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This article also mentions Nalu Web Agency, which I have worked with for over 8 years. I know their work closely, which is why I mention them: bear that in mind when reading the comparison.
Before you start: the questions that decide everything
Opening an online store without answering a few fundamental questions is like opening a physical shop without knowing where to open it, what to sell or who to sell to. The pre-launch decisions are the most important — and the hardest to correct later.
What are you selling, and to whom?
A precise definition of the product and the target customer isn't a theoretical exercise — it determines the platform you'll choose, the marketing strategy, the acquisition channels and the logistics set-up. An online store selling handmade products to a niche audience has completely different needs from one reselling branded products in competitive categories. Be specific: not "natural products" but "organic face creams for adult sensitive skin, €20–60 price range, women aged 35–55".
Your own products or dropshipping?
With your own products (direct production, buying from suppliers or handmade goods) you control quality and margins, but you handle stock physically. With dropshipping you sell third-party products that are shipped directly to the customer — zero stock, but very low margins (often 5–20%), dependence on the supplier's timescales and difficulty standing out in categories where everyone sells the same products from the same suppliers. Dropshipping is less easy than it's made out to be online: markets are saturated and the margins make it hard to invest in effective marketing.
Do you already have verified market demand?
Validating the idea before building the online store avoids investing months and money in a project that finds no market. Validation methods: keyword analysis (search volume for the products you sell), analysis of existing competitors (if competitors are getting traffic, the market exists), and pre-orders or sales on existing marketplaces (Amazon, Etsy, eBay) before opening your own site.
Choosing the right e-commerce platform
The platform is the technological foundation the shop runs on. Changing it after launch is expensive and complicated — it's worth choosing well from the start based on your real needs, not on the "most famous" platform.
WooCommerce: maximum flexibility on WordPress
WooCommerce is the world's most widespread e-commerce plugin — it powers about 26% of online shops globally. Advantages: fully customisable, thousands of plugins and extensions, total control over data and codebase, excellent for SEO. Disadvantages: it requires technical management (hosting, security, updates), performance can degrade with large catalogues if it isn't optimised, and the costs of professional plugins add up. WooCommerce is the right choice if you want maximum control and have a professional to manage the technical side.
Shopify: the easiest to get started with
Shopify is the hosted platform that made building an online store accessible even without technical skills. Advantages: fast set-up (2–3 days for a basic shop), managed hosting and security, an excellent app store and native integrations with all the main marketplaces. Disadvantages: a monthly fee (from $29 to $299/month plus transaction fees), limited customisation compared with WooCommerce, and data hosted on Shopify's servers (not yours). Shopify is ideal for anyone who wants to start selling straight away with minimal technical friction.
PrestaShop and Magento: for complex catalogues
PrestaShop is open source like WordPress and suited to medium-to-large catalogues with custom requirements. Magento/Adobe Commerce is the enterprise platform for online stores with tens of thousands of products and very advanced customisation requirements — it needs specialised developers and significant budgets. For the vast majority of new online stores, WooCommerce or Shopify cover every need.
- You want maximum control over design and features
- You have (or have access to) WordPress technical skills
- SEO is a central acquisition channel
- You want to avoid transaction fees
- You want to launch quickly without handling the technical side
- You have a relatively simple catalogue
- Marketplaces (Instagram, TikTok Shop) are important channels
- You prefer a fixed monthly cost to technical management
Legal requirements: what you need before you sell
Selling online in Italy without meeting the legal requirements isn't just a risk of penalties — it's a vulnerability that can halt the business at any moment. The obligations are clear and not particularly complex to handle.
VAT number and tax regime
Selling online on an ongoing basis requires a VAT number (Partita IVA). The flat-rate scheme (revenue limit of €85,000/year for 2024, with a 15% flat tax reduced to 5% for the first 5 years of activity) is the simplest choice for those starting out. The ATECO code for online retail is 47.91.10. Before opening, talk to an accountant to choose the regime best suited to your specific situation — personal variables (other income, social security) make a difference.
Mandatory legal documents for online stores
An Italian online store must have: general terms and conditions of sale (the contract with the customer: prices, payment methods, delivery times, right of withdrawal), a privacy policy (mandatory under the GDPR, detailing how users' data is processed), a cookie policy with a GDPR-compliant consent banner, information on the right of withdrawal (14 days to return goods without giving a reason for online B2C sales) and clear details of the seller (company name, VAT number, address). Missing these documents exposes you to penalties from the Italian competition authority (AGCM) and customer complaints.
GDPR and data processing
An online store collects personal data with every order: name, address, email, payment details. The GDPR requires you to collect only the data you need, store it securely, have a legal basis for processing it and let users access, change or delete their data. Appointing a DPO (Data Protection Officer) is only mandatory for companies that process data on a large scale — for most small online stores, a complete privacy policy and adequate internal procedures are enough.
Payments: setting up secure, complete gateways
The payment system is one of an online store's critical conversion points. A user who decides to buy but finds a payment process that's complicated, slow or doesn't support their preferred method abandons the cart — the average abandonment rate is 70%.
The payment methods to offer
In Italy, the most widely used payment methods in online stores are:
Stripe and PayPal: the most widely used gateways
Stripe is the most flexible and modern gateway — simple integration, excellent UX, support for all the main payment methods and fees of 1.5% + €0.25 per transaction (European cards). PayPal is less flexible but has the trust of millions of users — fees of 3.4% + €0.35, but some groups of users won't buy without PayPal. Offering both covers 90%+ of Italian users' preferences.
Logistics and shipping: the factor that makes the difference
Logistics is the least glamorous part of e-commerce but the one with the greatest impact on customer satisfaction and operating costs. A negative shipping experience (long delays, poor packaging, no tracking) destroys the reputation built through marketing.
Couriers: how to choose and negotiate
The main couriers for e-commerce in Italy are DHL, GLS, BRT, SDA (Poste Italiane) and TNT. Standard prices for parcels up to 5kg range from €5 to €12 — but with volumes of 50+ shipments a month you can negotiate significantly better rates. Platforms such as Packlink and SendCloud aggregate several couriers and let you choose the cheapest for each shipment, with integrated tracking.
Delivery times: managing expectations
Amazon has got users used to delivery in 24–48 hours. You don't necessarily have to compete on that — but you do have to communicate delivery times clearly before checkout and stick to them. A handmade-goods store with 5–7 days of production time can sell well if it's transparent about it. What doesn't work is promising 2–3 days and delivering in 10.
SEO for online stores: long-term organic traffic
SEO is the acquisition channel with the highest long-term ROI for online stores — organic traffic has no variable cost per click like advertising. But it takes time (6–12 months to see significant results) and systematic work on content and technical optimisation.
The SEO structure of an online store
The pages to optimise, in order of priority: category pages (optimised for generic keywords: "men's running shoes"), product pages (optimised for specific keywords: "Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 40 blue size 10") and the blog/content (guides and tutorials that capture informational keywords related to your sector). Every page needs a unique title tag and meta description, readable URLs, optimised images with alt text and descriptive text that isn't duplicated from other online stores or the supplier.
The duplicate content problem in online stores
One of the most common SEO mistakes in online stores is copying product descriptions from the supplier. Every other retailer has the same text — Google doesn't know which page to prefer and splits the authority between them all, penalising each one. Writing original descriptions for every product is a significant investment, but it produces an SEO competitive advantage that's hard to replicate.
An online store that works needs the right technical architecture from day one. Marco Bagiacchi develops WooCommerce online stores with built-in SEO and conversion optimisation. For a bigger project that includes strategy, development and integrated digital growth, Nalu Web Agency is the complete solution for anyone who wants to build a serious online shop.
The real costs of opening an online store
Transparency about costs is rare in this sector — people often talk about "a few euros a month" while ignoring all the extra costs. Here's an honest picture.
Start-up costs
DIY with Shopify: $29/month (basic plan) + domain €15/year + any apps ($10–50/month) = €400–700 in the first year. DIY WooCommerce: hosting €5–10/month + domain €15/year + premium theme €50–80 + the WooCommerce plugins you need (€50–150) = €200–400 in the first year, but with a significant cost in set-up hours. An online store built by a professional: €2,000–6,000 for a complete project (development + configuration + launch), with ongoing hosting and maintenance costs of €50–150/month.
The hidden costs people overlook
Professional product photography (essential for conversions): €300–1,000 for a starting catalogue. Product page copy, if you don't write it yourself. Traffic acquisition costs: a new online store without established SEO depends on paid advertising (Google Ads, Meta Ads) to bring in visitors — a realistic minimum budget is €300–500/month to get meaningful data. Packaging and shipping materials. Order management software if volumes grow.
An online store's success isn't decided on launch day — it's decided in the weeks of preparation leading up to it. Those who start with clarity about product, customer and acquisition channels have an advantage that's hard to make up later.
Common mistakes when opening an online store
Email marketing: the most profitable channel for repeat business
Email marketing is the channel with the highest ROI in e-commerce — on average €36–42 for every euro invested, according to Klaviyo data. Unlike advertising traffic (which stops the moment you stop paying) or SEO (which takes months), the email list is a direct asset: you can reach your customers at any time without depending on algorithms or variable costs per click.
How to build your email list from the start
You build an email list by offering something of value in exchange for the address:
The emails to automate straight away
The email automations with the highest ROI to set up before launch: welcome (sent right after sign-up — introduces the brand, delivers the promised discount and presents the best-selling products), abandoned cart (sent 1–3 hours after the cart is abandoned — recovers 5–15% of lost orders) and post-purchase (sent after delivery — asks for a review, suggests related products and invites the customer to follow you on social media). These three automated sequences, set up once, generate ongoing revenue with no manual work.
Product pages that convert: the work that makes the difference
The product page is an online store's main conversion page. A user who reaches the product page has already shown interest — what they see on that page decides whether they buy or leave. Investing in product pages has a direct, measurable impact on the conversion rate.
Product photos: the most critical element
Research shows that 75% of users base their purchase decision mainly on product photos. Photos should show the product from several angles (front, back, details), in a real context of use (not just on a white background), with close-ups of the relevant details (texture, materials, seams) and with a sense of scale when size matters. For products with variants (colours, sizes), each variant should have its own photos. A professional photographer for the initial catalogue is one of the highest-ROI investments in an online store.
Product descriptions: don't copy, don't summarise
The product description should answer the questions customers would have if they were in a physical shop: what it's made of, how it's used, who it's ideal for, what makes it different from the alternatives and what problems it solves. Avoid the generic descriptions found on every site — "high-quality product, premium materials" says nothing. Be specific: named materials, precise measurements, concrete use cases. Original descriptions also have direct SEO value: they're the only text that differentiates your product page from every other retailer selling the same item.
If you want to apply this to your own project, take a look at my e-commerce development service: clear prices from €750, a free quote and a reply within 24 hours.
