"Make it look nice and make it sell" – a spec like that gets you a surprise, and hardly a pleasant one. Here is what a store spec should contain so that you and the contractor picture the result the same way.
Document structure
What you sell, to whom, your average order value, where you plan to get traffic. Three paragraphs of context save ten follow-up calls.
How many products at launch and a year later, where the data comes from (a supplier file? manual entry?), whether there are variants – sizes, colors, configurations.
Payments, delivery, promo codes, wholesale prices, multiple languages, customer account. Also list what you will need "later" – the architecture is laid down from the start.
2–3 examples of websites you like, brand colors, logo. "Like theirs, in our colors" is a perfectly workable brief.
Whether you need preparation for Google Merchant Center, an SEO structure, feeds, analytics. This is the most often "forgotten" section – and the most expensive one to add after the fact.
Deadline, interim reviews, who approves and how fast. Write down what counts as "done" – so the finish does not turn into endless revisions.
Common mistakes
"Modern design", "convenient catalog" – everyone pictures something different. An example of a specific website says more than three paragraphs of adjectives.
The other extreme: describing every button of a typical store is wasted effort. The platform functionality is already in place, so describe only the deviations from the standard.
"And later we also want wholesale and a second language" – said after launch, that means rework. Said in the spec, it means a structure built right from the start.
An honest secret: for a typical store on a platform, the contractor writes the detailed spec based on the brief. Your job is to answer the questions fully, ours is to turn the answers into a document.
A 40-minute conversation – and we prepare the technical specification ourselves, with the catalog, functionality, design references and timeline. You just review and approve it.
📝 Book a briefFree consultation. You keep the spec whatever you decide about working with us
