Launching an online shop in Lithuania: a practical checklist
Most of the shops we build are for small and mid-sized companies selling to the Baltics first and the rest of the EU second. The platform matters less than people think. The integrations and the details below are what decide whether the first month goes smoothly.
1. Payments
Local buyers expect bank-link payments and card payments in one checkout. We usually connect one of the regional payment initiation providers for bank links and a card processor alongside it. Test the failure path, not only the happy path: a cancelled payment must return the customer to a cart that still exists.
2. Delivery
Parcel lockers are the default delivery method here, so the checkout needs a locker picker with a map, not a free-text address field. Courier delivery and pickup at the shop go second. Print labels from the admin panel; typing tracking numbers by hand is where orders get lost.
3. Languages
Lithuanian is required; English is expected; Russian still matters for a large part of customers. Translate product names, category pages and transactional emails, not only the interface. Keep one canonical URL per language and link them with hreflang tags.
4. Invoices and accounting
The shop should produce a correct invoice automatically and export orders to the accountant in a format they actually accept. Ask the accountant before launch, not after the first month.
5. Legal texts and the cookie banner
Terms, returns policy and a privacy policy are mandatory, and the cookie banner must offer a real "reject" button. We keep analytics off until consent and avoid tools that require a banner at all when we can.
6. Performance
Product images are the usual problem. We resize on upload, serve modern formats and lazy-load below the fold. A category page should load in about a second on a mid-range phone, which is a measurable target, not a wish.
7. The first week
Someone has to watch orders, failed payments and email deliverability daily for the first week. We include this in every launch. Most issues that appear are small and boring, and catching them early is the whole job.