How to plan your catalogue before you upload your first product

The most common setup mistake is opening the admin screen and starting to type. Product names get written three different ways, prices are changed halfway through, and photos are renamed after they are uploaded. An hour of planning on paper or a spreadsheet avoids all of it.

Plan in a spreadsheet first

A spreadsheet is the cheapest planning tool you have. One row per product, or per variant if sizes or colours are involved. You can sort it, spot gaps, and share it with a helper who is photographing or packing for you.

This is a planning habit, not a feature of the store. You will still enter products yourself in the admin, using your sheet as the source of truth.

Decide these things before entering anything

• Which products go live first. Start with your best sellers and a few photogenic items, not everything at once.
• Product names, written in one consistent style.
• Prices, including what you will charge for each size or colour if they differ.
• Stock per colour and size, counted physically.
• Weight and packed size, measured, not estimated. See how to record weight and dimensions.
• Which category each product lives in.

Sort out photos before descriptions

Photos take the longest and block everything else. Shoot in one session where possible so light and background match, and name each file after the SKU or product name so you never wonder which is which. A setup guide for this is in photographing products on a phone.

Write descriptions in batches

Writing twenty descriptions in one sitting keeps your tone and structure consistent. Use the same order every time: what it is, size and material, care, and who it suits. The reasoning behind that is in writing product descriptions people read.

Price with your costs in front of you

Keep your cost per unit in the sheet next to the selling price, so you can see the gap at a glance. If you are unsure how to set it, pricing your products when you are just starting walks through the thinking.

Start smaller than you think

You do not need your whole inventory live on day one. Ten to fifteen well-presented products make a stronger first impression than eighty rushed ones. Add the rest weekly. The wider timeline is in how to set up your online store in a week.

A last pass before you publish

Read the sheet top to bottom. Look for typos, duplicate names, prices that look wrong, and rows missing a photo. Fixing a cell takes seconds. Fixing a live product that customers have already seen takes much longer, and costs a little trust.