E-Commerce Website Launch Checklist for Australian Stores

Published June 22, 2026 • 8 min read

Launching an online store is not the moment you flip it live; it is the moment everything you forgot becomes a customer problem. This checklist is the one we run before every Australian store go-live. Work through it in order and launch day becomes boring, which is exactly what you want.

Before you build: platform and scope

• Pick the right platform. Shopify for speed and low maintenance, WooCommerce for flexibility on WordPress, or a custom build when your model does not fit either. Decide based on catalogue size, how custom your checkout needs to be, and who will maintain it.
• Map your catalogue. Categories, variants, and how customers will actually browse. Get this right early; restructuring later is painful.
• Plan your URLs. Clean, stable product and category URLs that you will not need to change. Redirects cost you rankings.

Product and catalogue

• Real product photography on a consistent background, with alt text on every image.
• Descriptions that answer buyer questions, not just list features.
• Accurate stock levels and a plan for out-of-stock items.
• Prices, weights, and dimensions entered correctly, because shipping depends on them.

Payments and checkout

• At least one card gateway plus the wallets your customers expect, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• A guest checkout option; forcing account creation loses sales.
• Place a real test order end to end, then refund it, and confirm both work.
• Check the confirmation email actually sends and reads well on a phone.

Shipping, GST and tax

This is where Australian stores most often trip up. Set your shipping zones and rates, decide on free-shipping thresholds if any, and make sure tax is handled correctly. If you are registered for GST, prices and invoices need to reflect 10% GST properly. Confirm your specific obligations with your accountant or the ATO; this article is general information, not tax advice.

Trust and legal

• Privacy policy, terms of sale, and a returns and refunds policy consistent with Australian Consumer Law.
• Visible contact details and, ideally, your ABN.
• Security signals: HTTPS everywhere, and a checkout that visibly feels safe.
• Clear delivery timeframes so customers know what to expect.

Performance and SEO

• Compress images and lazy-load them; stores live and die on load speed.
• Unique title tags and meta descriptions on key category and product pages.
• Product structured data so listings can show price and availability in search.
• A working XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console.
• Mobile-first: most Australian shoppers will arrive on a phone.

Pre-launch testing

Give yourself a proper week. Place test orders with every payment method, on desktop and mobile. Check confirmation and shipping emails. Test the search, filters, and cart on a real phone, not just a desktop browser resized. Have someone outside the project try to buy something and watch where they hesitate.

After launch

• Watch analytics and your checkout funnel for drop-off in the first week.
• Ask early customers what nearly stopped them buying.
• Keep an eye on Search Console for crawl errors as pages get indexed.
• Have a plan for reviews and for restocking popular lines.

Tick every box above and your launch is an anticlimax in the best possible way. If you would rather someone ran this checklist with you, that is exactly what we do.