Short answer
Before building an online store, prepare your product catalogue, variants, prices, photographs, payment and delivery rules, and the people who will process orders. Agree where availability data comes from and what a successfully completed purchase looks like. These answers define what the store needs to do and make a specific development estimate possible.
Your entire catalogue does not need to be ready immediately. Start with a small, representative sample: a simple product, a product with variants, an unavailable item and a product with special delivery requirements. Use them to check the rules before adding the rest of your range.
How should you prepare products, codes and variants?
Distinguish a product from its saleable variants. The same shoe model in two sizes can have different availability. Recording both under a shared name makes it harder to connect the customer's selection with the item that needs to be dispatched.
In your preparation worksheet, give each separately tracked variant its own row. Link it to the parent product and the existing code in your stock records. This is a suggested working format; the final import structure depends on the platform. WooCommerce supports separate prices, images and stock levels for variations, so preparing those details early is useful.
Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.
| Field | Example | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Parent product | SHOE-01, Model A trainers | Which variants belong to the same model? |
| Variant code | SHOE-01-WHITE-38 | Does it match the code in your stock records? |
| Attributes | Colour: white; size: 38 | Are names consistent throughout the catalogue? |
| Price and availability | Confirmed values from your records | Who approves and updates them? |
| Photographs | SHOE-01-WHITE-01.jpg | Do they show this particular variant? |
| Delivery | Weight, package dimensions, special rules | Which details affect the delivery charge? |
Planika in our portfolio illustrates how categories and filters help shoppers choose footwear. For a similar store, prepare consistent size, colour and category values. A size filter depends on organised data as well as its position in the design.
Which photographs and descriptions help a customer decide?
Prepare a main photograph, the necessary detail views and images of every visually different variant. Connect files to product codes and record which image should appear first. Supply originals that you have permission to use, and agree with your developer how images will be resized and formatted for the website.
Descriptions should answer practical questions: what the customer receives, the dimensions or composition, how to choose the right variant and what is included in the package. Provide a size guide where needed. Flag unconfirmed specifications as questions to resolve before publication.
Princip Shop in our portfolio connects the fashion brand's identity with its catalogue and market selection. If you also plan to serve multiple markets, prepare the languages, range and purchasing rules for each one. Translating descriptions is one part of that preparation.
What should you agree for payments, delivery and returns?
List the payment methods you want and mark those already confirmed. For card payments, check the bank or processor's terms, availability for your business, supported currencies and integration with the chosen platform. The official WooCommerce payment guide distinguishes the processor's requirements and fees from the plugin used to connect it.
For delivery, prepare service areas, pricing rules, expected delivery times and exceptions. If you offer free delivery above a threshold, decide how discounts affect that threshold. If customers can collect orders, specify the location and how they will be notified.
Prepare purchasing, complaints, returns and privacy information suited to your business and markets, with appropriate professional review. Separately describe the internal process: who receives a request, who checks the goods and who confirms the next step to the customer. The website should reflect a process your team can actually carry out.
Payment and integration choices also affect the platform. Our WooCommerce or Shopify guide compares those requirements, maintenance and recurring costs so you can request proposals for the same scope.
Who updates prices and availability?
Assign a source and an owner to each important piece of information. Are prices changed in the store or in your business software? Who confirms availability when the same item is sold online and in a physical shop? What happens to reserved stock, cancelled orders and returned items?
If you need data exchange, prepare the system name, its supplier's contact details, a sample export without private information and a list of the data to transfer. Our guide to connecting an online store to inventory explains the integration questions in more detail.
Also agree who checks new orders each day and responds when data exchange fails. Before launch, have that person independently update a sample product and find a test order in the administration area.
How should you test a purchase before launch?
A test order should cover the customer's journey and the employee's work. Shopify's testing documentation covers checkout, order processing, inventory, delivery and notifications. Use the supported test mode for your chosen payment provider; a single simulation does not verify every payment method.
Adapt the following checklist to the agreed features. Use a prepared test environment without taking real payments or dispatching goods:
- On a phone, find a product through its category and filter, then select the correct variant.
- Check the price, quantity and selected variant in the basket, including any agreed discounts.
- Enter a supported delivery address and check the charge; also test an address outside the delivery area.
- Complete a successful test checkout and check what happens when payment fails.
- Confirm that the customer and employee receive notifications, and that the administration area contains the correct order items.
- Check changes to availability, cancellation and the agreed returns process.
For each scenario, record the expected result, the actual result and the person who confirms any fix. Before opening for real sales, check the production settings and confirm that test mode is no longer active.
What should you send for an online store estimate?
Send a catalogue sample, approximate product and variant counts, photographs, markets and languages, confirmed payment methods, delivery rules and details of existing business software. Name the person responsible for content and order processing. Clearly mark open questions so the proposal can distinguish the agreed scope from work that still needs defining.
These details let us plan online store development around your range and your team's work, with concrete checks to complete before launch.