Shopify launch checklist

27 steps, from how we launch stores and Shopify’s own guidance, checked 27 October 2026. centangleglobal.com/templates/shopify-launch-checklist/

Before the build

1.Photos of every product. Same light, same background. A phone is enough.
2.Descriptions. Size, material, what’s in the box. Write down the answers you give in DMs.
3.Prices and stock. One sheet, every product, every variant.
4.Delivery rates. What you charge, where you ship, how long it takes.
5.Returns policy. How it works, in plain words.
6.A logo, even a simple one.
7.Put the domain, the Shopify account and any paid theme in your own name from the start.

8.Set up the theme around your products, colours and logo.
9.Load your products from what you’ve got ready, then check each one: prices, weights, stock and variants.
10.Set up shipping: the zones, the rates and the carriers you use.
11.Set up tax for the taxes you’re registered to collect: sales tax by state in the US, VAT in the UK, and GST/HST in Canada. Whether you need to register is for you and your accountant.
12.Add your policy pages, such as privacy, and returns and refunds, with the wording you or your lawyer give.
13.Name every app, with its monthly cost, before it’s installed, so you know the running cost before launch.
14.Set up payments, then place test orders.
15.Agree the launch day in writing.

16.Take the store out of private mode. A new Shopify store starts in it, and it hides every page from visitors and search engines.
17.Connect your domain. Shopify says this usually takes effect within two hours, but can take up to two days.
18.Check the domain is registered in your name, on your card, with you as the account holder.
19.Check the Shopify account is in your name, on your card.
20.Keep the admin login, and every other login made for the store, in a document of your own.
21.Get the theme files, in a folder you can download.
22.Get a written list of every recurring cost: what it is, who it’s paid to, how much, and when.
23.Get a recorded walkthrough of the things you’ll most often want to change.
24.Note the name and email of the person to contact if something breaks in the next thirty days.

25.Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console. Every Shopify store makes one at /sitemap.xml, and Google can’t read it while the store is in private mode.
26.Update the links you control: your social profiles, email signature and ads.
27.List anything that breaks in the first thirty days, and send it to that person.