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Shopify Plus launch checklist

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

If you need help, then contact the Shopify Plus Support team.

On this page

Getting started

Get familiar with your Shopify admin and add staff to your store.

Migrating data

Before you migrate your data, review the data migration documentation. You can use the following options to migrate your data:

Data migration options
Migration optionDescription
CSV importImport products and customers using a CSV file directly from your Shopify admin. This option works best for simpler product catalogs and smaller customer lists.
Third-party migration appsUse a third-party data migration app to migrate your data to eliminate guesswork of field mapping with CSV imports.
Migration servicesUse services, such as LitExtension and Cart2Cart, that can make your data migration quicker and easier.

The order in which you import your product, customer, and historical order data is important. To ensure that you have access to your customers' complete transaction history in Shopify, you need to follow the migration order below. The migrated orders are also linked to their associated products and customers.

1. Migrating products

2. Migrating customers

3. Migrating historical orders

At minimum, migrate all historical orders that are within your business's return policy window, so that customers can have access to their order history for any orders that are still open for return or exchange. However, it's recommended to import orders from the past 2-5 years.

4. Migrating gift cards

If you're migrating gift cards that can be used in your previous store, then you need to migrate your gift card data to Shopify right before launching your Shopify store. You can't edit or delete gift cards in Shopify, so if a gift card is used by a customer on your previous store after you import your gift card data, then you can't update that gift card in Shopify.

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

5. Migrating other data

Depending on your business needs there might be other data that you want to migrate. Reach out to the Shopify Plus Support team to inquire about a migration consultation. You can migrate your discounts and blogs using a third-party data migration app.

Creating and uploading content

Create content, such as 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 online store. If you're using a theme from the Shopify theme store, then you can use the Online Store 2.0 themes that allow you to create your own page templates using sections and blocks.

Blogs

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

Upload files and images

Make sure that your media and content meets the file requirements.

Metafields

Metafields help you to customize the functionality and appearance of your Shopify store by letting you save specialized information that isn't captured by default in the Shopify admin. You can use metafields for internal tracking, or to display specialized information on your online store in a variety of ways.

Metaobjects

An Online Store 2.0 theme or a compatible third-party theme is required to display metaobject entries in your theme customizer.

Notifications

Organizing data

Organize your customers, products, and orders using tags. Group your products using collections and create automated collections using 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 online store for customers, or use a collection internally for you and your staff, such as for creating a tax-exempt product collection.

Customer, product, and order tags

For accuracy when utilizing tags, ensure that you have consistent use of case formatting and spacing, so additional tags aren't accidentally created.

Metafields

You can create and edit metafield definitions directly in your Shopify admin using an API or apps.

Configuring your Shopify admin settings

Set up your store details, add staff, and configure store settings.

Store details

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

Users and permissions

Set up staff accounts and grant collaborator permissions for any partners.

Payments

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

When you set up your Shopify store, Shopify creates a PayPal Express Checkout account using the email address that you use to sign into your store. You can use this account, use your own account, or deactivate PayPal Express Checkout.

Checkout

Customize checkout style and behavior. For example, you can choose your checkout language, and whether to make customers accounts or certain checkout fields optional or mandatory.

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

Customer accounts

Shipping and delivery

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

Taxes and duties

If you have more complex tax requirements, then you can activate an integration with Avalara AvaTax.

Locations

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

Gift cards

By default, gift cards are set to be fulfilled automatically when an order is paid, and the customer receives a notification email. You can change the fulfillment setting to manually fulfill all items in the order, including gift cards.

If an order is medium or high risk, then gift cards in that order aren't automatically fulfilled. You can fulfill the gift cards manually from the order's detail page.

Markets

Shopify Markets lets you set up additional countries to sell to and internationalize your business.

Apps and sales channels

Install any necessary apps early on in the setup of your store so that you have plenty of time for testing before you launch your store. If you’re thinking of using apps from the Shopify App Store, then review the app functionalities carefully before installing them. Some apps might have trial periods. Make sure to uninstall the apps before the end of their trial period to avoid unnecessary charges.

Some apps might add code to your theme, so you need to document the changes that an app makes to your theme's code, and remove any unwanted code when you uninstall the app.

Review 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 the Shopify Plus Support and ask to deactivate your email notifications. This might be useful when you migrate your data or when you want to send order confirmations and updates from your own marketing automation system.

Custom data

Languages

If you're building a multilingual storefront, then you can add additional languages to your store.

Policies

You can set up your store policies, such as a refund policy, a shipping policy, terms or service, or a privacy policy. You can alsu use the free privacy policy generator.

Setting up your online store

Choose your online store theme and configure online store's preferences, navigation, and filtering.

Themes

You can explore themes for your online store in the Shopify Theme Store. You can choose from free and paid themes. Themes can have different features and are better suited for specific business needs, such as large or small product catalogs. You can install a demo version of a theme and preview the theme yourself.

Preferences

Storefront filtering

Shopify supported app and integrations

Explore Shopify native apps and sales channels to enhance and customize your online store.

Shop Pay Installments

With Shop Pay Installments, you can provide your customers with more payment options without needing a third-party service. Because, Installments is built in to Shop Pay, all Installments payments are included in your Shopify payout reports which reduces the need to reconcile reports from third-party services.

Shopify tax engine

Avalara AvaTax tax service

Third-party apps and integrations

You can install third-party apps and sales channels from the Shopify App Store.

Many third-party systems have existing connector apps. Search the Shopify App Store to check whether a connector app exists instead of creating a custom integration.

If you need help creating a custom integration, then refer to the Plus Integration Partners.

Preparing to launch your store

Before you launch you store, you need to make sure that everything works as intended in your store. You also need to set up URL redirects, test orders, set up your domain, and review your apps and users.

The Bulk Account Inviter app

Contact the Shopify Plus Support to have the Bulk Account Inviter app installed in your store. This app is optional and is compatible only with the classic customer accounts.

URL redirects

To ensure a smooth transition and avoid a negative impact on traffic and SEO, you need to create 301 redirects. Otherwise, your old links will become 404 events (dead links) that leave the customer confused and negatively impact search results.

Test orders

Check your order flow thoroughly. Place test orders on your storefront, and then fulfill those orders. Test as many scenarios as possible. For example, test orders with the following scenarios:

  • discount codes
  • customer logged in and logged out
  • different payment methods
  • different shipping rates
  • different shipping addresses (with particular attention to how the tax is calculated)
  • different devices
  • failed transactions

Review users and permissions

Before going live, clean up your users and collaborators. If a partner or user no longer needs access you should remove them before going live.

Review apps

Before going live review your apps and remove any apps not being used for products. For example if you had added a few different apps to compare a certain feature functionality, remove the ones that won’t be used.

Domains

To speed up the domain propagation during launch, reduce TTL with your domain hosting provider to 300 prior to launch. Do this about a week before you go live.

Shopify SPF DKIM Records

Launching your online store

Before launching your store, make sure to deactivate test mode on your Shopify Payments account in Settings > Payments of your Shopify admin, and then complete the following tasks:

Inviting customers

If you're importing historical orders and want to grant your customers access to their account information page, then you need to invite them. To ensure invites go out successfully with larger customer databases, you need to create customer segments to send out in groups. This is only required for classic customer accounts.

Shopify Markets (Internationalization)

You can set up Shopify Markets to sell cross-border and expand your business to other countries and regions. Shopify Markets Pro is available only to businesses based in the United States.

Create and manage Markets

You can have up to 50 markets. If you have more than 50 markets, then you can combine some countries into a single market. Otherwise, you can use a third-party integration with the Markets API.

Shopify Payments for multi-currency

You need to set Shopify Payments as your primary payment gateway to have multi-currency persist through checkout, so each market's customers buy in their local currency

Shipping profiles

Translation and localization

Subscriptions

You can build and manage your product subscriptions directly from your Shopify admin.

Subscriptions aren't compatible with B2B.

Migrating subscriptions

To migrate subscriptions, you need to use Shopify Payments, Authorize.net, or Stripe as a primary payment gateway. The subscription migration process is designed by third-party apps and not Shopify. Therefore, the migration process is different with each app and is initiated within the app.

Custom subscription app

You can also create your own subscription app for your checkout.

Managing subscriptions

B2B

You can use a suite of features that allow you to sell business-to-business (B2B) through the online store, without requiring the use of third-party apps or workarounds.

B2B considerations

Review the following considerations before using B2B:

  • B2B works only with the new customer accounts.
  • Subscriptions aren't compatible with B2B.
  • Bundles aren't compatible with B2B.
  • Shopify POS isn't compatible with B2B.

Creating or migrating companies

Setting up B2B catalogs and quantity rules

You can add price lists to companies in bulk. Quantity rules, such as increments and minimum or maximum quantities, are supported only on the free Shopify themes, version 8.0.0 or later.

Importing B2B order history

You can import non-Shopify B2B order history using the REST Admin API.

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