Getting started with Squarespace Commerce

Squarespace Commerce is a set of features for selling products and managing orders online. By connecting a payment processor, you can process credit card transactions, accept PayPal, issue refunds, and receive donations. With templates designed specifically for online commerce, you can create eye-catching arrangements of products, promote sales, and much more. For every sale you make, Squarespace collects a transaction fee, which varies by plan.

Commerce and payment processors are premium features available in Business and Commerce plans.

Tip: Register for our Launching Your Online Store webinar where we'll teach you the basics of starting your online business. You'll learn how to add products, accept payments, customize your store settings, manage orders and track your store’s analytics.

Start a trial

We offer a 14-day free trial so you can try most Commerce features before subscribing. If you haven't already, start a trial. From there, you can start building your store.

If you get started and decide you want more hands-on help, you can hire a vetted Squarespace Expert.

Check your eligibility

Before creating your store, ensure your country and currency are supported by one of our payment processors. You can connect Stripe, PayPal, or both. Click the links below to learn more.

• Does Squarespace Commerce support my country?
• Does Squarespace Commerce support my currency?

Create your store

Follow this checklist to create your store. Click the links for detailed steps:

1. Add a store page.
2. Add products individually, or import them from a .csv file or a different ecommerce platform. You can sell gift cards, and physical, digital, and service products as a single purchase or recurring subscription.
3. Create rules for shipping and taxes.
4. Connect a payment processor (Stripe, PayPal, or both).
5. Run a test order.
6. Take your store live.
7. Fulfill orders.

After your store is live, explore the sections below to learn more about customizing, marketing, and measuring the success of your online store.

Style your store page

Customize your store page to match your brand. You can change fonts and colors, and enable special features like hover effects, quick view, and more.

Customize checkout

Customize your store’s checkout experience in Checkout Settings:

• Add a custom checkout form to collect more information from customers.
• Add a newsletter subscribe option.
• Change the continue shopping button.
• Change the shopping cart style.
• Enable express checkout.
• Set a minimum order amount.

Customize customer email notifications

Your customers receive automated transactional emails confirming their purchase or refund, and alerting them if there's an issue processing their payment. Customize these emails in the Customer notifications panel.

Market your products

Use Squarespace's marketing tools to draw customers in and encourage purchasing.

• Create discounts or offer sale prices, and promote deals with an announcement bar.
• Connect your site to social media platforms like Facebook and Pinterest.
• Go through our SEO checklist to optimize your site for search engines.
• If you're on the Commerce Advanced plan, you can use Abandoned Checkout Recovery to follow up with customers who didn't complete checkout.
• Use product merchandising tools like Related Products and Limited Availability Labels.
• View and manage customers in the Profiles panel.
• Build a mailing list of your customers and send email campaigns about new products and sales.

Measure results

Use Squarespace analytics to get a clear picture of visitor behavior and revenue. Advanced commerce analytics, like sales by product and purchase funnel analytics, are available for the Commerce Basic and Advanced plans.

Sell in person with point of sale

If you sell products at markets or craft fairs, use our integration with Square to take in-person cash or card payments that integrate with your online store. Using the iOS Squarespace app with a supported Square Reader, sales you make in person will update your online store’s inventory, display in the Orders panel, and factor into your sales analytics. To learn more, visit Selling in person with Squarespace point of sale.

Enhance your store

You can save time and streamline key tasks by connecting Squarespace Extensions to your store. Our extensions can help with your:

• Finances - bookkeeping, tax compliance, financial reports
• Inventory and products - drop shipping, inventory management, print-on-demand, selling wholesale
• Sales and marketing - PPC ads, SEO optimization, SMS promotions, social media marketing tools
• Shipping and fulfillment - branded tracking, discounted shipping rates, order fulfillment

While we work with third-party services to ensure Squarespace Extensions work properly, extensions fall outside our scope of support. We can help with connecting or disconnecting your extensions. For all other questions, contact the extension provider directly.

More help

In addition to our guides, we offer other resources to help you make the most of Squarespace Commerce:

• Get to know the Commerce platform by watching our Introducing Commerce Video Series.
• Visit our Commerce FAQ for common questions.
• Get advice from the community in the Squarespace Forum.
• Learn more about boosting sales by visiting Increasing your store's sales.
• Hire a Squarespace Expert to help build your online store.