Guide

What do you need for an online shop? The requirements

Before an online shop even makes sense, a few things need to be in place in the business. What they are — and which supposed requirements actually aren't.

Request assessment ↗Online shop

Quote on request6 to 12 weeksAs of 2026

In short

For an online shop, a business needs three things: a specifically named process that currently costs time or orders, existing content or data to work with, and a person who is authorized to make decisions. Technical expertise is explicitly not one of them.

01 — Requirements

What you need for an online shop

A clearly defined trigger. Not “we should do something with AI,” but a process that demonstrably costs time or orders today.
Existing content or data. An online shop works with what's there. The more complete the starting position, the shorter the setup.
Access to the systems involved. Whoever manages the credentials needs to be involved from the start — this is, in our experience, the most common cause of delays.
One decision-making contact person. One, not three.
Willingness to refine after launch. The first weeks in real operation show what was missing in the concept. That's normal and accounted for.

02 — Participation

What we need from you

A contact person who can make decisions — not just forward them.
Access to the affected systems, in time and not on launch day.
Real examples from daily business — the messier, the more useful for testing.
Two to four hours for coordination, distributed over the project duration.
An answer to the question of what success means. Without it, nothing can be assessed afterward.

03 — Fit

When it's worth it

The process in question occurs at least weekly.
It follows rules you can write down — even if there are exceptions.
Today it's manual work that no one enjoys doing.
There's one person who decides, not three who need to coordinate.
You can name what would tell you it worked.

04 — Questions

Frequently asked questions

Does our shop need to be accessible?

Yes, very likely. Online shops in consumer business are explicitly listed in the Austrian Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (Accessibility Act), which has been in effect since June 28, 2025. The exemption for micro-enterprises applies to services, not to product sales. Violations can be penalized with administrative fines up to 80,000 euros.

Can we sell internationally?

Yes, that's a matter of setup, not platform: languages, currencies, shipping zones and tax rates per target country need to be configured properly — we plan that in from the start if desired.

What about returns?

The cancellation policy and the technical process for returns are part of the legally compliant basic setup. How you handle returns in practice remains your decision — we implement what you define.

How many products are still manageable without expensive additional systems?

Up to a few hundred products, the standard features of common platforms are perfectly sufficient. Only with several thousand products with complex variants is it worth looking at specialized inventory management.

What does ongoing operation cost?

Platform fees, payment providers, hosting and maintenance are ongoing costs, even before the first order comes in. How much that is in each case depends on the chosen platform and the product range — we calculate this transparently in the quote so there are no surprises.

Shopify, WooCommerce or something else?

Shopify if you want to start quickly and can live with the ongoing fees. WooCommerce if you already run WordPress and have someone who does updates. With complex inventory management, it's worth looking at specialized systems. There's no answer that's right for everyone.

How does VAT work for EU shipping?

Above the threshold, tax is paid in the destination country, usually through the One-Stop-Shop procedure. The store must calculate tax rates correctly for each country — this is set up during setup and isn't a detail you patch afterward.

05 — Next

Online shop by region

Next step

Initial assessment, no obligation.

Briefly describe what you need. You'll get an honest answer about what's realistic and what it will roughly cost.

Send inquiry ↗ office@pipeline-solutions.at OR +43 681 207 64 203