You've built your website. You've connected your payment gateway. But there's still a frustrating gap between having a website and actually being able to sell something.
That gap costs you money every single day.
Right now, someone wants to buy from you. They're on your site, they're interested, but there's no "Add to Cart" button. No checkout page. No way to actually complete a purchase. So they leave, and you've lost a sale you didn't even know you had.
This article closes that gap. In the next 45 minutes, you'll transform your website from a digital brochure into a functioning online store. Not a perfect store—that comes later—but a working store that can take orders today.
We're focusing on the essentials: the shopping cart, basic product setup, and simple shipping options. The minimum viable infrastructure you need to start selling. Everything else—beautiful product photography, compelling copy, advanced shipping rules—can wait. First, you need the plumbing to work.
In this guide:
- •Quick Start: Activate Your Online Store (5 Minutes)
- •Complete Step-by-Step Guide: Configuring Ecommerce Essentials
- •Troubleshooting Common Setup Issues
Quick Start: Activate Your Online Store (5 Minutes)
Need your store live now? This stripped-down version gets you from zero to functional in five minutes. You'll refine everything later.
Not sure you've covered the prerequisites? Ecommerce performance relies heavily on site speed and security during checkout. NetNav's audit checks core speed factors and basic security flaws in 60 seconds.
The 5-Minute Setup
1. Install Your Ecommerce Plugin
Log into your website admin area. Navigate to your platform's app store or plugin directory. Search for your platform's primary ecommerce solution (WooCommerce for WordPress, native tools for Shopify/Squarespace). Click "Install" then "Activate."
2. Run the Setup Wizard
Most platforms launch a setup wizard automatically. When prompted, enter:
- •Your business location (country)
- •Your currency (GBP for UK businesses)
- •Your industry category
Click through the remaining screens accepting defaults. You'll refine these later.
3. Verify Your Core Pages
The setup wizard should have automatically created several pages:
- •Shop (your product catalogue)
- •Cart (where customers review their order)
- •Checkout (where they pay)
- •My Account (for customer login)
Navigate to Pages in your admin area and confirm these exist. Don't worry about how they look yet—just that they're there.
4. Create One Test Product
Find "Products" in your admin menu. Click "Add New." Fill in only:
- •Product name: "Test Product"
- •Price: £1.00
- •Stock quantity: 10
Publish the product.
5. Test Your Cart
Visit your website's Shop page. Click "Add to Cart" on your test product. Verify that:
- •The cart icon updates with a quantity
- •You can view your cart
- •The checkout button appears
✅ Completed the quick version? Move on to writing descriptions that sell or continue below for the detailed walkthrough of shipping and policies.
Complete Step-by-Step Guide: Configuring Ecommerce Essentials
The Quick Start gave you a functioning cart. Now we'll configure the essential elements that make your store actually usable: proper product data, shipping zones, and mandatory policy pages.
This is still basic infrastructure. We're not optimising for conversions or perfecting your brand—we're building the foundation that everything else sits on.
Step 1: Install and Initialize Your Ecommerce System
The specific steps vary by platform, but the principle is identical: you're adding selling capability to your existing website.
For WordPress users:
Navigate to Plugins → Add New. Search for "WooCommerce." Click "Install Now," then "Activate." The setup wizard launches automatically—follow the prompts, entering your business address, currency, and industry.
For Shopify users:
Your store comes with ecommerce built in. Navigate to Settings → Payments to verify your payment gateway from the previous step is connected.
For Squarespace users:
Navigate to Commerce → General. Enable "Sell products or services." Choose "Physical products" when prompted about product types.
Installing the core ecommerce app (e.g., WooCommerce, specific Shopify app).
The setup wizard will ask numerous questions. For now, accept defaults for anything you're unsure about. You can change every setting later. The goal is activation, not perfection.
Why this matters: Without the core ecommerce system active, your website literally cannot process orders. This is the difference between a website and a webshop. Your reliable hosting needs to support this additional functionality, so if you experience slowdowns, that's your first troubleshooting step.
Step 2: Define Your Product Data Structure
Now you'll create your first real product—not a test item, but the actual structure you'll use for all products going forward.
Navigate to Products → Add New (or your platform's equivalent). You'll see numerous fields. Ignore most of them. Focus on these five essentials:
Required fields:
- Product name: Clear, searchable, specific
- Price: Include VAT if you're VAT-registered
- Stock quantity: Start with your actual current stock
- Short description: One sentence explaining what this is
- Product image: Even a phone photo is better than nothing
That's it. Everything else—SKUs, categories, tags, variations—can wait.
Required fields for a simple product: Name, Price, and Stock quantity.
Set your inventory policy: Under the product's Inventory tab, decide whether to track stock levels. For physical products, enable stock tracking. For services or digital products, disable it. This feeds into your broader approach to handling inventory.
Click "Publish." Your first real product is live.
Create 2-3 more products using this same minimal structure. You need enough products to test how your shop page displays multiple items, but you don't need your entire catalogue. That comes after you've verified everything works.
Step 3: Configure Essential Store Pages
Your ecommerce system created several pages automatically. Now you need to verify they're correctly connected to your site's navigation and settings.
Navigate to your ecommerce settings (usually Settings → Ecommerce or WooCommerce → Settings). Look for a "Pages" or "Advanced" tab.
Verify these page assignments:
- •Shop page: Where customers browse all products
- •Cart page: Where they review their order
- •Checkout page: Where they enter payment details
- •My Account page: Where they view order history
Verifying that the Cart, Checkout, and Shop pages are correctly linked in the settings.
Each dropdown should show a page name. If any show "Select a page" or are blank, create the missing page:
- Go to Pages → Add New
- Title it exactly as needed (e.g., "Checkout")
- Don't add any content—the ecommerce system handles that
- Publish the page
- Return to your ecommerce settings and assign it
Add pages to your navigation: Go to Appearance → Menus (or your platform's navigation editor). Add your Shop page to your main menu. The Cart typically appears as an icon in your header, and Checkout is reached via the Cart, so they don't need menu links.
Why this matters: If these pages aren't correctly assigned, your checkout process breaks. Customers click "Proceed to Checkout" and land on your homepage, or get an error. This is the most common cause of abandoned carts in new stores.
Step 4: Set Up Basic Shipping Zones
Shipping is where new store owners get stuck. There are infinite options and configurations. Ignore them all. Start with two simple zones.
Navigate to your ecommerce settings and find Shipping (usually Settings → Shipping or WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping).
Create Zone 1: Local Area
- Click "Add shipping zone"
- Zone name: "Local Area"
- Zone regions: Add your local postcode areas (e.g., "BS1*" for Bristol city centre)
- Add shipping method: "Local pickup" (free) or "Flat rate" (£3.00)
- Save changes
Create Zone 2: Rest of UK
- Click "Add shipping zone"
- Zone name: "UK National"
- Zone regions: Select "United Kingdom"
- Add shipping method: "Flat rate" (£5.00)
- Save changes
Configuring two basic shipping zones (Local Area vs. National Flat Rate).
That's it. Two zones, simple flat rates. No weight calculations, no carrier integrations, no complex rules. You can compare shipping options and refine this later, but these two zones let you start selling today.
Test your zones: Add a product to your cart and proceed to checkout. Enter a local postcode—you should see your local shipping option. Change to a different UK postcode—you should see your national rate. If both show, or neither shows, revisit your zone regions.
Setting up shipping and policies is tedious manual work. This is one of the administrative hurdles NetNav flags—it ensures basic policy pages are present and checks for broken links in the checkout flow automatically.
Step 5: Add Mandatory Policy Pages
UK law requires certain information be available to online customers. You need three pages, and they don't need to be complicated.
Create these pages:
Returns & Refunds Policy
Navigate to Pages → Add New. Title: "Returns & Refunds Policy"
Minimum content:
- •Your returns window (e.g., "14 days from delivery")
- •How customers initiate returns (email address)
- •Who pays return postage
- •Refund timeline (e.g., "within 7 days of receiving returned item")
Terms & Conditions
Title: "Terms & Conditions"
Minimum content:
- •What constitutes acceptance of terms (placing an order)
- •Your liability limitations
- •Governing law (England & Wales)
Shipping Information
Title: "Shipping Information"
Minimum content:
- •Your shipping zones and costs
- •Estimated delivery times
- •What happens if items are damaged in transit
For each page, publish it, then add it to your website footer. Most themes have a "Footer Menu" where these belong.
Need templates? The legal requirements for online sales article includes copy-and-paste templates for all three pages.
Why this matters: Beyond legal compliance, these pages build trust. Customers who can easily find your returns policy are more likely to complete a purchase. Missing policy pages are a red flag that makes your store look unprofessional or potentially fraudulent.
Step 6: Test the Complete Conversion Flow
You've built the infrastructure. Now verify it actually works from a customer's perspective.
Run this test on your mobile phone (most customers shop on mobile):
- Visit your website's Shop page
- Add a product to your cart
- Click through to Cart
- Click "Proceed to Checkout"
- Fill in the address fields (use a real UK postcode)
- Verify shipping costs calculate correctly
- Verify your payment gateway appears
- Stop before clicking "Place Order"
What you're checking:
- •Pages load quickly (under 3 seconds)
- •All fields are visible and tappable on mobile
- •Shipping costs appear and update based on postcode
- •Payment section displays your connected gateway
- •No error messages appear
If anything breaks, note exactly where and what the error message says. That's your troubleshooting starting point.
Why mobile matters: Over 60% of UK ecommerce traffic comes from mobile devices. If your checkout doesn't work on mobile, you're losing the majority of potential customers. This is why mobile checkout experience is non-negotiable, not optional.
🎉 Completed? Your store infrastructure is live and ready for content. You're ready for writing descriptions that sell.
Troubleshooting Common Setup Issues
Problem: Checkout page redirects to homepage or shows "Page not found" Why this happens: The Checkout page isn't correctly assigned in your ecommerce settings, or the page was accidentally deleted. Fix: 1. Go to Settings → Ecommerce → Advanced (or equivalent) 2. Check the "Checkout page" dropdown 3. If it's blank or shows a page that doesn't exist, create a new page titled "Checkout" (no content needed) 4. Return to settings and assign this new page 5. Test checkout again
Problem: System demands tax setup before allowing checkout Why this happens: Your ecommerce platform defaults to requiring tax configuration for compliance reasons. Fix for immediate launch: 1. Go to Settings → Tax 2. Enable tax calculations 3. Create one tax rate: "Standard Rate" at 0% 4. Apply to all products 5. This lets you launch immediately while you research proper VAT requirements Fix for proper compliance: If you're VAT-registered or approaching the threshold, consult the legal requirements for online sales for proper tax setup. But don't let tax configuration block your launch—start at 0% and refine later.
What's Next
You've built the infrastructure. Now you need to fill it with products that actually sell.
Immediate next step: Writing Product Descriptions That Sell
Your store can technically process orders, but empty product descriptions or basic "This is a product" copy won't convert browsers into buyers. The next article shows you how to write product content that addresses customer questions and drives purchases—even if you're not a "writer."
Go Deeper
The Ultimate Small Business Website Audit Guide (2024 Action Checklist)
For a full checklist to validate your entire site structure and performance before launch. Covers everything from broken links to mobile usability to security basics.
Anatomy of a High-Converting Homepage
Deep dive into structuring your online store's main landing page for maximum conversions. Where should your product categories appear? How much text is too much? This article answers those questions with specific examples.
Other Get Online Guides
- •Plan Your Website Structure in 30 Minutes
- •Write Your Homepage in 1 Hour (Template)
- •Add Simple Usable Forms to Your Website
- •Make It Easy for People to Contact You
- •Trust Signals That Make You Look Professional
- •Creating a Simple Brand Style Guide
You've completed your basic ecommerce setup! NetNav can audit your entire site across 9 pillars in 60 seconds—helping you move from 'setup' to 'optimise' and ensure your new checkout pages are converting. Try NetNav Free →