# Online store

An online store is a website where customers can choose products, pay and have them delivered or collected, without you having to be there.

Source: https://ibenta.no/en/glossary/online-store
Publisher: Ibenta (https://ibenta.no)
Updated: 2026-09-27

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An online store is more than a product catalogue with a pay button. Behind it are variants, stock, shipping, payment, receipts and returns. The more of this that has to happen automatically, the bigger the solution gets. Shopify, WooCommerce for WordPress and Wix are common choices for small shops.

## Start smaller than you think

Five handmade products and five thousand items with stock control are two completely different projects. It is tempting to buy everything at once. The smallest thing that does the job is often enough, and the store can grow over time. A fast site and a short checkout matter more for sales than a long feature list. See [page speed](/en/glossary/page-speed) and [conversion rate](/en/glossary/conversion-rate).

## Six questions that decide the solution

Before you choose a platform, you need answers to these:

- How many products do you have, and how often do they change?
- Do they have variants, such as size and colour?
- Which payment methods do customers expect, for example card, Vipps or invoice?
- How should shipping be calculated?
- Should stock be counted automatically?
- Should the store talk to your accounting system?

## Do this today

Write the answers on one sheet of paper. If most of them are "few", "no" and "fixed price", a simple solution will do. The sheet is also the first thing any supplier will ask about. How we think about it is set out in [Online store](/en/docs/online-store).