Launching an eCommerce business isn’t about going live—it’s about getting it right. The most successful launches aren’t led by developers, designers, or even marketers alone. They’re led by operators who understand that a great digital experience is worthless if it sits on a weak commercial foundation.
We’ve launched, enhanced, and overhauled eCommerce operations at businesses of all time. Here’s the playbook we have developed over time based on our firsthand experiences. In this post, I’ll walk you through the full 100-day eCommerce launch roadmap, starting with the most critical and often overlooked part: commercial readiness.
PHASE 0 – COMMERCIAL READINESS for Launching eCommerce
[T–90 to T–31 Days Before Launch]
Before any design, development, or platform decision is made, the most critical phase of an eCommerce launch must happen behind the scenes. Phase 0 is where success is made or lost — and too many companies skip it altogether. If your merchandising, inventory, customer service, and operations aren’t commercially ready, no amount of digital polish will save your launch.
A. Merchandising Strategy for Launching eCommerce
- Define which styles and SKUs will be sold online—and why
- Conduct demand planning across existing and expected customer segments
- Align pricing and margin strategy across channels
- Prepare digital merchandising assets (photography, SEO copy, categorization)
- Identify and activate drop-ship vendors for extended inventory and faster shipping
B. Inventory Planning for DTC and Marketplace Sales
- Secure vendor inventory commitments aligned to forecast
- Build SKU-level inventory models for each digital channel
- Define stock allocation rules across DTC and marketplace platforms
- Complete dropshipping integration testing (EDI, tracking, returns workflows)Define which styles and SKUs will be sold online—and why
C. Customer Service Preparedness for Launching eCommerce
- Define which styles and SKUs wTrain reps on DTC expectations—2-day shipping vs 2-week B2B norms
- Launch new response protocols for returns, exchanges, and escalations
- Forecast case volume and augment staffing where needed
- Implement CRM, chat, and ticketing tools
D. Fulfillment & Operations Execution
- Update SOPs for B2C fulfillment, separate from B2B flow
- Design dedicated eCommerce lanes, picking stations, and pack zones
- Conduct test runs for order processing, labeling, carrier integration
- Audit post-purchase experience—email confirmations, tracking links, etc.
E. Cross-Functional Alignment for Launching eCommerce
- Ensure collaboration across sales, ops, customer service, marketing, and finance
- Assign clear ownership for each stream with weekly cross-functional huddles
- Share a single project plan and internal launch dashboard with exec sponsors
✅ Go/No-Go Checkpoint: T–45 Days
Before moving into Phase 1:
- Merchandising and inventory plans are complete and loaded
- Dropshipping flows are tested
- Fulfillment runs successfully simulate peak loads
- Customer service is trained and platforms are live
- Every business function signs off on readiness
Phase 1: Digital Readiness for launching eCommerce
[T–30 to T–1 Days Before Launch]
Now that commercial functions are greenlit, the focus shifts to technical and user experience readiness.
Key Digital Experience Readiness Activities for Launching eCommerce Channel
- Audit product catalog ingestion (descriptions, attributes, availability)
- Finalize homepage, navigation, and category UX
- Complete site integrations: ERP, WMS, payment gateway, email/SMS tools
- Load branded search, remarketing, and initial media plan
- QA every journey: cart, checkout, returns, mobile responsiveness
- Confirm analytics tagging and dashboards are firing across pages
- Develop a very detailed cut-over plan. Read this blog to understand how detailed it must be.
✅ Go/No-Go Checkpoint: T–15 Days
You’re ready to launch when:
- All items in your detailed cut-over plan are on track at this check point
- Product catalog is fully QA’d and live
- Site integrations are stable and tested
- First campaigns are built and audiences uploaded
- Customer journeys are consistent across web, mobile, and email
- Final stakeholder sign-off is completed across marketing, ops, and tech
Phase 2: Minimum Lovable Product FOR LaunchING eCommerce Channel
[T to T+30 Days After Launch]
This is the most public phase, but it only succeeds if the prior work is flawless. You don’t need perfection—you need a Minimum Lovable Product (MLP).
Key MLP Launch Activities
- Launch with best-converting SKUs first (based on margin, ops readiness, and customer fit)
- Monitor conversion rate, bounce rate, AOV daily
- Kick off first A/B tests for homepage, PDP, and checkout
- Begin customer data capture via reviews, surveys, post-purchase emails
- Monitor fulfillment SLAs, CSAT scores, and returns metrics
✅ Go/No-Go Checkpoint: T+15 Days
Before scaling investment:
- ROAS on first campaigns is meeting thresholds
- CSAT scores and support responsiveness meet DTC standards
- Conversion bottlenecks are identified and prioritized for testing
- Fulfillment metrics are stable under real volume
Phase 3: SIGNAL BASED OPTIMIZATION
[T+31 to T+100 Days After Launch]
At this point, it’s no longer about launch—it’s about building a performance engine.
What To Focus On
- Expand SKU range based on sell-through and reviews
- Optimize site speed, search, and mobile UX using real-time data
- Launch full-funnel retargeting and lookalike campaigns
- Segment audiences and personalize messaging across lifecycle
- Advance analytics from performance monitoring to LTV modeling
✅ Go/No-Go Checkpoint: T+45 Days
To greenlight investments:
- Marketplace expansion (e.g. Amazon, Walmart) is operationally ready
- CRO roadmap is validated by A/B data
- Top and bottom funnel efforts are contributing measurable pipeline
- Inventory and CS can support 2x–3x scale without rework
What Most Companies Miss
- They underfund Phase 0, jumping straight to tech
- May treat marketing and merchandising as secondary to “launching the site”
- Wait too long to test UX and campaigns
- They lack accountability and ownership at each milestone
What We Do Differently
- Commercial-first roadmap with cross-functional readiness
- Phase-based checkpoints that protect spend and reduce launch risk
- Tactical support across martech, analytics, fulfillment, and CX
- Repeatable governance structure and a playbook for long-term scale
We don’t just help you launch—we help you build a system that converts.
Launching an eCommerce channel isn’t a project—it’s a performance system. And the first 100 days are your pressure test.