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Starting an online store: what you need before the first sale
An online store is quick to set up but slow to fix if the foundation is wrong. Most of what matters is decided before the first product goes online: where people pay, how the product reaches the buyer and what happens if they want to return it. Here is the list, in the order we work through it.
The platform: WooCommerce or Shopify
WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress and you own everything, but you are also responsible for hosting, updates and speed. Shopify is rented for a monthly fee and takes care of the technology, but much of it costs extra through apps. Choose by who will run the store day to day. We go deeper into the comparison in the article on content management systems.
The payment gateway
To take cards you need an agreement with a card acquirer and a payment gateway that connects to your platform. Check that the connection exists and works with your platform before you sign, and ask what each transaction costs.
Card numbers should never pass through your site itself. The gateway takes them directly, which is both safer and spares you a great deal of responsibility.
Delivery
Decide how the product reaches the buyer: by Pósturinn, Dropp, collection or home delivery. The delivery cost should be visible before the buyer reaches payment, because an unexpected cost at the last step is a common reason people give up. If the delivery company offers a connection to your platform, it saves you typing in every shipment.
Terms and prices
Your terms need to state who is selling, with name, company ID number, address and VAT number, along with delivery times and the right to return. An online buyer generally has a fourteen day right of withdrawal, and prices to consumers must be shown including VAT.
Neytendastofa, the Icelandic Consumer Agency, publishes guidance on selling online that is worth reading before you open.
Photos and product descriptions
Photograph every product on the same background and in the same light, so the category reads as one whole. Scale the images down before they go in, because they are usually the heaviest thing on the page.
Write the descriptions yourself instead of copying the manufacturer's text. It is already on many other sites, and Google has no reason to show yours over the others.
Speed from day one
A store is rarely slow the day it opens. It slows down as products and plugins pile up. Measure a category page on mobile in PageSpeed Insights right at launch and again after a few months, so you can see when it starts to slip.
After launch: tell Google
Connect Search Console and submit the sitemap. In Google Merchant Center you can list your products so they appear in Google's Shopping tab free of charge. And set up a Google Business Profile if you also have a shop or a collection point.
Settle the payment gateway, delivery and terms before you add the first product. They are what the buyer runs into at the last step, and that is where the sale is lost if anything is missing.
The solutionOnline stores