Guides> Beginner's Shopify Guide

Checklist for launching a Shopify Plus plan

By omersimanovsky 12 min read

Checklist for launching a Shopify Plus plan

This list offers guidance and resources for important milestones when launching a store on Shopify Plus. Each topic includes additional context and resource links. You may find it helpful to print this list or download it as a PDF so you can refer to it during the setup process.

For guidance on designing a technical application, start with Shopify Academy’s Solution Design Principles .

If you need help, contact the Shopify Plus support team.

Beginners

Get to know your Shopify admin and add employees to your store.

Data transfer

Before you transfer your data, please review the data transfer guide. You can use the following options to transfer your data:

Data transfer options
Transfer option
Description
CSV import Import products and customers using a CSV file directly from your Shopify admin. This option is best suited for simple catalogs and small customer lists.
Third-party data transfer apps Use a third-party migration app to migrate your data and avoid doubts about field mapping with CSV import.
Transfer services Use third-party migration services, such as LitExtension and Cart2Cart , which can make your data migration easier and faster. Learn about additional migration partners in the Shopify Plus Partner Guide.
Custom integrations If you’re working with an agency or development team to launch your Shopify Plus store, consider creating a custom migration solution using the Shopify API . Your developers can use REST or GraphQL .

The order in which you enter your product, customer, and order history information is important. To ensure that you have access to your customers’ complete transaction history in Shopify, you should follow the transfer order below. Transferred orders are also linked to their products and customers.

1. Transfer of products

Migrating your product data will create all product notifications, product variations, and product collections in Shopify. Before you import your products, consider planning the collections for your Shopify store so that you can associate the products with the correct collection during the migration.

Information fields that are not part of the default list, such as expiration date, can be added to a product using metafields.

2. Customer transfer

Once you transfer your customer data, all of your customer information will be available in your Shopify admin. This includes details like customer contact information, addresses, and marketing preferences.

Information that is not part of the customer profile by default, such as date of birth, can be added to the customer profile using metafields or tags.

3. Transferring historical orders

Migrating order data ensures that information about product sales and customer purchase history is transferred to your Shopify store. At a minimum, migrate all historical orders that are within your business’s return policy window so that customers can access their order history for orders that are still open for return or exchange. However, it’s recommended that you import orders from the last two to five years.

You will receive new order notifications for every new order placed on your store. New order notifications are also triggered for every imported order.

If you import a large amount of historical orders into your store and want to avoid receiving notifications for each imported order, you can disable new order notifications from the Shopify admin in Settings.> Notifications or contact Shopify Plus support to temporarily disable notifications. If you’re using a third-party app to import your orders, contact the app developer for instructions.

4. Transferring gift cards

If you’re transferring gift cards that can be used in your previous store, then you need to transfer your gift card data to Shopify right before launching your Shopify store. Gift cards can’t be edited or deleted in Shopify, so if a gift card was used by a customer in your store when you imported your gift card data, then you won’t be able to update that gift card in Shopify.

Before you transfer your gift cards, review the following considerations:

  • Gift card numbers are encrypted. Once you set up a gift card, only the last 4 digits will appear in your Shopify admin. If you need to keep records of gift card numbers, then you need to maintain an external database.
  • Gift cards can only be deactivated, and cannot be deleted. The same gift card number cannot be used again in the future, even if the original gift card with the same number has been deactivated.
  • If you are importing existing gift cards with an associated customer email address, then to prevent customers from receiving a notification when you import their gift cards, you can contact Shopify Plus support to temporarily disable gift card notification emails.

You can also use a third-party gift card transfer app to transfer any existing gift cards to Shopify.

5. Transfer of other data

Depending on your business needs, there may be additional data you want to migrate. Contact Shopify Plus support for migration advice. You can migrate your listings and blogs using a third-party migration app .

Creating and uploading content

Create content, like pages and blog posts, and upload your files and images. Use metafields and metaobjects to customize your Shopify store.

Pages

You can create pages, such as FAQ, About Us, or Contact Us, for your store. If you’re using a template from the Shopify Template Store, you can use Online Store 2.0 templates, which allow you to create custom page layouts using sections and blocks.

Blogs

Shopify has a content management system, so you can create different blogs, each with its own set of posts, to engage with your customers. Shopify also has features that allow you to include meta titles, descriptions, and more on your web pages. You can also set up redirects from the URLs of previous blogs.

Uploading files and images

Make sure your media and information meet the file requirements.

Metafields

Metafields help you customize the functionality and appearance of your Shopify store by allowing you to store special information that isn’t captured by default in the Shopify admin. You can use metafields for internal tracking, or to display special information in your store in different ways.

Metaobjects

An Online Store 2.0 template or compatible third-party template is required to display the Entries metaobject in your unique template.

Notifications

Data organization

Organize your customers, products, and orders with tags. Group your products using collections and create automatic collections with metafields.

Collections

You can group your products into collections to make it easier for customers to find them by category. You can choose to display a collection externally on your store for customers, or use an internal collection for you and your team, such as creating a tax-exempt product collection.

Tags for customers, products, and orders

To maintain accuracy in tag usage, make sure you have consistent use of case formatting and spacing so that additional tags are not accidentally created.

Metafields

You can create and edit metafield settings directly in your Shopify admin using APIs or apps.

Configuring Shopify admin settings

Set up your store’s general information, add employees, and configure store settings.

general

Set or change your store contact information, legal business name and address, store currency, and default weight unit.

Users and permissions

Set up employee accounts and grant collaboration permissions to each partner.

Payments

Set up payments and payment methods on your store. Only the store owner can set up Shopify Payments.

When you set up your Shopify store, a PayPal Express Checkout account is created using the email address you use to connect to your store. You can use this account, use your own account, or disable PayPal Express Checkout.

Customizing the payment process

Customize your payment style and behavior. For example, you can choose your payment language, and whether to make customer accounts or certain payment fields optional or required.

In addition to checkout customizations, checkout editors, and invoices, checkout extensions also help you access the Checkout Brand API .

You can also customize and extend your checkout process with third-party apps . Your partner or development team can build apps for your store’s checkout process.

Customer accounts

Deliveries and executions

If you have complex shipping requirements, you can use third-party shipping apps from the Shopify App Store .

Taxes and duties

Locations

Locations in Shopify represent apps or physical locations where you sell products, ship or fulfill orders, and store inventory.

Gift cards

By default, gift cards are set to automatically redeem when an order is placed, and the customer receives an email notification. You can change the spending settings to manually redeem all items in the order, including gift cards.

If an order is at a medium or high risk level, then gift cards on that order will not be automatically redeemed. You can redeem gift cards manually from the order details page.

International

International allows you to define additional countries to sell to and professionalizes your business.

Customer Privacy

Configure your customers’ privacy settings to comply with data protection regulations in the regions where you sell.

Apps and sales channels

Install any necessary apps early in your store setup so you have plenty of time to test before launching. If you’re considering using apps from the Shopify App Store, review the app’s features carefully before installing. Some apps may have trial periods. Be sure to uninstall apps before their trial period ends to avoid unnecessary charges.

Some apps may add code to your template, so you should document the changes the app makes to your template’s code, and remove any unwanted code when you uninstall the app.

Check out the following app recommendations:

Domains

Pixels and customer events

Brand

Notifications

You can customize the content and design of your notifications. As a Shopify Plus merchant, you can contact Shopify Plus support and request to disable your email notifications. This may be useful when you are migrating your data or when you want to send order confirmations and updates from your marketing automation system.

Custom data

Languages

If you are building a multilingual store, you can add additional languages ​​to your store.

policy

You can set your store’s policies, such as return policies, shipping policies, terms of service, or privacy policies. You can also use the free privacy policy generator .

Setting up your online store

Choose your store template and set your store preferences, navigation, and filtering.

Templates

You can browse templates for your store in the Shopify Template Store . You can choose from free to paid templates. Templates may have different features and are suitable for specific business needs, such as large or small product catalogs. You can install a demo version of a template and preview the template for yourself.

If you can’t find a ready-made template that fits your store’s needs, consider working with a developer or agency to build your own template. Learn more about building templates in Shopify and best practices .

Preferences

Store Filter

Google Analytics

Check out the following resources to learn more about using Google Analytics and best practices:

Apps and integrations supported by Shopify

Scroll through apps and sales channels made by Shopify to enhance and customize your store.

Consider using the following Shopify apps to help automate repetitive tasks and customize your checkout process:

  • Launchpad allows you to schedule, coordinate, and launch events such as sales, product launches, and inventory replenishments with a fixed start and end date.
  • Shopify supports customizations for payments, shipping, and payment methods.
  • Shopify Flow allows you to automate tasks and processes within your store and between your apps, without the need for coding.

Additional apps and sales channels produced by Shopify include the following examples:

  • Shop
  • Shopify Audiences
  • Shopify Bundles
  • Shopify Collabs
  • Shopify Collective
  • Shopify Email
  • Shopify Forms
  • Shopify Inbox
  • Shopify Point of Sale
  • Shopify Search & Discovery
  • Marketplace Connect
  • Planet app for carbon neutral transportation

Payments via Shop Pay

With payments through Shop Pay, you can provide your customers with more payment options without needing a third-party service. Because both are integrated into Shop Pay, all payments through the setup are included in your Shopify payment report, reducing the need to verify reports from third-party services.

Shopify Tax Engine

Custom integrations

If you’ve explored the available apps and integrations, and you might want a custom solution, then you have the option of building a custom app using the Shopify API .

Shopify API releases help improve the platform and provide developers with a predictable path for feature upgrades and outages. To learn about upcoming API changes, follow the developer updates .

Check out the following resources to help you build your app:

Personalized store experiences

If your business model doesn’t fit into any of the sales channels or apps offered by Shopify and partners, you might consider working with a developer to build a custom store .

Third-party apps and integrations

You can install third-party apps and sales channels from the Shopify App Store . Some third-party apps are part of the Shopify Plus Certified Apps program , which includes Shopify’s recommendations for business solutions.

Some third-party systems have existing connector apps. Search the Shopify app store to see if a connector app exists instead of creating a custom integration.

If you need help creating a custom integration, then check out Shopify supported apps and integrations.

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