Complete Shopify Store Setup Checklist 2025: Launch Your Store the Right Way

Setting up a Shopify store is easy. Setting it up correctly is harder. Most new store owners rush through setup, miss critical settings, and wonder why they're not getting sales.

This comprehensive checklist covers everything you need to configure before launch—from essential settings to apps, SEO, legal pages, and optimization. Follow this guide and you'll avoid the common mistakes that cost beginners thousands in lost sales.

Phase 1: Initial Store Setup (Day 1)

1. Create Your Shopify Account

Steps:

1. Go to shopify.com and click "Start free trial"
2. Enter your email, create a password
3. Answer the setup questions (you can skip these—they don't affect your store)
4. Choose your store name (you can change this later)

2. Configure General Settings

Go to Settings → General

Store Details:

• Store name: Your business name (shows in admin, emails, and some places on site)
• Store contact email: Where you'll receive order notifications and customer inquiries
• Store industry: Select your primary industry (helps Shopify suggest relevant features)

Address:

• Enter your business address (required for legal compliance and shipping calculations)
• This address appears on invoices and may be required for tax purposes

Standards and formats:

• Store currency: Choose carefully—can't be changed easily after you have orders
• Unit system: Imperial vs Metric (affects shipping weight, product dimensions)
• Time zone: Set to your local time zone for accurate reporting

3. Add Your Logo and Branding

Settings → General → Store details

• Logo: Upload your logo (recommended: 200-400px wide, PNG with transparent background)
• Cover image: Used in some themes and as fallback for social sharing

Don't have a logo yet?

• Use Canva (free) to create a simple text-based logo
• Hire on Fiverr ($5-50 for basic logo design)
• Use Shopify's logo maker tool (Settings → General → Create logo)

Phase 2: Payment & Checkout Setup (Day 1)

4. Set Up Payment Providers

Go to Settings → Payments

Shopify Payments (Recommended):

• No transaction fees (just credit card processing fees: 2.9% + 30¢ for Basic plan)
• Automatic payouts to your bank account
• Supports all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay
• Available in: US, Canada, UK, Australia, and 20+ other countries

Setup steps:

1. Click "Complete account setup" under Shopify Payments
2. Enter business details and banking information
3. Verify your identity (may require ID upload)
4. Configure payout schedule (daily, weekly, monthly)

If Shopify Payments isn't available in your country:

• PayPal: Widely trusted, but adds 2% transaction fee + PayPal fees
• Stripe: Good alternative, 2% transaction fee if not using Shopify Payments
• Other providers: Choose region-specific payment gateways your customers trust

5. Configure Checkout Settings

Go to Settings → Checkout

Customer contact:

• Email/Phone: Choose whether customers must provide email, phone, or both
• Recommendation: Email only (requiring phone increases cart abandonment)

Customer information:

• ☑ Require first and last name: Checked (needed for shipping)
• ☑ Require company name: Unchecked unless you're B2B

Form options:

• ☑ Show "Order notes" field: Optional—lets customers add delivery instructions
• ☑ Enable auto-fill: Checked (speeds up checkout)

Marketing:

• ☑ Pre-select email marketing opt-in: Your choice (checked = more subscribers, unchecked = better compliance)
• ☑ Show SMS marketing sign-up: Checked if you plan to do SMS marketing

Abandoned checkouts:

• ☑ Automatically send abandoned checkout emails: Checked (free way to recover 10-15% of abandoned carts)
• Send first email after 1 hour, second after 6 hours, third after 24 hours

6. Set Up Tax Collection

Go to Settings → Taxes and duties

United States:

• Shopify can automatically calculate sales tax for all US states
• Set up tax registrations where you have nexus (physical presence or sales threshold)
• Most states require tax collection once you hit $100k+ in annual sales

Other countries:

• Canada: Set up GST/HST/PST collection based on your province
• UK/EU: Configure VAT collection (20% in UK, varies in EU)
• Australia: Set up GST (10%) collection

Recommendation: Consult with a local accountant to ensure compliance. Tax laws vary by location.

Phase 3: Shipping Setup (Day 1-2)

7. Configure Shipping Zones and Rates

Go to Settings → Shipping and delivery

Create shipping zones:

1. Click "Create shipping zone"
2. Name your zone (e.g., "United States", "International")
3. Add countries/regions to the zone
4. Set shipping rates for that zone

Shipping rate options:

1. Flat rate shipping (Simplest):

• Example: $5 flat rate for all orders
• Easy to understand for customers
• You may lose money on heavy/far orders, make extra on light/close orders

2. Free shipping with minimum:

• Example: Free shipping on orders over $50
• Increases average order value by 20-30%
• Most popular option for growing stores

3. Calculated rates (Most accurate):

• Real-time rates from USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.
• Requires carrier account setup
• Available on Shopify plan or higher

4. Weight-based or price-based rates:

• Different rates based on order weight or total price
• More complex but can be very accurate

Recommended starter setup:

• Domestic zone: Free shipping over $50, $5.95 flat rate under $50
• International zone: $15 flat rate (or disable international if not ready)

8. Set Product Weights

If using calculated shipping or weight-based rates, you MUST enter accurate product weights.

For each product:

1. Go to Products → Select product
2. Scroll to "Shipping" section
3. Enter weight (include packaging weight)
4. Example: 0.5 lb product + 0.2 lb packaging = 0.7 lb total weight

Phase 4: Store Design & Theme Setup (Day 2-3)

9. Choose and Install a Theme

Go to Online Store → Themes

Free themes (great for starting out):

• Dawn: Shopify's newest default theme—fast, modern, customizable
• Sense: Clean, minimalist, great for fashion and lifestyle
• Craft: Good for stores with large product catalogs

Premium themes ($150-350):

• Impulse: High-converting, great for product photography
• Turbo: Fastest theme available, excellent for large catalogs
• Prestige: Luxury brands, sophisticated design
• Empire: Large catalogs, multi-level navigation

Recommendation for beginners: Start with Dawn (free). It's fast, modern, and you can always upgrade later.

10. Customize Your Theme

Click "Customize" on your active theme

Homepage essentials:

• Hero image/banner: Eye-catching image with clear value proposition
• Featured products/collections: Showcase your best sellers
• Trust signals: "Free shipping over $50", "30-day returns", etc.
• Social proof: Reviews, testimonials, "As seen on" badges
• Email signup: Newsletter signup section with incentive (10% off first order)

Navigation menu:

• Keep it simple: 5-7 main menu items maximum
• Structure: Home, Shop (with subcategories), About, Contact
• Put bestsellers or sale items in prominent menu positions

Footer:

• Links to: About, Contact, Shipping Policy, Return Policy, Privacy Policy, Terms of Service
• Social media icons linked to your profiles
• Email signup form (if not in header/homepage)
• Trust badges (secure checkout, payment methods accepted)

11. Create Essential Pages

Go to Online Store → Pages

Required pages:

1. About Us:

• Your story, mission, values
• Why you started the business
• Photos of you/your team (builds trust)
• Keep it authentic and personal

2. Contact:

• Email address
• Contact form (Settings → Apps → Enable "Contact form")
• Expected response time ("We respond within 24 hours")
• Business hours if applicable

3. FAQ:

• Shipping times and costs
• Return/refund policy
• Product care instructions
• Size guides (if apparel)
• Payment methods accepted

Phase 5: Product Setup (Day 3-5)

12. Add Your First Products

Go to Products → Add product

Product title:

• Clear, descriptive, includes key search terms
• Example: "Organic Cotton T-Shirt - Men's Classic Fit"
• Not: "Awesome Tee #1"

Product description:

• First paragraph: Main benefits and features (what problem does it solve?)
• Bullet points: Key features, specifications, dimensions
• Materials/care: What it's made of, how to care for it
• Length: 150-300 words minimum for SEO

Product images:

• Minimum 3-5 high-quality images per product
• Show product from multiple angles
• Include lifestyle images (product in use)
• White background for main image
• Minimum 1000x1000px, recommended 2000x2000px
• Use Shopify's image editor to remove backgrounds if needed

Pricing:

• Price: What customer pays
• Compare at price: Original price if on sale (shows discount)
• Cost per item: What you pay for it (for profit tracking—not shown to customers)

Inventory:

• SKU: Your internal product code (optional but recommended for tracking)
• Barcode: If you have UPC/EAN codes
• Quantity: How many you have in stock
• ☑ Track quantity: Check this to enable inventory tracking
• ☑ Continue selling when out of stock: Uncheck (avoid overselling)

Variants:

• Add variants if product comes in different sizes, colors, materials, etc.
• Click "Add variant" and choose options (Size: S, M, L, XL)
• Set individual pricing, SKUs, and inventory for each variant
• Upload variant-specific images (color variants should show actual color)

Search engine listing (SEO):

• Page title: Product name + key benefit (60 characters max)
• Meta description: Brief description with keywords (155 characters max)
• URL handle: Keep it clean and descriptive (e.g., /products/organic-cotton-tshirt)

13. Organize Products into Collections

Go to Products → Collections → Create collection

Collection types:

• Manual: You choose exactly which products to include
• Automated: Products automatically added based on conditions (tags, price, vendor, etc.)

Essential collections for most stores:

• All Products: Automated collection with condition "Product price is greater than $0"
• Best Sellers: Manual collection with your top products
• New Arrivals: Manual or automated (products published in last 30 days)
• Sale/Clearance: Automated (products with "compare at price" set)
• By category: T-Shirts, Hoodies, Accessories, etc.

Phase 6: Essential Apps (Day 5-6)

14. Install Must-Have Apps

Go to Apps → Shopify App Store

SEO & Marketing:

• Plug in SEO: Scans your store for SEO issues and tells you how to fix them (Free plan available)
• Smart SEO: Automatically optimizes meta tags and alt text (Free plan available)

Reviews & Social Proof:

• Judge.me: Product reviews with photo reviews, free plan available
• Loox: Photo reviews with Instagram integration ($9.99/mo)
• Stamped.io: Reviews + loyalty program (Free plan for small stores)

Conversion Optimization:

• Uppa: Product bundles and volume discounts—increases AOV by 30-40% (Free to install)
• Sales Pop: Shows recent purchases to build social proof (Free plan available)
• Privy: Email popups for list building (Free up to 100 signups/month)

Email Marketing:

• Klaviyo: Best email marketing platform for ecommerce (Free up to 250 contacts)
• Omnisend: Email + SMS marketing (Free up to 250 contacts)
• Shopify Email: Built-in email marketing (2,500 free emails/month)

Inventory & Fulfillment:

• Oberlo/DSers: If dropshipping from AliExpress
• Printful/Printify: If doing print-on-demand
• Back in Stock: Alerts customers when sold-out items restock (Free plan available)

Customer Support:

• Tidio: Live chat widget (Free plan available)
• Gorgias: Help desk for growing stores ($10+/mo)

Phase 7: SEO & Optimization (Day 6-7)

15. Basic SEO Setup

Settings → General → Store details:

• Homepage title: Brand name + main keyword (e.g., "YourBrand - Organic Cotton Clothing")
• Homepage meta description: Compelling description with keywords (155 characters)

Online Store → Preferences:

• Homepage title: Your brand + value proposition
• Homepage meta description: 1-2 sentences describing what you sell
• Social sharing image: Upload a 1200x630px image for social media sharing

All product and collection pages should have:

• Unique page titles (no duplicates)
• Descriptive meta descriptions
• Alt text for all images describing what's shown
• Clean, readable URLs

16. Set Up Google Analytics

1. Create Google Analytics 4 account at analytics.google.com
2. Get your Measurement ID (looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX)
3. In Shopify: Settings → Apps and sales channels → Online Store → Preferences
4. Scroll to "Google Analytics" and paste your Measurement ID
5. Enable enhanced ecommerce tracking

Why this matters: Track where traffic comes from, what people do on your site, and which marketing works.

17. Set Up Facebook Pixel

1. Go to business.facebook.com → Events Manager
2. Create a pixel for your store
3. Copy your Pixel ID
4. Install "Facebook & Instagram by Meta" app in Shopify
5. Connect your Facebook account and pixel

Why this matters: Track conversions from Facebook/Instagram ads, build custom audiences, retarget visitors.

18. Optimize Site Speed

Test your speed:

• Go to Online Store → Themes → Actions → Analyze store speed
• Or use Google PageSpeed Insights
• Target: 40+ score on mobile (50+ is good, 70+ is excellent)

Speed optimization tips:

• Compress images before uploading (use TinyPNG or Shopify's image editor)
• Limit apps to essentials (each app adds loading time)
• Use a fast theme (Dawn is very fast)
• Don't autoplay videos on homepage
• Remove unused theme sections

Phase 8: Pre-Launch Checklist (Day 7)

19. Final Testing Checklist

☐ Test checkout: Place a test order using real payment info, then refund it

☐ Test on mobile: Visit your entire site on mobile device—60%+ of traffic will be mobile

☐ Check all links: Click every menu item, button, and footer link

☐ Proofread everything: Check for typos in product descriptions, pages, policies

☐ Test email notifications: Make sure order confirmations look good

☐ Check product images: All products have high-quality images

☐ Verify shipping rates: Check that shipping calculates correctly for different zones

☐ Test search: Search for your products—do they show up?

☐ Add products to cart: Make sure cart works, quantities update, etc.

☐ Check all forms: Contact form, newsletter signup—do they work?

20. Legal & Compliance Checklist

☐ Privacy Policy: Published and linked in footer

☐ Terms of Service: Published and linked in footer

☐ Refund/Return Policy: Published and linked in footer

☐ Shipping Policy: Published and linked in footer

☐ Contact information: Valid email address and contact page

☐ Cookie consent: If selling in EU, install cookie consent banner

☐ Tax collection: Set up for your state/country

21. Marketing Preparation

☐ Email list: Email signup form on site with incentive (10% off first order)

☐ Social media: Create Instagram, Facebook, TikTok accounts with consistent branding

☐ Welcome email: Set up automated welcome email for new subscribers

☐ Abandoned cart email: Enabled in checkout settings

☐ Post-purchase email: Thank you email with review request

Phase 9: Launch (Day 7+)

22. Remove Password Protection

Your store is password-protected by default during trial/setup.

To launch publicly:

1. Go to Settings → General
2. Scroll to "Password protection"
3. Uncheck "Enable password"
4. Click Save

Important: Make sure you have an active Shopify plan selected before removing password. You can't process real orders on the trial.

23. Connect a Custom Domain

Your yourstore.myshopify.com URL works, but a custom domain (yourbrand.com) looks much more professional.

Option 1: Buy domain through Shopify ($14/year):

1. Go to Settings → Domains
2. Click "Buy new domain"
3. Search for available domains and purchase
4. Shopify automatically connects it—no technical setup needed

Option 2: Connect existing domain:

1. Go to Settings → Domains → Connect existing domain
2. Enter your domain name
3. Follow Shopify's instructions to update DNS records at your registrar
4. Full guide: How to Connect a Custom Domain to Shopify

24. Choose Your Shopify Plan

Plan options (as of 2025):

Basic ($39/month):

• Best for new stores
• Unlimited products
• 2 staff accounts
• Online store + blog
• 24/7 support

Shopify ($105/month):

• 5 staff accounts
• Professional reports
• Lower credit card fees (2.6% + 30¢ vs 2.9% + 30¢)
• Better for stores doing $5k-20k/month

Advanced ($399/month):

• 15 staff accounts
• Advanced reports
• Lowest credit card fees (2.4% + 30¢)
• Better for stores doing $50k+/month

Recommendation: Start with Basic plan. Upgrade when you're consistently doing $5k+/month.

Post-Launch: First 30 Days

Week 1: Drive Your First Traffic

• Tell everyone: Friends, family, email list, social media
• Launch promotion: 15-20% off launch sale to drive initial orders
• Content creation: Post daily on Instagram/TikTok
• Engage on social: Comment, like, follow accounts in your niche

Week 2-4: Test and Optimize

• Analyze behavior: Use Google Analytics to see where visitors drop off
• Improve low performers: If a product page has high traffic but low conversions, improve images/description
• Get reviews: Email first customers asking for reviews (offer incentive like 10% off next order)
• Test ads: Start small with Facebook/Instagram ads ($5-10/day) to learn
• Build email list: Aim for 20-50 new subscribers per week

Key Metrics to Track Monthly

• Total revenue
• Conversion rate: % of visitors who buy (target 1-3% for new stores)
• Average order value: How much customers spend on average
• Traffic sources: Where visitors come from (social, search, direct, paid)
• Email list growth: How many new subscribers
• Customer acquisition cost: How much you spend to get a customer

Common Setup Mistakes to Avoid

1. Launching with Poor Product Photos

Low-quality photos kill conversions. Invest in product photography or learn to shoot good photos yourself with a smartphone and natural light.

2. No Clear Value Proposition

Within 3 seconds of landing on your homepage, visitors should know: What do you sell? Why should they buy from you?

3. Complicated Checkout

Don't require account creation to checkout. Don't ask for unnecessary information. Every extra field you add reduces conversions by 5-10%.

4. Ignoring Mobile Experience

60-70% of ecommerce traffic is mobile. If your site doesn't work perfectly on mobile, you're losing most potential customers.

5. No Trust Signals

New stores have zero trust. Add: customer reviews, trust badges (secure checkout, money-back guarantee), clear return policy, real contact information.

6. Launching Before Testing

Always test the checkout yourself before launching. Nothing worse than learning your checkout is broken after sending traffic.

Conclusion: You're Ready to Launch

If you've followed this checklist, your store is properly configured and ready to make sales. Most new stores skip critical steps—you won't.

Your next steps:

1. Complete the pre-launch checklist above
2. Remove password protection and go live
3. Drive traffic with organic social media and small paid tests
4. Optimize based on what you learn in the first 30 days
5. Scale what works, eliminate what doesn't

Remember: Launching is just the beginning. Your first month is about learning—what products sell, where customers come from, what marketing works. Stay patient, keep testing, and you'll build momentum.