E-commerce Launch Checklist: Things to Check Before You Go Live

A smooth launch is mostly preparation. Work through this list.

Payments and orders

• Test an order with each payment method, then refund it.
• Check order, payment and shipping emails.
• Confirm stock reduces after each sale.

Tax and shipping

• Set tax rules for each region you sell to.
• Add shipping rates, delivery times and pin-code or country limits.
• Connect your courier and test a label.

Trust and policies

• Publish shipping, returns, privacy and terms pages.
• Add contact details, an address and a working support channel.

Speed, mobile and search

• Test on a real phone over mobile data.
• Give every product a unique title, description and clear photos.
• Submit the sitemap to Google and Bing.

Support

• Decide who answers messages and how fast.
• Add WhatsApp or chat so buyers can ask before paying.

How to use this checklist

Launching an online store is not a single event. It is a sequence of checks across product data, payments, legal pages, logistics, speed, search and support. The list in this guide is organised by area so you can hand each part to the right person: a developer, an operations lead, a content writer or yourself. Work through it twice: once two weeks before launch and once the day before. Tick items off in writing, because the one you skip is usually the one that causes trouble.

Part 1: Products and catalogue

Customers cannot buy what they cannot understand, and search engines cannot rank what they cannot read.

• Every product has a unique title and description. Avoid copying supplier text word for word, because identical text on many sites ranks poorly and gives buyers no reason to choose you.
• Photos are clear, consistent and fast. Use several angles, a zoom view and compressed files. Add short descriptive alternative text for accessibility and search.
• Prices include or clearly exclude tax. State which one. Check rounding and currency formatting.
• Variants work. Test each size, colour or pack option, confirm that the right image and price appear and that out-of-stock variants cannot be added.
• Stock numbers are accurate. Reconcile the system with the shelf before launch, and decide what happens at zero: hide, show “out of stock” or allow back-orders.
• Categories and filters make sense. Ask someone outside your team to find three products without help.
• SKU, weight and dimensions are filled in. Shipping rates and courier labels depend on them.

Part 2: Payments and orders

This area carries the most risk, so test it with real money.

• Every payment method is live and tested. Pay by card, UPI, wallet, bank transfer and cash on delivery if offered. Confirm that the order status updates after each.
• Failed and cancelled payments behave properly. The buyer should be able to retry, and the stock should not stay reserved forever.
• Refunds work end to end. Refund a test order fully and partially, and confirm the money and the order record both update.
• Order emails and messages arrive. Check the confirmation, payment receipt, shipping and delivery messages. Look at them on a phone and check that they do not land in spam.
• Invoices are correct. Check the business name, address, tax identification number, tax breakdown and numbering sequence required in your country.
• Webhooks and callbacks are verified. If payment confirmation depends on a server call from the gateway, confirm it works even when the buyer closes the browser early.
• Switch from test mode to live keys. It is common to launch with test keys still active. Check twice.

Part 3: Tax, shipping and delivery

• Tax rules match each region you sell to. Confirm rates with your accountant, including how tax applies to shipping, and test orders to different states or countries.
• Shipping rates are set and tested. Flat rates, weight bands, free-shipping thresholds and region exclusions should all give the amounts you expect.
• Courier integration produces labels. Place a test order, print a label and, if possible, run one real parcel to a friend.
• Delivery estimates are honest. Show realistic dates and cut-off times.
• Returns process is defined. Decide how returns are requested, who pays for pickup and how fast refunds are issued.
• International orders are ready. If you ship abroad, check customs information, restricted items, currency display and duty messaging.

Part 4: Legal and trust pages

Buyers read these pages, payment gateways often require them and regulators expect them.

• Shipping and delivery policy
• Returns and refund policy
• Privacy policy covering the data you collect, how you use it and how users can ask for deletion
• Terms and conditions
• Contact page with a real address, email and phone or WhatsApp number with country code
• About page that shows who is behind the store
• Cookie notice where your audience’s laws require one

Have a lawyer or knowledgeable adviser review them for your country. Templates copied from another business can contain the wrong promises.

Part 5: Speed, mobile and accessibility

• Test on real phones. Use a budget Android device and an iPhone, on mobile data, not only on office Wi-Fi.
• Images are compressed and sized. Do not serve desktop-size photos to phones.
• Scripts are limited. Every chat widget, tracker and font adds weight. Remove what you do not need.
• Text is readable and buttons are easy to tap. Fonts should be at least 16 pixels on forms to avoid unwanted zoom on phones.
• Pages work with a keyboard and screen reader basics. Headings in order, labelled form fields and sufficient colour contrast.
• The store works in the major browsers. Check Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox.

Part 6: Search and analytics

• Each page has a unique title and description.
• Product pages carry structured data for price, availability and reviews.
• A sitemap is submitted to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
• Old addresses redirect to new ones if you are migrating from another site.
• The robots file is not blocking the whole site, which is a classic launch mistake left over from development.
• Analytics and conversion tracking are installed and recording a test order.
• A Google Business Profile exists if you also have a physical location.

Part 7: Security and backups

• HTTPS is active on every page and old HTTP addresses redirect.
• Admin logins use unique strong passwords and two-step verification.
• Staff accounts have only the permissions they need.
• Software is updated, including the platform, plugins and server language.
• Automatic backups run daily and are stored away from the server, and you have tested a restore.
• Contact details for your host and developer are saved where the team can find them.

Part 8: Support and operations

• Decide who answers messages, in which hours and how fast.
• Prepare templates for common questions: delivery time, returns, payment issues.
• Add WhatsApp or chat so buyers can ask before paying.
• Train staff to process an order from start to finish in the admin.
• Create an issues log for the first two weeks.
• Plan the launch announcement: email list, social posts, partners and paid campaigns.

The day-before and launch-day routine

The day before, freeze changes, run a full test order on mobile and desktop and confirm backups. On launch day, switch off any password or maintenance page, place a real order yourself, watch the first orders arrive and check the emails and courier flow. Stay available for the first hours, because small things show up only with real traffic.

After launch: the first thirty days

Review orders daily at first. Look at analytics for drop-off points, read customer messages for confusion and fix quick problems immediately. After two weeks, review speed, search appearance and the products customers view without buying. After thirty days, decide which features to add next based on what real customers did, not on guesses.

Let NNT Mart run the checklist with you

NNT Mart builds and launches online stores and Android and iOS apps, and uses a pre-launch checklist like this on every project. If you want a second pair of eyes on your store before you go live, send us the address through the contact form or WhatsApp. We will test the journey, list the gaps and help you close them, then support the store after launch.

How NNT Software can help

NNT Software runs launch checks as part of every NNT Mart build: payment and refund tests, tax and shipping rules, courier labels, order emails and WhatsApp messages, speed on real phones, sitemap and structured data, and backups with a restore test. If your store is already built elsewhere, we can run the same checklist as a pre-launch review and hand you a written list of gaps in priority order.