Create an online store: step by step to a store that sells.

01Before you start: business setup, VAT and numbers

Switzerland

commercial register and VAT from 100,000 francs

Germany

register your trade, check small business rules

Professional

fiduciary or tax adviser

Before you choose a platform, answer three questions. What are you selling, and to whom? What is left after purchasing, shipping and fees? And how do you register the store? Your business model answers the first two, the law answers the third.

Switzerland. A sole proprietorship must register in the commercial register once it has generated turnover of at least 100,000 francs in the last financial year. Below that, registration is voluntary (Art. 931 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, OR) [6]. VAT has a similar threshold: businesses with annual turnover from taxable supplies below 100,000 francs, in Switzerland and abroad together, are exempt. The standard rate is 8.1% (Art. 10 and 25 of the Swiss VAT Act, MWSTG) [3].

Germany. Anyone starting a trade must notify the competent authority at the same time (section 14 of the German Trade Regulation Act, GewO) [7]. Under the small business rule, turnover stays VAT-free if it did not exceed EUR 25,000 in the previous year and does not exceed EUR 100,000 in the current year (section 19 of the German VAT Act, UStG) [8].

If a store in Germany ships to Switzerland, there is a separate threshold. Anyone who generates at least 100,000 francs a year with small consignments on which no import tax is levied has the place of supply deemed to be in Switzerland (Art. 7(3)(b) MWSTG) [3]. Swiss VAT then becomes relevant. Clarify legal form, taxes and accounting with a fiduciary or tax adviser.

02Choosing a platform: Shopify, Shopware or WooCommerce

Hosted

Shopify, hosting in the subscription

Self-run

Shopware, WooCommerce

Deciding factor

who handles the technology

The first big decision is who handles the technology. With Shopify, hosting is included in the subscription, so you do not need to buy it separately [1]. Shopware Community Edition and WooCommerce cost nothing as software. You organise hosting, updates and extensions yourself or with a service provider [9][10].

For brands that sell to consumers and have no in-house tech team, a hosted platform usually fits. When Shopware is the better choice, for example for B2B with customer-specific prices and approvals, is covered in our comparison of the two platforms for consumers and B2B. If you already know WordPress, the comparison with WordPress and WooCommerce sets out the cost blocks and the update workload.

There are also website builders with store features, which can be enough for a few products. If you plan to grow, check first how easily products, customers and orders can be exported again.

03What an online store costs each month

Plan

Basic CHF 29 or EUR 27 a month

Per payment

from 2.95% + CHF 0.30 or 1.9% + EUR 0.25

On top

apps, theme, domain

The running costs of a store have three parts: the plan, the fees per payment and extras such as apps, theme and domain. On Shopify, the Basic plan costs CHF 29 a month in Switzerland, or CHF 21 a month when paid annually. In Germany it is EUR 27 or EUR 19 [1][2]. To start, you get 3 days free, then 3 months for CHF 1 or EUR 1 a month [1][2]. Only the Agentic plan has no monthly fee. It is meant for selling in AI channels, and Shopify does not list an online store under this plan [1].

With Shopify Payments on the Basic plan, you pay 2.95% plus CHF 0.30 per online card payment in Switzerland and 1.9% plus EUR 0.25 in Germany. If you use an external payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an extra 2% on Basic [1][2].

What an agency build costs depends on the scope. We do not give a range without a public source. A full calculation with all plans, fees and two examples is in our overview of Shopify plans and fees. Prices change, so check them on the pricing page before you start.

04Payments, prices and shipping in Switzerland

TWINT

via Shopify Payments, 1.75% + CHF 0.30

Prices

in francs, surcharges included

Shipping

may be shown separately

You can offer TWINT to customers in Switzerland. Shopify lists TWINT as a local payment method in Shopify Payments [4]. On the Basic plan, a TWINT payment costs 1.75% plus CHF 0.30. Other payment methods have their own fees, Klarna for example 2.99% plus CHF 0.35 [1].

According to Shopify, local payment methods such as TWINT require Shopify Payments [1]. You turn on TWINT in the Shopify admin in the payment settings. Since May 2026, TWINT has also been available there for stores based in more countries, such as Austria and Italy [4]. Whether TWINT is available for your store is shown in these settings.

Prices fall under the Swiss Price Indication Ordinance (PBV). Consumers see the price actually payable in francs, and surcharges that cannot be chosen freely are included. Shipping costs may be shown separately [11]. According to SECO’s SME portal, the price must be easy to read right next to the product and must not appear only after scrolling or clicking [12].

Before launch, decide what shipping and returns cost and who pays for them, and put this on a dedicated page that can be reached from every product page. Stores in Germany that ship to Switzerland should keep the VAT threshold from the first step in mind. Prices in several currencies are covered in the section on languages and countries below.

05Legal requirements: legal notice, privacy and withdrawal

Switzerland

Art. 3(1)(s) Swiss UWG

Germany

withdrawal button, order button

Note

not legal advice

A store in Switzerland must meet four requirements: clear information on identity and contact address including email, information on the technical steps to a contract, means to correct input errors before ordering, and an electronic order confirmation without delay [12]. According to SECO’s SME portal, the legal notice states the company name as entered in the commercial register, the postal address and the email address. A phone number is recommended, and a contact form alone is not enough [12]. In Switzerland there is no statutory right of withdrawal for online purchases [12]. If you also sell from Switzerland to customers in the EU, the GDPR can apply as well. The Swiss data protection authority (FDPIC) gives the example of a Swiss online store selling to people in several EU countries [13].

In Germany, further duties apply. Consumers can generally withdraw within 14 days of receiving the goods [12]. Since 19 June 2026, a store needs a clearly visible button labelled “Vertrag widerrufen” (withdraw from contract) for this [14][15]. According to the European Consumer Centre Germany, this also applies to foreign stores if German law applies, which is generally the case when they target their offer at Germany [15]. The order button must say “zahlungspflichtig bestellen” (order with obligation to pay) or something equally clear (section 312j BGB) [16]. The German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) also generally applies to e-commerce services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025 [17]. Who is affected and which exceptions apply is covered in the guide to accessibility in online stores.

All requirements for the legal notice, privacy policy, cookies and images, separated by country, are in our overview of the legal details a website needs in both countries. If in doubt, have your terms and privacy policy checked by a qualified professional.

06Languages and countries: one store for all of Switzerland

German

61% main language

French

23%

Italian

8%

If you want to sell across Switzerland, German alone is not enough. In 2024, 61% of the population named German as their main language, 23% French and 8% Italian [18]. With French, a store from German-speaking Switzerland reaches the next largest part of the country.

Google recommends using a separate URL for each language version of a page instead of switching the language via cookies or browser settings [19]. Prices in the right currency come on top, which in Switzerland means francs. Shopify only shows prices in local currencies with Shopify Payments [1]. Think about everything after the purchase too: someone who orders in French expects the confirmation, shipping email and invoice in French as well.

How to set up languages, markets and currencies in Shopify and what Google needs to see is covered in our guide to a store in several languages and countries.

07Already have a store? Switching without losses on Google

Redirect

301 or 308 for each old URL

Duration

at least one year

Example

215 redirects at ZinCuTec

If you already have a store, the new store is a migration. The key point is that every old URL points to the matching new one. Google recommends permanent server-side redirects such as 301 or 308 and advises keeping them as long as possible, generally for at least one year [20].

Three more points from Google’s guide: do not redirect large numbers of old URLs to the home page, as this can be treated as a soft 404 error. Google recommends moving small and medium-sized sites all at once. And expect rankings to fluctuate. For medium-sized sites, Google says it can take a few weeks or more until the new URLs show up [20].

From our work. The old store of ZinCuTec, a metal furniture maker from Nürtingen, Germany, ran on WooCommerce. When moving to Shopify, we redirected 215 old links so that nothing was lost on Google. Today the store runs in five languages (ZinCuTec case study).

The individual steps, from the inventory to the weeks after launch, are in our checklist for switching platforms. At nalu, Szymon and Manu handle the migration to Shopify.

08Getting found: Google and AI search

Structure

menu, categories, products linked

Search box

not used by Googlebot

AI search

no special files needed

Google finds your products through links. Google recommends linking from the menu to categories, from there to subcategories and then to the products. Products that can only be reached through the search box will not be found that way, because Googlebot generally does not use search boxes when crawling [21].

Nothing special applies to the AI features in Google Search either. Google’s only requirement is that a page is indexed and may appear with a snippet, and it does not ask for AI text files or special markup [22].

Give every category its own page title and a short text saying what can be found there. Write product descriptions yourself, answering the questions your customers ask before buying.

Which titles, texts and settings you maintain yourself in Shopify is covered in our guide to how Google finds your store. How brands show up in ChatGPT and other answers is explained in the guide to visibility in AI answers.

09Turning visitors into buyers: checkout and trust

Abandonment

70.22% of carts

Top reason

extra costs, 40% (excl. browsing)

Lever

show costs early

Around seven in ten shopping carts end without a purchase. The Baymard Institute arrives at an average of 70.22% across 50 studies [5]. Leaving out people who were just browsing, respondents in the US most often name extra costs such as shipping, taxes and fees that are too high (40%), slow delivery (20%) and not trusting the site with card details (19%). 18% abandoned because the site wanted them to create an account [5].

That points to the first levers: show shipping costs early, allow guest checkout and offer payment methods your customers know. In Switzerland, that includes prices in francs with all surcharges, as described in the section on payments.

Before launch, test the whole journey yourself: a real order with every payment method, then the refund, plus order confirmation and shipping email on phone and desktop. That way you see what your customers see.

How to find the point in Shopify where buyers drop off is covered in our guide on why visitors don’t buy. Anyone who has already left an email address can be brought back with reminders for abandoned carts.

10Keeping customers: email and automated flows

First

welcome and cart

Revenue

nearly 41% from flows

Email at nalu

Szymon

A store lives on the second purchase, and email is a direct way to get it, because the list belongs to you. In Klaviyo’s 2026 report, automated flows bring in nearly 41% of email revenue while making up only 5.3% of emails [23]. Klaviyo recommends launching welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase and winback first [24]. In Switzerland and Germany, marketing emails generally need prior consent. Without it, you may only email customers after a purchase about your own similar products, with a note on how to unsubscribe [25][26].

Law, technology and costs are covered in our basics of email for stores in Switzerland and Germany. How the flows are built is shown in the guides to the automated flows to launch first and to welcoming new subscribers. Which tool fits is answered by our comparison of email tools for stores. At nalu, Szymon runs email marketing for Shopify brands.

Honest limits. This guide does not replace tax or legal advice. Prices come from the providers, as of 14.11.2026, and they change. You can set up a small store with few products and one language on Shopify yourself. Help is worth it for a migration, several languages, a custom theme or many flows. At nalu, Szymon and Manu build Shopify stores.