Build your online store

A store that looks real, loads fast, and turns the traffic you paid for into orders.

What founders use for build your online store, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. The foundational usability book behind nearly every CRO checklist in this category - if your checkout or navigation makes a... sensible.com Book Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability Steve Krug
  2. Names the real reason COD still dominates Indian D2C - it's not payment-infrastructure gaps, it's that paying upfront to a... shopflo.com Article The Indian Consumer and the Paradox of Trust Shopflo
  3. A side-by-side of the actual India-relevant software shortlist a founder would be choosing between, rather than a generic... Increff Blog Article Compare India's Top Inventory Management Solutions for E-commerce in 2026 Increff
  4. A D2C-specific (not generic SaaS) comparison of the big three Indian gateways, weighing fees, settlement speed and AMC rather... dhanaay.com Article Best Payment Gateway India 2026: Razorpay vs Cashfree vs PayU Dhanaay
  5. A broader roundup beyond just GoKwik vs Shopflo, useful for seeing the full competitive set, including smaller or cheaper... decentro.tech Article 15 Best Checkout Apps for eCommerce Stores Decentro
  6. Straight from Shopify on what checkout extensibility actually lets you build, UI extensions, Shopify Functions, the Branding... shopify.com Article Checkout Extensibility Opens New Ways to Customize Checkouts on Shopify Shopify
  7. The clearest technical explanation of why UPI Intent out-converts Collect, from the gateway that actually routes the... razorpay.com Article UPI Intent vs Collect: Which One Actually Works Better? Razorpay
  8. Payoneer's own India-specific guide, useful because it's the go-to for exporters and marketplace sellers who want... payoneer.com Article How to Receive International Payments in India Payoneer
  9. A head-to-head comparison of every major cross-border option, not just Payoneer, with fees called out explicitly, read this... skydo.com Article Top PayPal Alternatives in India: Compare Wise, Payoneer, Stripe & More Skydo
  10. The clearest checklist-style breakdown of everything a converting PDP needs, top to bottom - use it as a literal audit against... cartylabs.com Article Shopify Product Page Best Practices: 17 PDP Elements for 2026 CartyLabs
  11. The most practical benefits-over-features primer for founders writing their own copy - concrete techniques (sensory language,... shopify.com Article How to Write a Product Description That Sells (2026) Shopify
  12. The foundational text on why some copy sells and some just sits there - research-driven positioning and headline discipline... amazon.com Book Ogilvy on Advertising David Ogilvy
  13. A rigorous, research-based look at how shoppers actually use (and abandon) size charts - the UX discipline behind why 'just add... nngroup.com Article Size Guides and Product Measurements for International Shoppers Nielsen Norman Group
  14. The best India-specific archive of real brand and digital-product teardowns - close-reads of how Indian D2C brands actually... thehardcopy.co Newsletter The Hard Copy - Original Case Studies on Indian Brand and Product Design The Hard Copy
  15. Shopify's own India-market edition of this guide, written for the exact sizing chaos Indian fashion founders deal with - no... shopify.com Article Sizing Charts: How to Make a Size Chart for Your Retail Business (2026) Shopify India
  16. A tested, category-by-category walkthrough of what a lean, high-performing Shopify stack actually looks like in 2026 - reviews,... consio.ai Article Must-Have Shopify Apps for E-commerce in 2026 (Tested) Consio
  17. The rare app-stack guide that starts from what Shopify does not handle out of the box for Indian sellers - COD management,... thed2cpulse.com Article Best Shopify Apps for Indian D2C Brands 2026 The D2C Pulse
  18. Names the actual mechanism behind app-slowdown - each app adding 50-500KB of JS that often loads globally even on pages where... easyappsecom.com Article How to Fix App Bloat Slowing Your Shopify Store: Complete Guide (2026) EasyApps Ecom
  19. A data study across 340,000+ real Shopify stores rather than opinion - useful to calibrate 'is my app count actually a problem'... storeinspect.com Article How Many Shopify Apps Is Too Many? [340K Store Study] StoreInspect
  20. A hands-on, step-by-step audit process using PageSpeed Insights and browser dev tools to see exactly which app is loading what... sherocommerce.com Article How to Audit Shopify Scripts and Apps for Faster Load Times (Step by Step) Shero Commerce
  21. The clearest head-to-head of the three tools every Indian D2C founder ends up comparing - Shopify integration depth, CRM... ominiflow.com Article WATI vs Interakt vs AiSensy (2026) - India WhatsApp API Compared Ominiflow
  22. From the market leader itself, but genuinely useful as an orientation to the Indian OMS landscape - marketplace integrations,... unicommerce.com Article Top 20 Order Management Software in India (2026) Unicommerce
  23. A direct pricing and feature breakdown of the three subscription options every DTC founder ends up considering, including the... loopwork.co Article Shopify Subscriptions vs Recharge vs Loop: The 2026 Comparison Loop
  24. An India-specific take on Klaviyo rather than a generic global review - it flags the USD billing and cost-at-scale issues that... productgrowth.in Article Klaviyo Review 2026: Email & SMS Marketing for Indian D2C Brands ProductGrowth

The questions

Choosing your store platform 6

Shopify vs WooCommerce vs the rest, pick once.

Shopify or WooCommerce for my first store in India? 4 → Is Shopify worth ₹1,500+/month when I'm only doing 5 orders a day? 4 → Can I migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify later without losing my SEO rankings? 4 → What platform do most funded, scaled Indian D2C brands actually use? 4 → Headless commerce - do I need it or is it overkill for me? 3 → All 6 questions in Choosing your store platform →
Building & setting up your store 6

A store that looks real and loads fast, today.

Which Shopify theme should I pick for my store, and how much should I customize it? 3 → How do I set up my domain, DNS and a proper business email for my store in India? 3 → What pages does my store absolutely need before I go live - policies, About, contact? 3 → How do I make my store load fast enough to pass Core Web Vitals? 3 → How do I make sure my store actually works well on mobile, not just looks fine on desktop? 3 → All 6 questions in Building & setting up your store →
Store design & conversion (CRO) 6

Turn the traffic you already paid for into orders.

My conversion rate is around 1.2%. Is that good or bad? 4 → I barely get 500 visits a week. What should I A/B test first, and can I even trust the results? 4 → Where should I focus first - homepage, collection pages, or product pages? 4 → Nobody's heard of my brand. What trust signals actually make Indian shoppers buy? 4 → My cart abandonment rate is brutal. What actually brings people back? 4 → All 6 questions in Store design & conversion (CRO) →
Product pages, photography & copy 6

The page is your salesperson, make it close.

Can I shoot good product photos on my phone, or do I need to book a studio? 4 → What does a genuinely high-converting product page actually look like? 4 → How do I write product descriptions that actually sell instead of just describing the product? 4 → Are AI product photography tools like Pebblely and Claid actually good enough to skip a shoot? 3 → Should I add video to my product page, and what kind actually moves the needle? 3 → All 6 questions in Product pages, photography & copy →
Tech stack & apps 6

The right apps; not forty that slow you down.

What's the must-have app stack for a brand-new D2C store on Shopify? 4 → My site feels slow and cluttered - how many Shopify apps is too many, and how do I audit them? 4 → Should I use Klaviyo or a WhatsApp-first tool like Interakt, AiSensy or WATI for marketing? 4 → What inventory/order management system (OMS) should an Indian D2C brand use once it's selling on multiple channels? 3 → Are subscription and loyalty apps worth adding, and which ones should I look at? 3 → All 6 questions in Tech stack & apps →
Payment gateways, COD & checkout 6

Take money smoothly, and tame COD.

Which payment gateway should I actually use, Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU, or just Shopify's checkout? 3 → How do I get more customers to pay online instead of COD, and cut my RTO rate? 4 → What's the best way to verify COD orders and stop fake or junk orders before they ship? 4 → Do I need a one-click checkout tool like GoKwik or Shopflo, or is Shopify's native checkout enough? 4 → How do I optimise UPI at checkout, what's the difference between UPI intent and collect, and why do my UPI payments keep failing? 4 → All 6 questions in Payment gateways, COD & checkout →
AI tools & automation for D2C 6

Put AI to work across ops, support, and content.

Which AI tool should I use to shoot clean product photos without renting a studio? 4 → How do I set up an AI support chatbot that actually resolves tickets instead of just annoying customers? 3 → Can AI actually generate ad creatives that convert, or is it just noise? 3 → How do I use AI to forecast demand so I stop either running out of stock or sitting on dead inventory? 3 → I'm one person running this brand, what's a realistic AI stack, not 50 tools I'll never open? 4 → All 6 questions in AI tools & automation for D2C →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →