Build your online store

A store that looks real, loads fast, and takes payments and COD.

4 steps, 24 questions, laid out in the order you'll hit them

Each step is a topic with the real questions D2C founders ask; open whichever one you're stuck on for the answer and the resources on it.

1. 1
   Choosing your store platform

   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 →
2. 2
   Building & setting up your store

   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 →
3. 3
   Product pages, photography & copy

   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? 4 → Should I add video to my product page, and what kind actually moves the needle? 4 → All 6 questions in Product pages, photography & copy →
4. 4
   Payment gateways, COD & checkout

   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 →