Practical Checklist for Your Online Shop

Defining the target group or listing the USPs (Unique Selling Propositions) can provide decisive support when creating the layout or choosing the tonality. This preliminary work also makes it easier for partners and agencies to grasp the vision of the project and develop more precise solution proposals.

Target audience

Once the target group has been defined, working with personas is particularly suitable for measuring the theoretical requirements as closely as possible to practice. It makes requirements more tangible by creating fictitious people based on certain criteria.

• Age
• Gender
• Income
• Occupation / Education
• Marital status
• Language
• Country
• Hobbies / Interests / Activities

Market analysis

A market analysis provides solid information about market size, trends, competition, and potential opportunities or risks. It helps develop realistic expectations and make strategic decisions.

• What am I selling? (e.g. fashion, electronics, organic food)
  • How extensive is my product range?
  • Which product categories are available?
  • Will digital products or services be sold?
• Developing the USP (Unique Selling Proposition):
  • How do I differ from the competition (unique/personalized products, range of offerings, price, consulting, availability)?
  • What makes my offer unique?
  • What problem does my product solve?
• Which market should the shop target?
• Which business model fits best:
  • B2C, B2B or both?
  • Dropshipping (products shipped directly from supplier to customer)?
  • Marketplace model (platform for third-party sellers)?
  • Subscription model?
• Should the shop serve one-time buyers or returning customers?
• Where are the customers located?
• In which currencies do they pay?
• Where are the warehouses that supply the customers?
• On which online marketplaces should the products be sold?
  • Amazon
  • Galaxus
  • Digitec
  • Google Shopping
• Are there seasonal factors or special events (Black Friday, Christmas) that should be considered for the shop?
• Create a budget and financial plan:
  • How much budget is available for developing the shop?
  • How much budget is available for online advertising?
  • What are the ongoing operational costs?

AI tools, such as ChatGPT, can be used to generate good documents that cover the legal bases. For more complex requirements, however, it is advisable to consult a law firm specialising in online topics.

• Is it necessary to set up a company and what legal form should it take?
• Where does the business registration have to take place and how long does it take?

Documents

The following documents are required to operate a webshop:

• Imprint
• Privacy Policy (GDPR-compliant)
• General Terms and Conditions (GTC)
• Right of Withdrawal & Return Policy
• Cookie Notice & Consent Management

It’s worth placing special focus on the technical implementation, as certain decisions set the course early on and can only be corrected later with significant effort or high costs.

• Register domain
• Choose a hosting provider
• Set up SSL certificate

Shop system

Which system best meets the requirements – for example, Shopify, WooCommerce, Shopware, or Magento?

• Which languages are required?
• How many products will be in the shop?
• What are the requirements for the checkout process?
• Should the data be synchronized with a CRM system?
  • Does the chosen shop system already offer interfaces to the CRM?
  • Which system handles external communication?
  • Where are invoices generated?
  • Where is the inventory managed?
• What level of scalability is required?
  • Is scalability needed for special events (e.g., Black Friday)?
  • Will additional markets/countries be added?
  • Should there be partner pages (B2B)?

Select agencies/partners

• Who will create the layout?
• Who will handle the programming?
• Who will take care of SEA / marketing?
• Who will manage the technical maintenance of the shop?

Not all functions need to be available at launch. Releasing with a minimal feature set and continuously developing the shop based on experience is often more effective.

Products and master data (product catalog)

• Data acquisition:
  • Which master data per product is relevant?
  • Which data is already available, and which still needs to be collected?
• How are the products grouped: product groups, variants, product families, accessories…?
• Are there different versions (e.g. color variants, sizes) of a product?
• Which taxonomies and attributes apply across products? Which do not?
• Will digital products or services be sold?
• Should a central, decoupled product catalog (PIM) be used?

Search, sorting, and filtering options

• What are the requirements for the search function?
• By which criteria should products be filterable?
• By which criteria should products be sortable?
• What should be the default product sorting?

Content and experience worlds

• How do products and content interact?
• Are there themed experience worlds?
• Are blog contents (e.g. references, reviews) planned for specific topics or products?
• How can products be integrated into content pages?
• Which content is necessary from an SEO perspective?
• Which keywords are relevant?

Check-out

• Which payment methods are offered?
• What shipping and delivery options are available?
  • Is there a flat shipping rate?
  • Is there a threshold for free shipping?
• Are guest checkouts allowed, or should purchases be limited to registered users?
• Will vouchers/coupons be offered?
  • Is the functionality of the chosen shop technology sufficient?
  • Should vouchers/coupons from external providers be accepted (e.g. SwissPass by MF Group)?

The product catalog – alongside customer data – is the most important component of a webshop. Well-structured, SEO-optimized product names and descriptions, along with compelling images, are crucial for success

Product data

• Are product names precise and suitable for online use?
  • What is the ideal length of the product name?
  • Are relevant keywords included?
  • Should categories be added before or after the product name?
  • Are translations available?
• Does the description reflect the product accurately?
  • Is the description meaningful and engaging?
  • Are keywords used in the description?
  • Are translations available?
• Product Images
  • What are the requirements for product images?
  • What image quality/resolution is needed?
  • Is there a consistent background?
  • Is lighting consistent within a category?
  • Are multiple perspectives available?
  • Is a zoom function desired?
• Pricing
  • Are multiple currencies supported?
  • Are there different VAT rates?
  • Are there discounts/special prices for specific products or product groups (e.g. 10% off all T-shirts)?
  • Are there shop-wide promotions applied at checkout (e.g. 10% off everything on Black Friday, vouchers)?
• Categories and Filter Structure
  • What categories exist?
  • What attributes are available?
    • Which attributes apply across products, and which are specific?
    • Which attributes should be filterable/searchable?

The more intuitively a shop is designed, the higher the probability of purchase. A good design offers recognition value and is based on established standards. Many shop systems offer ready-made templates with extensive functions. For customised designs, we recommend working with an experienced online graphics agency.

Layout

• Develop design (IMPORTANT: fulfil CI/CD (corporate identity/design) requirements)
• Determine the perfect placement of call-to-action buttons (e.g. ‘Buy now’)
• Incorporate elements of trust (e.g. seals, customer testimonials)

Consider accessibility

How high is the demand for accessibility?

• What technical and content-related issues should be taken into account?
• Is certification an advantage? (Foundation ‘Zugang für alle’)
• Can I navigate through the page using Tab, Spacebar, Confirm button and the up/down buttons?
• Can the screen reader display the content?

Navigation

• Which navigation form is suitable for my product range?
  • Hover menu with few main navigation points
  • Vertical listing of all product categories
  • Hidden menu items under a hamburger icon
• Do the layout and navigation elements work on different devices (mobile, tablet, desktop)?

To run a successful shop, marketing and SEO are of utmost importance. Early planning is therefore essential.

Google MyBusinss

Something simple that is often forgotten is the entry in Google MyBusiness.

Keyword-Recherche

• Which content is essential from an SEO perspective?
• Which keywords are relevant and should be targeted?

SEO Optimization

• Create Meta Titles & Descriptions
  • Meta Title
    • Can existing fields be used? (e.g. [Product Category] [Product Name] | [Company Name])
    • Is the recommended character limit followed
  • Meta Description
    • Is the recommended character limit followed (usually max. 155–160 characters)?
    • Which keywords must be included?
• URL/Slug
  • Is the URL human-readable?
  • Do any pages have duplicate content, and are canonicals set correctly?

AI Rating

The requirements for indexing AI tools such as ChatGPT are currently unclear. If you read blogs on this topic, the focus should continue to be on SEO optimisation. Rich snippets are becoming increasingly important. The schema.org classification system should not be missing in any online shop.

Analytics and Reporting

How many customers visit the shop? Where do customers drop off? How much time do they spend on the site, and which content do they view? How does a marketing campaign impact the webshop? A good analytics tool can answer these and many other questions.

• Set up Google Analytics
• Link Google Search Console
• Prepare social media channels
  • Which channels should be used?
  • Are data feeds needed
• Integrate newsletter tool (GDPR-compliant)
  • Which newsletter tool will be used?
  • Are ready-made interfaces available between the chosen shop system and the newsletter tool?
• Plan advertising measures (e.g. Google Ads, Social Ads)
  • What budget is needed/available?
  • Will you be working with an agency?
• Consider affiliate or influencer strategy
  • Are videos needed?
  • How should the target audience be addressed?