Ecommerce Platform Checklist for Small Businesses
Use this checklist before choosing an ecommerce platform for physical products, digital products, subscriptions, or a growing online store.
Start with the comparison: Best Ecommerce Platforms →
1. Define what you sell
- Physical products
- Digital downloads
- Services
- Subscriptions or memberships
- Products with variants
- Mixed product types
2. Check storefront features
- Templates and design controls
- Mobile experience
- Product pages
- Navigation and search
- Custom domain support
- Checkout experience
3. Check product and order management
- Product variants
- Inventory
- Orders
- Refunds
- Customer records
- Digital delivery where relevant
4. Verify payments before committing
- Supported countries
- Supported currencies
- Payment methods
- Transaction fees
- Payout timing
- Payment-provider requirements
5. Check shipping and fulfillment
- Shipping zones
- Rates
- Local delivery or pickup
- Fulfillment integrations
- Order notifications
- Tracking
6. Check marketing and SEO
- Page titles and descriptions
- Product URLs
- Structured product information
- Analytics
- Promotions
- Email marketing integrations
7. Check integrations
- Accounting
- Payment processing
- Shipping
- Inventory
- Customer support
- Analytics
- Automation
8. Calculate the total cost
Do not compare subscription prices alone. Include transaction fees, payment-provider costs, paid apps, themes, shipping tools, email services, and other recurring or usage-based expenses you are likely to need.
9. Check portability and ownership
Understand how domains, product data, customer data, orders, content, and exports are handled. A platform can be convenient while still creating dependencies that matter if you later migrate.
10. Test the complete customer journey
Before launch, test browsing, product selection, checkout, payment, confirmation, fulfillment, refund handling, mobile usability, and customer notifications. Fix the journey before sending real traffic.