Planning Your Online Store: How We Run an E-commerce Project From Discovery to Launch

By LaunchLen Web Solutions Team

The decisions that shape an online store happen long before anyone picks a colour palette. How products are organized, how customers pay, where you ship and how orders reach your accounting system all affect the design and the build. This post explains how LaunchLen Web Solutions Inc. approaches e-commerce website planning with you, from the first conversation to launch, and what we’ll need from you along the way. Every store is different, so treat it as a map rather than a contract.

What we ask before any design work

Planning starts with a free consultation. Before we sketch a single page, we want to understand:

• What you sell and to whom. Physical products, digital goods, services or bookings; to consumers, other businesses or both.
• Where your customers are. Local pickup, Ontario, the rest of Canada, or further afield. This shapes shipping and tax decisions.
• How you sell today. In person, through marketplaces, by phone or email, or not yet.
• Who runs the store day to day. Adding products, handling orders and answering customers.
• What already exists. A current website, product photos, an inventory spreadsheet, an accounting system.
• Which platform makes sense. If you haven’t chosen one, we’ll talk through the options.

The answers decide what the store needs at launch and what can wait. Our e-commerce solutions page covers the kinds of store work we do.

Products, catalogue and data

Your product data is the backbone of the store. We’ll work with you on:

• Structure. Categories, collections and filters that match how customers shop, not just how your stockroom is organized.
• Variations. Sizes, colours, materials or bundles, and how each one is priced and tracked.
• Product content. Titles, descriptions, specifications and photos. Ontario’s guidance on online shopping says the business must give a fair and accurate description of the goods or services before the purchase (Ontario, Safe online shopping), so clear product content matters for more than sales.
• Data quality. Consistent product codes, names and categories make importing, updating and any future platform move far easier.

You know your products best, so this is where your input matters most.

Payments, shipping and taxes: decisions to make early

These choices affect the checkout design, so we settle them before the build.

Payments. Which payment methods you’ll accept and which provider will process them. Card payments come with security obligations: the PCI Data Security Standard, maintained by the PCI Security Standards Council, sets requirements for environments where payment account data is stored, processed or transmitted (PCI Security Standards Council). We’ll talk about how your payment setup affects what you’re responsible for.

Shipping. Where you ship, how you charge for it, pickup options, and how returns work.

Checkout disclosure. Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act sets rules for online purchases above a set amount. Before checkout, the business must disclose information such as its name and contact details, an itemized price list including taxes and shipping, the total amount, delivery details, and any cancellation, return, exchange or refund terms it offers. Customers must have a chance to accept or decline and to correct errors, and must get a copy of the agreement in writing within 15 days (Ontario, Safe online shopping; Ontario, Contracts: best practices and types). That shapes the order summary page and the confirmation email.

Taxes. The Canada Revenue Agency says the GST/HST rate to charge depends on the place of supply, and that receipts must tell customers whether GST/HST applies and whether it’s included in the price or added separately (CRA, Charge and collect the GST/HST). We’ll set up the store to reflect the decisions you make with your accountant. This is general information, not tax or legal advice, so please confirm your obligations with an accountant or legal adviser.

Integrations: inventory, accounting and email

A store rarely works alone. We map which systems need to talk to it:

• Inventory. Whether stock is managed in the store, in a separate system, or across in-person and online sales.
• Accounting. How orders, taxes and payouts reach your books.
• Email. Order confirmations, shipping notices and any marketing email, with consent handled properly.
• Other tools. A CRM, booking system, marketplace or fulfilment service.

For each one, we check what the tools support and decide what connects automatically and what stays manual for now. If you’re thinking about AI features, such as a product assistant or smarter search, our post on WordPress AI integration covers what to check first.

Design, build and testing

With the plan agreed, design can begin. Design can include the home page, category and product pages, cart and checkout, and key policy pages. You review layouts before the build so changes are cheap.

Accessibility belongs in the design stage, not after launch. Under Ontario’s AODA, businesses and non-profits with 50 or more employees must make public websites meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA, with limited exceptions, and the province recommends testing with automated tools, assistive technology and, where possible, people with disabilities (Ontario, How to make websites accessible). The W3C publishes the WCAG standard itself (W3C, WCAG overview).

Testing covers more than “does it load”. It can include placing test orders with different products, shipping options and payment methods, checking tax and shipping amounts against your rules, trying refunds and cancellations, and reviewing emails customers receive.

Launch checklist

Before the store goes live, we work through a checklist with you, which can include:

• Products, prices, stock levels and images reviewed
• Payment provider live and a real test order completed and refunded
• Shipping rates, tax settings and checkout disclosures confirmed
• Policy pages published: shipping, returns, privacy and terms
• Order and shipping emails tested
• Redirects in place if you’re replacing an older site
• Search Console and analytics set up, if you use them
• A plan for who handles the first orders

FAQ

Do I need to choose a platform before we start planning?

No. Platform choice is part of the planning conversation, based on what you sell, how you’ll run the store and what it needs to connect to.

Can you set up my store’s taxes for me?

We can configure the store to match the tax decisions you make with your accountant. We don’t give tax advice, so confirm your GST/HST obligations with a qualified professional.

What do I need to have ready before we begin?

A clear sense of what you sell is enough to start. Product details, photos and policies can be gathered during planning.

Working with LaunchLen

Based in Kitchener, serving Waterloo Region and businesses across Ontario.

If you’re planning a new online store or rethinking the one you have, start with the decisions that shape it. Tell us what you sell and how you want to sell it.

Book a free consultation

Sources

• Government of Ontario, Safe online shopping: https://www.ontario.ca/page/safe-online-shopping
• Government of Ontario, Contracts: best practices and types: https://www.ontario.ca/page/contracts-best-practices-and-types
• Government of Ontario, How to make websites accessible: https://www.ontario.ca/page/how-make-websites-accessible
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, WCAG 2 overview: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
• Canada Revenue Agency, Charge and collect the GST/HST: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/charge-collect-which-rate.html
• PCI Security Standards Council, PCI Security Standards overview: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/standards/