) that most countries charge on sales.
It is a fee that is charged on all sales, not on the cost of the product. Shipping is the cost of shipping products out of your warehouse and to customers’ doorsteps. It is a fee that is charged to all customers for the privilege of receiving their products.
Make it easy for shoppers to contact you
Selling products online means that potential customers will have to contact you. You need to make this process as easy as possible.
There are many ways to do this, such as using a sign-up form for your e-mail list, having a contact form on your site or listing, and using a contact management tool. Your e-mail list is your best opportunity to convert new customers into paying customers. You can do this by offering exclusive discounts, coupons, and upcoming sales.
You can also use your e-mail list to send customers updates on your store launches, new products, and more.

Your store’s landing page is a great place to collect contact information, such as name and e-mail addresses. A landing page is a page on your site that directs customers to one specific objective, like selling a product.
Install only the essential apps
You want your customers to feel like they’re walking into a highly immersive experience. This means that your store should have a great user experience, which is a fancy way of saying that it should feel fast and intuitive while being easy to navigate.
While this seems like a basic rule that should be followed, many ecommerce businesses fail to do this, which can result in a subpar user experience. To avoid this, make sure that you only add the most essential apps to your store. You should only install apps that are relevant to your store and that will help you run it more smoothly.
A great example of this is Shopify’s app Store. It allows you to manage your products, view sales, and track orders, but it’s not an essential app. Therefore, you can safely uninstall it and not have to worry about negatively impacting your user experience.
Set up your billing information
Finally, you’ll want to set up your billing information. You’ll want to make sure that you have your billing information set up, such as your mailing address, payment information, and login information, so you can receive payments and make changes to your account.
As your store begins to grow and you begin to attract more customers, your billing information will become important. If you have a billing problem, such as a missing payment or an invalid address, you’ll want to be able to fix it quickly.
Finishing words
Now that your store is live and you have a checklist for opening your shop, it’s time to put your plans into action. The most important thing to do now is to focus on growing your business. You need to continue to create amazing products that your customers love. You also need to focus on promoting your products and building up your brand. And of course, you need to keep doing everything that you did before, but now with even more energy and enthusiasm!
open shopify store opening a Shopify Store