Stage a Strong Defense: Setting Up a Staging Store to Protect Your Shopify Business
Marina S
July 14, 2023 • 7 min read
A staging store is essential for the success of your Shopify business. It allows you to make changes and improvements to your live store, minimizing the risk of downtime and data loss. Discover the power of a staging store, learn how to set it up quickly, and unlock its full potential for your business.
What's a staging site
Shopify staging store or Shopify sandbox is a powerful tool for businesses seeking a safe environment to test changes and explore new ideas. It acts as a separate version of your live Shopify site, allowing you to make modifications, try out new features, and test various adjustments without impacting the actual store that your customers see and use.
Running an online store involves continuous growth and improvement, which often entails making changes and implementing new features. However, directly making these changes on your live store can be risky. A single staff mistake or unexpected glitch can disrupt the shopping experience for your customers, potentially leading to lost sales and a damaged reputation. This is where a Shopify staging site comes in.
Think of a staging site as a playground where you can freely experiment, fine-tune, and perfect your store before unveiling it to the world. Whether you’re adding new products, integrating third-party apps, or customizing the design, a staging store allows you to ensure that everything works seamlessly and meets your expectations.
In addition to testing individual changes, a staging store also enables Shopify website developer to assess how different modifications interact with one another. Dev Shopify team can test how a new theme design integrates with specific third-party apps or how a CSV upload affects product inventory. This comprehensive testing ensures that a store remains consistent, functional, and error-free when developers implement changes in the live environment.
In the following sections, we will delve deeper into specific scenarios where a staging store proves invaluable. We will also explore the benefits of using automated testing tools, considerations for cross-platform testing, the importance of data protection and avoiding errors, and step-by-step instructions for setting up a staging store. By understanding and implementing these practices, you can harness the full potential of a staging store and optimize your Shopify business with confidence.
In what scenarios can a staging store be useful?
One specific scenario where a staging store proves useful is when testing third-party apps. Integrating new apps and functionalities into your live store can be risky, as compatibility issues or conflicts may arise. However, by testing these apps in a staging store first, you can assess their functionality and compatibility, ensuring they seamlessly integrate with your existing setup. For example, you can experiment with apps that offer advanced product filters, customer loyalty programs, or social media integrations. Thoroughly testing these apps in a staging store allows you to confidently implement them in your live store, knowing they will enhance the user experience without any disruptions.
Customizing Shopify themes is another scenario where a staging store shines. With a staging store, you can freely explore different themes, experiment with color schemes, fonts, and layouts, and create a captivating shopping experience that aligns with your brand image. By customizing themes in a staging store, you can carefully refine the design without impacting your live store. This ensures a consistent and visually appealing experience for your customers, while avoiding unexpected glitches or layout issues.
Moreover, a staging store is an ideal environment for testing changes that involve CSV uploads. If you have a large inventory or need to make bulk updates to your products, a staging store can help you verify and validate the imported data. By testing the CSV import functionality in a staging store, you can review and ensure the accuracy of product information such as titles, descriptions, pricing, and variants. This process minimizes the risk of errors or incomplete information affecting the customer experience in your live store.
Cross-platform testing is another crucial aspect of ensuring a seamless shopping experience for your customers. It is essential to verify that your store’s design and functionality work correctly across different devices and browsers. When conducting cross-platform testing in your staging store, consider the following tips:
1. Test on various devices: Utilize a range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers, to assess how your store appears and functions on different screen sizes and resolutions. Pay attention to responsive design elements and ensure that the layout adjusts smoothly across devices.
2. Check different browsers: Test your staging store on various browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Verify that all functionalities, including navigation, product displays, and checkout processes, work seamlessly on each browser.
Consequences of not using a staging store
Neglecting to utilize a staging store can have severe consequences that can significantly impact your Shopify business. Without a staging store, you run the risk of data loss and errors in your live store, which can lead to lost sales and a damaged reputation. Making changes directly on your live store without proper testing increases the likelihood of introducing issues that negatively affect the customer experience and harm your business.
By incorporating a staging store into your workflow, you can effectively mitigate these risks and ensure a smooth and error-free transition from testing to implementation. A staging store provides a controlled environment where you can thoroughly test and validate changes before deploying them to your live store. This way, you can catch and address any potential issues, ensuring that your customers have a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience.
Remember, the goal of using a staging store is to safeguard your business and provide your customers with the best possible experience. Through diligent testing, attention to detail, and the utilization of a staging store, you can optimize your Shopify website and minimize the risk of errors or disruptions that could harm your business’s growth and reputation.
To set up a staging store on Shopify, follow these steps:
1. Sign in to your Shopify admin account and go to “Online Store” and then “Themes.”
2. To download the theme you need, click the “…” button to open the actions menu and select the “Download theme file” option. The theme file will be sent to you via email in a .zip format. Name the downloaded theme something that distinguishes it from your live store’s theme, such as “Staging Store Theme.”
3. Create a new Shopify store. You can subscribe to the Basic Shopify Plan.
4. Configure the staging store to use the downloaded theme from your main store.
5. Use a reliable backup app, like the BackupMaster app, to download your main store data archive. You can also transfer data separately using the standard Shopify tools. More info on this can be found at https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/import-export.
6. Upload all the necessary data such as products, images, categories, etc to your staging store.
7. Keep your staging store up to date with any changes you make to your live store, such as adding new products or updating your theme.
8. Configure the staging store’s settings to match your live store’s settings.
9. Use the staging store to test changes before implementing them in your live store. If you’re using any third-party apps, make sure to install them in both your live store and your staging store.
10. Test all aspects of your store, including checkout and payment processing, to ensure that everything is working correctly before implementing changes in your live store.
Conclusion
While a staging store mirrors your live store, it empowers you to test and experiment with confidence, knowing that you can easily roll back changes if necessary. This ensures the smooth operation of your live store while enabling you to make informed decisions about changes and updates.
In conclusion, a staging store serves as an invaluable asset for Shopify store owners. By testing third-party apps, customizing themes, managing data through CSV uploads, and conducting cross-platform testing, you can confidently enhance your store’s functionality, design, and user experience. Incorporating a staging store into your workflow ensures that your customers remain unaffected by any potential issues, while you have the freedom to innovate and optimize your business without disruption.