E-commerce Website Planning Guide

A successful online store is planned around operations as much as design. This guide walks through the decisions to make before development starts. For a feature checklist, see E-commerce Features Every Business Should Consider.

1. Define your model

• B2C selling to consumers, B2B selling to businesses, or both?
• Own products only, or a multi-vendor marketplace?
• Local delivery, pan-India shipping or international?
• One-time orders, subscriptions or repeat orders?

2. Plan the catalogue

• Number of products now and in a year.
• Categories and filters customers will use.
• Variants (size, colour, weight) and how stock is tracked per variant.
• Photography plan and naming conventions.

Tip: prepare product data in a spreadsheet with consistent columns before development begins.

3. Choose a platform

See our Shopify development service for one popular route.

4. Payments

• Gateway selection (Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree, Stripe for international).
• Payment methods: UPI, cards, net banking, wallets, COD.
• Refund and partial refund process.
• Settlement timelines and fees.

5. Shipping and fulfilment

• Courier partners and serviceable pincodes.
• Shipping rates: flat, weight-based or free above a threshold.
• Packing process and who handles it.
• Returns and exchange policy.

6. Tax and compliance

• GST registration and correct tax rates per product.
• HSN codes on invoices.
• Policies: privacy, terms, shipping, refund.
• Confirm compliance with your accountant.

7. Operations

• Who processes orders daily?
• How is inventory updated across online and offline channels?
• Which reports do you need each week?
• Which staff roles need admin access?

8. Marketing and growth

• SEO structure for categories and products.
• Launch offers and coupon strategy.
• Email and WhatsApp communication with consent.
• Social media and ad landing pages.

9. Launch plan

• Soft launch to friends and existing customers.
• Test orders across payment methods.
• Monitor first 50 orders closely for issues.
• Gather feedback and refine.

10. Budget

Include development, platform subscriptions, apps or plugins, gateway fees, shipping costs, photography and marketing. Plan monthly running costs as well as the build.

Next steps

WebBox has built online stores for retail, food, fashion, jewellery and furniture brands. Share your plan with our e-commerce team for a tailored recommendation.