Create an online store with Kopage and manage products

With the classic Kopage website builder, you can add an integrated online shop to your website and offer products directly via your site.

The shop function is particularly interesting for smaller and manageable online stores where the website and product range are to be managed within the Kopage website builder.

In this guide, we will explain how the Kopage online shop works in principle, how to create and showcase products, and which points you should check before publishing your shop.

Briefly explained: The Kopage online store is an additional feature within the classic Kopage website builder. You can use it to present products on your website and set up the store functions required for sales.

When is the Kopage online shop suitable? #

The integrated shop is particularly suitable if you already work with Kopage and want to integrate a manageable product range directly into your website.

Typical use cases could be, for example:

• Products of a small business,
• Articles of an association,
• a manageable assortment,
• regional products,
• or supplementary products to an existing website.

The advantage is that you can manage your website and shop within the same environment.

When is a specialized shop system more sensible? #

Not every online shop has the same requirements.

For an extensive product range, complex product variants, special shipping or tax requirements, extensive interfaces, or more advanced e-commerce processes, a specialized shop system may be more suitable.

The decision should therefore not depend solely on whether a shop function is technically available.

Practical Tip: Before building, consider which features your shop actually needs. For a small product catalog, the requirements can be completely different than for an extensive online business with many products, countries, and business processes.

Plan shop before setup #

Before you add products, you should plan the basic structure of your shop.

Consider, for example:

What products do I want to sell?
        ↓
How should products be organized?
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What information does each product need?
        ↓
What prices apply?
        ↓
How is the order placed?
        ↓
What payment methods are needed?
        ↓
How are products delivered or shipped?
        ↓
What legal information do I need?

This planning will save a lot of work later, especially if several products are to be created.

Add online shop in Kopage #

The online store is set up via the corresponding shop or e-commerce function of the classic Kopage website builder.

Open the designated area in the Kopage Editor and add or activate the shop function for your website.

You can then begin setting up your product offering.

Important: The exact features and available options may depend on the specific Kopage version or configuration being used. Therefore, use the settings actually offered in your Kopage shop and do not activate any payment or shipping method based on instructions for a different shop system.

Combine shop and normal website content #

A website with an online store does not consist exclusively of product pages.

You can continue to use normal Copage pages and content blocks, for example for:

Home
Company
Product Information
Contact
Manuals
Blog and News
Legal Information

The shop adds the actual e-commerce functions to this website.

We explain how to build normal content under Create content with Kopage: editing content blocks, texts, and images.

Create a new product #

Open the section for your products within the shop management and use the provided function to create a new product.

Then, collect the information required for the product.

Depending on the product and available shop configuration, this includes in particular information such as the product name, description, price, and product image.

Take a little more time for the first product. Once you have found a sensible structure, you can then use it as a basis for further products.

Use a comprehensible product name #

The product name should clearly describe what is being sold.

An internal article designation such as:

Model X-23B

may not be sufficiently understandable for visitors.

Depending on the product, a combination of product type, model, or an important feature can be more helpful.

However, avoid unnecessarily long product names that pack in all the product's features.

Write a product description #

The product description should provide the information a customer needs for their purchase decision.

Which details are important depends on the respective product.

These can be, for example:

• Purpose,
• important properties,
• Material,
• Dimensions,
• Scope of delivery,
• or other relevant product features.

Describe the actual product and avoid generic promotional texts that do not provide the customer with concrete information.

Structure product information clearly #

For more extensive product descriptions, the text should remain easy to read.

A possible structure is:

Short product description

Key features

Technical or practical details

Scope of delivery

Further relevant notes

Not every product requires all of these areas. Only use information that is actually relevant to the respective offer.

Enter product price correctly #

Check the price of a product particularly carefully.

A typo in a description is unpleasant. An incorrectly entered selling price can have much greater consequences.

Therefore, check before publishing each product whether the visible price matches your actual offer.

Important: When setting prices, also take into account the tax and legal requirements applicable to your company and target markets. The technical entry of a price in the shop does not replace a tax or legal review.

Use product images #

Good product images are particularly important in an online shop because the customer cannot physically view the product before purchasing.

Use as sharp and expressive images as possible, on which the actual product is clearly recognizable.

For multiple products, a consistent image style looks more professional than a mix of completely different formats, backgrounds, and image qualities.

You can find further information on image optimization and file management under Creating images, photo galleries, and sliders in Kopage.

Use multiple product images effectively #

If a single image does not sufficiently show important features, additional shots may be useful.

Depending on the product, for example, different perspectives, details, or the use of the product can be shown.

Avoid, however, multiple nearly identical images with no added informational value.

Practical Tip: For every product image, ask yourself what additional information the customer gains from it. If two images show practically the same thing, the better of the two is often sufficient.

Organize products logically #

As the number of products increases, a clear organization becomes more important.

If your shop offers appropriate grouping or categorization options, you should sensibly organize related products.

For example:

Clothing
├── T-Shirts
├── Sweaters
└── Jackets

Accessories
├── Bags
└── Accessories

For a shop with only five products, on the other hand, a complicated category structure is often unnecessary.

Do not create too many categories #

A product category is only helpful if it improves navigation.

If each category contains only a single product, you should check whether this subdivision is really necessary.

The structure should be based on your product range and the behavior of your customers.

Review product presentation from the customer's perspective #

After creating a product, do not just view it within the shop administration.

Open the public product view and check how a customer actually sees the offer.

Check in particular:

Is the product name correct?
Is the product description complete?
Is the price correct?
Is the product image correct?
Are important details present?
Is the ordering process clear?

Cart and checkout process #

In an online shop, the checkout process does not end on the product page.

The customer must be able to select a product and complete the intended ordering process.

Therefore, test the complete process from the product to the completion of the order.

A basic workflow typically looks like this:

Select product
↓
Add product to shopping cart
↓
Check shopping cart
↓
Collect required customer data
↓
Select available order options
↓
Complete order

Which specific steps and options are displayed depends on your shop configuration.

Test shopping cart #

Add a product to the cart yourself and check whether the product, quantity, and price are displayed correctly.

When multiple products are offered, you should also test a shopping cart with different items.

Also check whether changes to the quantity are processed as expected, provided this option is available for your product offering.

Set up payment methods carefully #

Which payment methods your Kopage shop can use and which of them make sense for your business depends on your specific shop configuration and the available payment services.

Only enable payment methods that you have actually set up and tested.

Attention: A payment option visible in the shop should not be published before you have verified whether payments can actually be processed or handled correctly with it.

Payment providers are external services #

An external payment service provider may be involved in electronic payment methods.

In this case, the technical, contractual, and, if applicable, legal requirements of the respective provider also apply.

Kopage provides the shop function, but does not automatically operate the external payment service used as a result.

Plan shipping and delivery #

If you sell physical products, you have to determine how they will reach the customer.

Take into account in particular the countries or regions to which you actually want to deliver and what costs are incurred in the process.

Check the shipping options available in your specific Kopage shop configuration and set them up to match your business model.

Do not promise a shipping method or delivery region that you cannot subsequently service reliably.

Distinguish between digital and physical products #

A physical product causes different requirements than digitally provided content.

For physical products, for example, shipping, delivery address, packaging, and delivery costs can be relevant.

For digital offerings, on the other hand, other processes may be required.

Therefore, check before setup whether the required sales and fulfillment method is supported by your specific shop configuration.

Check orders #

After an order, you must be able to trace which products were ordered and what further information is needed for processing.

Therefore, familiarize yourself with your shop's order management even before the public launch.

Do not wait until the first real customer order to test where the relevant information can be found.

Practical Tip: Before launching the shop, perform a complete test from the perspective of a customer and subsequently from the perspective of the shop owner. This allows you to check both the ordering process and the subsequent processing.

Check order information carefully #

Check the relevant details of incoming orders before you carry out a delivery or other service.

Depending on the shop and order, this can include, for example, the product, quantity, customer data, shipping information, and payment information.

Which specific details are available depends on your shop configuration and the checkout process you are using.

Test email notifications #

If your shop sends email notifications, you should also check these as part of your test order.

Check whether the expected messages actually arrive and whether the information contained within them is correct.

Check both operator and customer notifications, provided your configuration includes such messages.

Test shop on smartphone #

Many customers visit online shops via smartphone.

Therefore, test not only the home or product page, but the complete purchasing process on a smaller screen.

Check in particular:

Product overview
Product page
Product images
Prices
Buttons
Shopping cart
Forms
Ordering process

For further information on mobile display, please visit Responsive Design: Optimizing Kopage website for smartphones and tablets.

Multilingual online store #

If your CopeCart website is offered in multiple languages, you must also consider the shop content accordingly.

This can include product names, descriptions, categories, notes, and other visible shop texts.

Therefore, when making changes to a product, you should check which language versions also need to be updated.

We explain the basics at Create a multilingual website with Kopage.

Products and Search Engines #

Product content should also be described in a clear and unambiguous manner.

Use a meaningful product name and a standalone description that actually informs customers.

Avoid simply stuffing product texts with search terms.

If the shop or the relevant page provides corresponding SEO settings, you should also configure these sensibly.

You can find further basics at SEO with Kopage: Page titles, metadata, URLs, and search engine optimization.

Do not accept manufacturer texts without verification #

If you sell products from other manufacturers, product information or technical data can be helpful as a basis.

Do not adopt third-party descriptions unverified.

Check technical specifications, adapt the text to your actual offering, and observe the usage rights for texts and images.

Legal requirements of an online shop #

An online shop is subject to additional legal requirements that go beyond the technical setup in Kopage.

Which rules apply depends, among other things, on the location of your company, your customers, the products offered, and the countries supplied.

This may include, for example, information requirements, data protection, pricing, contract terms, return or cancellation policies, taxes, or product-specific regulations.

Important: The Kopage website builder provides technical shop functions. It does not automatically check whether your specific online shop meets all the legal and tax requirements of your business model.

Data protection in the online shop #

Personal data is processed during an order.

This may include, for example, name, contact information, billing or shipping information.

Depending on the payment methods or external services used, other providers may also be involved in the processing.

Consider these processes in your privacy configuration and the information applicable to your company.

Inspect products regularly #

A product should not be permanently forgotten after it has been created.

Check regularly whether the price, description, pictures, and availability are still correct.

Especially when changing prices or product features, you should check whether the corresponding information has been updated everywhere on the website.

Discontinued products #

If a product is no longer sold, you should consider how to handle it sensibly.

In the event of short-term unavailability, a corresponding label may be useful, provided your shop configuration supports this.

If a product is permanently discontinued from the assortment, you should also consider whether the previous product page is already accessible via search engines or external links.

Therefore, a published product page should not be thoughtlessly deleted.

Retest shop after changes #

After major changes to products, prices, payment methods, shipping, or other important shop settings, you should check the ordering process again.

This is especially true in the case of changes that directly affect the completion of the purchase.

An online store can look visually correct and still have a problem in the shopping cart or during checkout.

Typical mistakes when setting up an online store #

The most common problems include incomplete product descriptions, incorrect prices, unsuitable product images, and untested order processes.

Payment or shipping options should not simply be activated without checking the full process.

Another mistake is testing only the desktop view and forgetting the mobile checkout process.

Test order before shop launch #

Before you publicly promote your shop, you should run through the entire process yourself at least once.

Open product page
        ↓
Select product
        ↓
Check shopping cart
        ↓
Enter order information
        ↓
Check shipping option
        ↓
Check payment option
        ↓
Complete order
        ↓
Check confirmation
        ↓
Check shop notification
        ↓
Check order in administration

Important: An online shop is only ready for use when not only the product page looks good, but the complete process from the product to order management works.

What's next? #

After the basic setup of the shop, you should look into the additional settings needed for your specific sales process.

This includes in particular the actually available payment, ordering, and shop settings of your classic Copage version.

Which functions are available for this should be checked directly in your shop configuration.

Summary #

With the classic Kopage Website Builder, you can integrate an online store into your website and manage products.

Plan before setting up which products you want to sell and what requirements your business model places on payment, shipping, and order processing.

Create understandable product names and informative descriptions, use suitable product images, and check prices particularly carefully.

Afterward, test not only individual product pages, but the entire process—from the shopping cart to the order placement and subsequent order management.

Also consider the tax, data protection, and other legal requirements applicable to your shop.

An online store is not finished once the products are entered. The crucial thing is that the entire process, from the first product view to the processable order, functions reliably.