Store foundations

The webshop checklist: 42 things every online store should have

Every online store should be able to tick off seven areas: product pages that answer buying questions (full image sets, specs, delivery and returns by the buy button), a transparent price and short checkout with guest ordering and local payment methods, visible trust signals and policies, a fast mobile experience that passes Core Web Vitals, crawlable pages with product structured data, reliable purchase tracking and, in the EU, compliant discount pricing, accessibility and withdrawal information. Use the 42 checks below as a launch list or a quarterly audit.

By the MoraLab team · Updated 20 October 2026 · 5 min read

Product pages (1–8)

The product page is where a shopper decides. Detail on each point is in our product page, photography and description guides.

1. A clear hero image plus angles, detail, in-scale and in-use images for every product
2. Images for every colour and variant, switching when the variant is selected
3. Zoom on images with enough resolution to show texture
4. A title that says what the product is in the words customers search for
5. Three to five key features, then a specifications table in a consistent order
6. Sizes and colours as buttons, with out-of-stock options marked
7. Delivery date, delivery cost and return summary beside the buy button
8. Product video where movement, fit or scale is a selling point

Pricing and checkout (9–16)

Most abandoned checkouts with a fixable cause trace back to cost surprises, forced accounts or friction. See our cart abandonment guide for the reasoning.

9. Shipping costs or free-shipping threshold visible before the cart
10. Order total, including delivery to the shopper's country, shown in the cart
11. Guest checkout, with optional account creation after the order
12. No more form fields than needed (Baymard finds most stores need about 8)
13. The payment methods your market expects (e.g. MobilePay in Denmark, iDEAL in the Netherlands, wallets, invoice or instalments)
14. Inline validation and clear error messages that never clear the form
15. Discount-code field collapsed behind a link
16. A test order placed on phone and desktop after every checkout, theme or app change

Sources: Baymard Institute: Cart abandonment rate statistics (updated Sept 2025); Baymard Institute: Checkout optimization and minimizing form fields (2024)

Trust and policies (17–22)

Shoppers buying from a store they don't know look for evidence that it is real and fair. Our trust signals guide explains each point.

17. Company name, registration number, address and contact details in the footer or a contact page
18. Product reviews with rating distribution, and replies to negative reviews
19. A returns policy summary on product pages and the full policy one click away
20. A shipping page with costs, carriers and delivery times per country
21. An About page with real people, photos and the story behind the store
22. A working, monitored contact channel with a stated response time

Speed and mobile (23–28)

A Deloitte Digital study for Google associated a 0.1-second improvement in mobile speed metrics with 8.4% more retail conversions. Google's Core Web Vitals give the thresholds to aim for, measured at the 75th percentile of real visits.

23. Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds on mobile
24. Interaction to Next Paint under 200 milliseconds
25. Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1 (no jumping buttons as images load)
26. Images served at the size each screen needs, in WebP or AVIF
27. Videos and below-the-fold media loaded only when needed
28. Apps and tracking scripts reviewed; anything unused removed

Sources: web.dev: Core Web Vitals thresholds; Deloitte Digital for Google: Milliseconds make millions (via web.dev)

Search and SEO (29–34)

Search engines and AI answer engines read the same facts shoppers do. Google states that appearing in its AI features needs no special optimisation beyond indexable pages and helpful, reliable content.

29. Site search that handles typos, synonyms and product attributes, and never returns a blank page
30. Unique title and meta description for every product and category page
31. Product structured data with price, availability, shipping and returns
32. Category pages with a short, useful introduction, not only a product grid
33. Discontinued products redirected permanently to the closest alternative
34. Descriptive alt text on product images

Sources: Google Search Central: Product structured data; Google Search Central: AI features and your website

Measurement (35–38)

If you cannot see where shoppers leave, every change is a guess. Our conversion rate guides cover what to measure and what the numbers mean.

35. Purchase, add-to-cart and checkout events tracked and checked against real orders
36. Funnel reports split by device, channel and new versus returning visitors
37. A return reason recorded for every return, reviewed per product
38. A monthly look at site-search terms, especially searches with no results

EU legal basics (39–42)

If you sell to consumers in the EU, these rules apply in addition to your national law. This is a summary, not legal advice; check the directives and your country's implementation.

39. Discounts shown against the lowest price of the previous 30 days (Omnibus Directive)
40. Reviews: say whether and how you check they come from real customers, and never publish fake ones (Omnibus Directive)
41. The shopping journey, from search to payment, accessible to people with disabilities, required since 28 June 2025 for most e-commerce services (European Accessibility Act; microenterprises providing services are exempt)
42. Clear information on the 14-day right of withdrawal and a model withdrawal form (Consumer Rights Directive)

Sources: EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Omnibus, price reductions and reviews); EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act); EUR-Lex: Directive 2011/83/EU (Consumer Rights, 14-day withdrawal)

Frequently asked questions

How often should I audit my webshop?

Run the full checklist every quarter and the checkout section after every change to the theme, apps, payment providers or shipping rules. Most broken checkouts are caused by a change that was never tested end to end.

Which items on the checklist matter most?

Anything that blocks a purchase outright: checkout errors, missing payment methods, hidden costs. Then the product page items for your best-selling products, because that is where most buying decisions are made.

Does Shopify or WooCommerce handle this for me?

Platforms handle parts of it, such as a secure checkout, some speed and basic structured data, depending on the theme and apps. Product content, policies, payment choices, legal pricing rules and measurement are still your responsibility.

Does the European Accessibility Act apply to small webshops?

Microenterprises providing services (fewer than 10 employees and annual turnover or balance sheet of no more than €2 million) are exempt from its service requirements. Larger stores selling to EU consumers are in scope. Accessible design is still good practice for every store, because it helps all shoppers.

Sources

Sources checked 20 October 2026. Figures are reported as the publishers state them; where sources disagree, the article says so.