Everything Your Store Needs
How to Prepare Your Product Catalog for a New Store
Start With a Clean Product Spreadsheet
The catalog is the heaviest part of any store build. Before design starts, export or build a spreadsheet with one row per product.
Include the product name, SKU, price, weight, dimensions, category and a short description. For products with options like size or color, list each variation with its own SKU and stock count.
Photos That Match Across the Store
Shoppers compare products side by side. Photos taken on the same background, at the same angle and size, make category pages easier to scan.
Shopping ads also have photo rules. Images with added text, watermarks or busy backgrounds can be rejected in Google Merchant Center, so it pays to plan for them now.
Decide How You Ship and What You Charge
- Flat rate, free over a set order total, or live carrier rates
- Where you ship and where you do not
- Your return window and who pays return shipping
- Which states you collect sales tax in, confirmed with your accountant
These choices shape checkout. Unclear shipping costs are a common reason shoppers leave a cart.
Test Checkout Before Launch
Before the store goes live, we run test orders through each payment method and shipping option. You should place one too, on your own phone, and confirm the order email, the receipt and the inventory count all look right.
Who WooCommerce Fits Best
WooCommerce works well for businesses that want their store and content on one site, such as a manufacturer that sells parts and publishes buying guides. It is also a strong fit if you want full control of your data.
If you would rather have a hosted platform where the software side is managed for you, take a look at our Shopify store design and maintenance service instead.
How to Judge the Store After Launch
Watch completed orders, average order value and how many carts are abandoned at each checkout step. Those numbers show where to focus next, whether that is product pages, shipping costs or Google Merchant ads to bring in more shoppers.
Keep the store fast as it grows with managed WooCommerce hosting.
