Starting in e-commerce: a roadmap for the first 90 days

The decision “let’s sell our products online too” is often made quickly, but the workload behind it is usually underestimated. Product photos, descriptions, stock tracking, payment infrastructure, shipping agreements, the returns process, legal texts, advertising and measurement are all connected. When one of them is missing, the others don’t deliver the expected result either.

In this guide we place the process in a three-month framework. The “90 days” here is not a promise; it is a planning tool we use to put the steps in order. Depending on your product range, your team and the platform you already have, it can be shorter or longer.

Before you start: your own site or a marketplace?

The first strategic decision is where to start selling. Both options have advantages and points to watch.

For many businesses the sensible route is to think about both together: testing product demand and operations through a marketplace while building a long-term customer relationship with a branded site. Marketplace commissions, rules and seller terms can change, so read the current seller agreements carefully before applying.

The first 30 days: groundwork

The aim of the first period isn’t to sell but to build a solid foundation.

Choosing products and building the catalogue

You do not have to put all your products online on day one. Starting with products whose stock is in order, that ship easily and that have clear descriptions makes it easier to learn the operation. Create a spreadsheet with the stock code, dimensions, weight, material, colour options and usage information for each product.

Choosing the platform

Decide whether your own site will use an off-the-shelf e-commerce platform or custom development. When choosing, consider payment and shipping integrations, compatibility with your accounting software, the mobile experience and room to grow.

Legal and official preparations

Selling online creates obligations around distance sales, pre-contract information, personal data protection, cookie use, consent to commercial electronic messages and invoicing. Don’t prepare these texts by copying another site’s. Get support from a legal adviser and your accountant for the legal texts and obligations specific to your business. Legislation changes over time, so follow current official sources.

Product content and photos: the shop window of the sale

Online, the customer can’t handle, try or smell the product. Photos and descriptions fill that gap.

• Main photo on a white or plain background: shows the product clearly, in accurate colour and in full.
• Detail shots: close-ups that convey quality, such as stitching, surface, connection points and labels.
• In-use and setting photos: show how the product looks in real life.
• Size and scale information: images or tables that make the product’s size easy to grasp.
• Short product videos: effective for showing movement, texture or how it’s used.

Marketplaces may have rules on image size, background colour and the use of text; check the current image rules before the shoot. In product descriptions, use your own sentences rather than copying the supplier’s text. Descriptions that answer the customer’s likely questions in advance, accurately and without exaggeration, help reduce returns and are better understood by search engines.

Payment, shipping and returns processes

Customer trust is often won or lost after the order is placed. Test the operations side before going live.

Payment

When choosing a payment provider, compare the payment methods offered, payout times, security standards and ease of integration. Terms vary by provider, so review the current contracts.

Shipping

Agree terms with a courier suited to your products’ size and weight. Choose packaging according to the risk of breakage or crushing. Tell the customer clearly which day the order will be shipped, and stick to it.

Returns and exchanges

Put the steps of the returns process in writing: how will the customer submit a return request, how will the product be sent, who will check it, and how will the refund be made? Return rights are subject to legal regulations; prepare your policy with a legal adviser and publish it somewhere easy to find on your site.

Days 31 to 60: launch and testing

Once the platform and content are ready, you can launch the site or shop. Before a big launch, though, it pays to go through a controlled period first.

1. Place test orders with your team and people close to you.
2. Test payment, invoicing, shipping notification and returns end to end.
3. Check the site on different phones and browsers.
4. Set up reply templates and a responsible person for customer service.
5. Make sure stock updates correctly deduct sold products.

Set up measurement in this period as well. If the analytics tool, the ad platforms’ tracking codes and purchase conversions are not working correctly, you will not be able to assess the ad spend that comes later. Make cookie consent management compliant with your legal obligations too.

Days 61 to 90: advertising and growth

Once operations run smoothly, you can focus on growing traffic.

• Search ads: reach users who are actively searching for your product.
• Shopping ads: help you appear in search results with a product image and details; your product data needs to be well organised.
• Social media ads: effective for creating demand for visually strong products.
• Retargeting: lets you reach people who visited your site and left without buying.
• Email and messaging list: lets you keep in regular touch with customers who have given consent.

When starting to advertise, test on a small scale, watch which products and messages draw interest, then move budget to what works. Ad platform policies may restrict certain product categories, so check the current rules before setting up a campaign.

Team and day-to-day operations

The unseen side of e-commerce is day-to-day operations. When orders are not prepared regularly, questions are answered late or stock information is not updated, even a carefully designed site loses customers. So decide from day one who does what.

• Who will check and pack orders, and at what time of day will they be handed to the courier?
• How quickly will customer messages and marketplace questions be answered?
• Who will update stock and prices, and how often?
• Who will be responsible for preparing photos and content for new products?
• How will the extra workload during campaign periods be planned for?

If you’re starting with a small team, defining these tasks in a short written procedure keeps the work tied to a system rather than to individuals. That way the process keeps running during holidays or sick leave.

What should you measure?

At the end of the first three months, you need to ask more than “did we sell anything?”:

• Which channels are visitors coming from?
• Which product pages get the most visits, and which ones turn into sales?
• At which step do users who add to basket but don’t buy give up?
• What are the reasons for returns? Is there a gap between expectations and the product description or photos?
• What questions does customer service get most often?
• Is the relationship between ad spend and resulting sales sustainable?

90-day checklist

• The sales channel has been decided and the platform terms reviewed.
• The initial product catalogue and stock information are ready.
• Product photos and descriptions are complete.
• Legal texts were prepared with a legal adviser.
• Payment, shipping and returns processes have been tested.
• Measurement and conversion tracking are set up and verified.
• A customer service owner and reply templates have been set.
• The first ad tests have been run and the results assessed.

At the end of three months, go through this list with your team in a review meeting. Note which steps took longer than expected, which processes ran smoothly and what you’ll prioritise in the next period. This review means the next plan is based on real data.

E-commerce is not a project that ends on launch day; it is a sales channel that keeps improving. To plan the process and move in the right order, take a look at our e-commerce consulting service, and for product images ready to sell, our product photography service.