Review Your Store
Before you launch, walk the storefront end to end. This page groups the pages you get out of the box by shopper journey, tells you what to check on each, and lists the features that are switched off by default so you don't go hunting for something that isn't meant to be there yet.
Browse
| Page | What to check |
|---|---|
| Home | Loads without error, header and footer show your branding, navigation menu is populated |
| Category landing | Subcategories and category imagery appear |
| Product listing | Products, prices and images render; facets and filters narrow results; sorting works (relevance, name, best selling, top rated, newest) |
| Product detail | Image gallery and zoom, price and any sale price, availability, variant and option selection, add to cart |
Search
| Page | What to check |
|---|---|
| Type-ahead | Suggestions appear as you type in the search box |
| Search results | Results are relevant, facets narrow them, an empty search shows a sensible message |
Voice search is enabled by default, so you'll see a microphone in the search box on supported browsers. If you've added Evolve Image Search, you'll also see a camera icon for visual search.
Buy
| Step | What to check |
|---|---|
| Cart | Line items, quantities, totals; updating a quantity and removing a line both work |
| Checkout | Selecting checkout hands the shopper to BigCommerce's hosted checkout |
| Order confirmation | After paying, BigCommerce confirms the order on its own pages. Check that page carries your branding |
Checkout runs on BigCommerce, so payment methods, taxes and shipping rates come from your BigCommerce settings and promo codes are entered there. See Shopper Accounts & Checkout for what that means in practice.
Place at least one real test order before launch. It's the only way to confirm the whole path: cart, hosted checkout, payment, the confirmation email arriving, and the order appearing both in your BigCommerce admin and in order history on your storefront.
Account
| Page | What to check |
|---|---|
| Register | A new shopper can create an account |
| Sign in | An existing customer can sign in |
| Forgot / reset password | The email arrives and the reset link works |
| Account home | Loads for a signed-in shopper |
| Address book | Adding, editing and removing an address |
| Order history | Past orders list, and an order detail page opens |
| Wishlist | Adding a product, and viewing the list |
If your BigCommerce store already has customers, they must be granted access to your Evolve channel before they can sign in. See Shopper Accounts & Checkout.
Things you won't find on your storefront
A few things are deliberately absent, so nothing here is broken if you go looking for it.
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Brands in the header | Off by default. You can switch it on |
| Promo code field in the cart | Not used. Shoppers enter discount codes at BigCommerce checkout |
| Shipping options, in-store pickup, multi-address shipping, saved checkout profiles | Handled by BigCommerce checkout rather than by your storefront |
| An order confirmation page on your storefront | The confirmation is shown by BigCommerce. Brand it there. Your storefront picks the order up again in order history |
See Settings Reference for every setting with its default, and Store Settings for how to change one.
If your store needs something your storefront doesn't do today, talk to us. A good deal of it can be built for you as an advanced customization.
Pre-launch checklist
- Catalog loads: categories, products, prices, images, search
- Catalog and customers are assigned to your Evolve channel
- A test order completes end to end and appears in BigCommerce
- Your branding is applied: logo, colors, favicon
- Policy, about and contact pages are published as BigCommerce web pages
- Your channel's primary site URL points at the address you're launching on
- Your custom domain is live over HTTPS, if you're using one
- Google Tag Manager is firing, if you're using analytics
- Storefront API token expiry is noted and reminder(s) set to renew as needed
Next Steps
Next Steps — where to go once your store is live.