Before spending money on advertising, there’s one thing I think every online shop owner should do: test the shop like a real customer.
That’s exactly what I did with my pet-shop products.
I placed a real test order through the store and went through the entire customer journey—from payment to delivery—to see how everything worked in practice.
Delivery: A Pleasant Surprise
One of my biggest concerns was delivery time.
The supplier’s stated deadline was up to 28 business days, which is a long time to wait when you’re a customer. So naturally, I wanted to see what would actually happen with a real order.
The result was much better than expected.
For a Hungarian delivery address, the package arrived in just 13 business days.
That’s less than half of the maximum stated delivery time, which was definitely a relief.
Why Test Buying Matters
With several hundred suppliers available, there are plenty of products to choose from. But having lots of suppliers also creates a challenge: not every supplier is necessarily going to provide the same level of service.
I obviously can’t personally test every supplier for every single product in the shop. That would take an enormous amount of time and money.
But I do think handpicking a selection of suppliers and products for testing is a must.
Before putting money into advertising, I want to know that when someone places an order, the experience is going to match what they see on the website.
A great ad can bring customers to your store, but it can't fix a bad delivery experience, poor product quality, or payment problems.
What Did the Test Cover?
The test order gave me a chance to check several important parts of the customer experience.
Payment gateways: Everything worked as expected, and the payment process went smoothly.
Delivery: The package arrived well before the 28-business-day deadline—13 business days for the Hungarian delivery.
Product quality: The product looked like it did in the pictures, which is another important box to tick when working with suppliers.
Overall, the test went well, and that's exactly what I wanted to see.
Getting Customers Involved
There’s another part of the plan that I’m hoping to introduce in the future: customer reviews and supplier feedback.
Eventually, I’d like customers to have a role in helping identify which suppliers and products are worth keeping.
After all, I can test some products myself, but customers will ultimately have a much broader range of experiences. Their feedback can help us understand which suppliers consistently deliver good products and service.
There’s still some work to do here. Review integration takes time, and the review app will also add another cost to running the shop. But I think it can be a valuable investment as the store grows.
Almost There
The good news is that we're almost finished with the shop build.
There are still a few things to complete and fine-tune, but this test buy was an important milestone.
The payment system works.
The delivery arrived on time.
The product matched the pictures.
And most importantly, the real customer experience worked as expected.
Now it's just a matter of finishing the remaining pieces before we can start thinking seriously about bringing customers to the store.
One test order down. The launch is getting closer.
