IT Infrastructure Checklist Before Launching a Pakistani E-Commerce Store

Launching an e-commerce store in Pakistan without a systematic pre-launch IT infrastructure review is the single most common cause of post-launch crises that we see in the Pakistani market: payment gateway failures on launch day, SSL errors that turn away first-time customers, email confirmation systems that silently fail, and websites that collapse under the load of a single Eid promotion.

This checklist covers every infrastructure layer a Pakistani e-commerce store must have before going live — not after finding out the hard way.

Section 1: Domain Strategy

1.1 Buy All Three TLDs

For any Pakistani e-commerce brand expecting more than PKR 1M/month in revenue, budget for domain brand protection from day one:

Minimum domain portfolio:
┐
storename.pk          ← Primary (if you're Pakistan-only)
storename.com          ← Primary or redirect (if international)
storename.com.pk       ← Redirect to primary
┘

All non-primary domains: 301 redirect to primary
Cost: PKR 4,000–8,000/year for all three
Risk of not buying: A competitor or domain squatter registers
                      storename.com while you operate storename.pk

Buyer trust note: Pakistani consumers on Google often type both .pk and .com variants. Owning both reduces confusion and prevents a squatter domain from intercepting your branded search traffic.

1.2 DNS TTL Reduction Before Launch

# At least 48 hours before launch:
# Reduce DNS TTL (Time To Live) to 300 seconds (5 minutes)
# This ensures that if you need to change your DNS
# (e.g., switch hosting provider after an issue on launch day),
# propagation completes in 5 minutes instead of 24 hours.

# After 2 weeks of stable operation, increase TTL back:
# TTL 86400 (24 hours) - reduces DNS lookup load

Section 2: Hosting Infrastructure

2.1 Do Not Launch on Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is appropriate for brochure websites. E-commerce creates different server demands: concurrent users during a promotion, database writes on every checkout, payment webhook processing, and image-heavy product pages.

Minimum viable infrastructure for Pakistani e-commerce launch:

| Store Scale (Monthly Orders) | Recommended Hosting | Minimum Specs | |------------------------------|--------------------|--------------| | < 100/month | Managed WordPress WooCommerce | 2 CPU, 2GB RAM | | 100–500/month | Managed WordPress (optimised) | 4 CPU, 4GB RAM | | 500–2,000/month | VPS with WooCommerce stack | 4 CPU, 8GB RAM, NVMe SSD | | > 2,000/month | Dedicated VPS or cloud tier | 8+ CPU, 16GB RAM |

2.2 Pre-Launch Load Test

Before launch, simulate the peak traffic you expect from your first promotion:

# Install Apache Bench (ab) for quick load test
apt install apache2-utils

# Test 100 concurrent users, 1000 requests on your product page
ab -n 1000 -c 100 https://yourstore.pk/product/best-seller/

# Check output for:
# Requests per second: Should be > 50 for a basic store
# Failed requests: Should be 0
# 99th percentile response time: Should be < 3000ms

# More realistic WooCommerce test with k6 (install from k6.io):
# k6 run --vus 50 --duration 30s load-test.js

Section 3: SSL and HTTPS Configuration

3.1 Install SSL Certificate (Mandatory)

# If on a server you control (VPS), install Let's Encrypt:
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourstore.pk -d www.yourstore.pk

# Verify auto-renewal is working:
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

# Check certificate status:
curl -vI https://yourstore.pk 2>&1 | grep 'SSL certificate'

On Managed WordPress / cPanel hosting: AutoSSL installs and renews Let's Encrypt automatically. Verify it is active in cPanel → SSL/TLS Status before launch.

3.2 Force HTTPS on All URLs

# Nginx: Add to server block
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourstore.pk www.yourstore.pk;
    return 301 https://yourstore.pk$request_uri;
}

# Apache .htaccess:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://yourstore.pk/$1 [R=301,L]

3.3 HSTS Header

# Add to your HTTPS server block in nginx:
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;

Section 4: Pakistani Payment Gateways

This section is critical for launch success in Pakistan. A checkout that does not offer familiar Pakistani payment methods loses 40–60% of potential conversions.

4.1 Payment Method Coverage

| Payment Method | Provider Integration | Notes | |---------------|---------------------|-------| | JazzCash | JazzCash Merchant API | Largest mobile wallet in Pakistan | | Easypaisa | Easypaisa API | Second largest mobile wallet | | Credit/Debit Card | PayFast, Stripe (limited), HBL/UBL payment gateway | Card penetration growing | | Bank Transfer | Manual (for high-value orders) | Common for PKR 50K+ orders | | Cash on Delivery | Store-managed | Still 60–70% of Pakistani e-commerce orders |

COD note: Cash on Delivery remains the dominant Pakistani e-commerce payment method in 2026. Do not launch without it.

4.2 Test Every Payment Flow Before Launch

Pre-launch payment testing checklist:
  ✔ Complete a real JazzCash test transaction and receive receipt email
  ✔ Complete a real Easypaisa test transaction and receive receipt email
  ✔ Test credit card checkout with a valid test card
  ✔ Test COD order placement and confirmation email
  ✔ Test refund flow for each payment method
  ✔ Verify payment webhook fires within 30 seconds of payment
  ✔ Confirm order status updates automatically in WooCommerce admin
  ✔ Test failed payment — confirm user sees clear error, not a blank page

Section 5: Email Infrastructure

5.1 Transactional Email Configuration

Do not send WooCommerce transactional email via PHP mail() from your hosting server. Use a dedicated ESP:

// WooCommerce SMTP setup (WP Mail SMTP plugin recommended)
// Admin → WP Mail SMTP → Settings:
//   Mailer: Other SMTP
//   SMTP Host: smtp.mailgun.org (or Brevo/Postmark)
//   Port: 587
//   Encryption: TLS
//   Username: postmaster@yourstore.pk
//   Password:

5.2 Mandatory Transactional Emails to Test

✔ Order received confirmation (to customer)
✔ Order processing notification (to customer)
✔ Order shipped notification (to customer)
✔ Order completed (to customer)
✔ New order notification (to admin/you)
✔ Password reset email
✔ New account registration welcome
✔ JazzCash/Easypaisa payment confirmation
✔ Refund issued notification

Section 6: CDN and Performance

6.1 Cloudflare Setup

For every Pakistani e-commerce store: Enable Cloudflare free tier

Benefits:
  • Pakistani PoPs (Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad) serve cached assets faster
  • DDoS protection (relevant during high-profile sales events)
  • Free SSL in front of your store
  • Bandwidth reduction for your hosting bill

Cloudflare page rules for WooCommerce:
  Bypass cache for: /wp-admin/*, /cart, /checkout, /my-account
  Cache everything for: /wp-content/uploads/*, /wp-content/themes/*

6.2 Image Optimisation

Product images are the largest assets on most Pakistani e-commerce stores. Before launch:

# Install WebP conversion plugin in WordPress
# (Imagify, ShortPixel, or WebP Express)

# Or bulk convert via CLI before upload:
for f in *.jpg; do cwebp -q 80 $f -o ${f%.jpg}.webp; done

# Target: Product images < 100KB in WebP format
# At 15 images per product page, that's <1.5MB total payload
# vs typical unoptimised: 300KB/image = 4.5MB

Section 7: Backup Verification

7.1 Confirm Backups Are Running

✔ Automated daily database backup: Verify latest backup is < 24 hours old
✔ Automated daily full-site backup: Verify files + database
✔ Backup stored off-site: Not on the same server (use S3, Wasabi, or BackBlaze)
✔ Restore test: Restore backup to a staging environment and verify site loads
  (Most Pakistani businesses skip the restore test
   and discover their backups are broken when they need them)

Section 8: Staging Environment

Launch without a staging environment means your live store is your test environment. A broken product import, plugin update, or checkout flow change gets tested on real customers.

Minimum staging setup:
  • Subdomain staging.yourstore.pk pointing to a copy of the live site
  • Password-protected (keep customers off staging)
  • Synced weekly from production (or before any feature work)
  • Payment gateways in test/sandbox mode on staging

Section 9: Monitoring

9.1 Uptime Monitoring

UptimeRobot (free tier):
  • Monitor yourstore.pk every 5 minutes
  • Alert via SMS and email if site goes down
  • Add monitors for /checkout and /cart specifically
    (crucial pages that can break independently of homepage)
  • Free tier: 50 monitors, 5-minute intervals

9.2 Google Search Console

Add yourstore.pk to Google Search Console before launch:
  • Submit sitemap: yourstore.pk/sitemap.xml
  • Watch for crawl errors in first week post-launch
  • Monitor Core Web Vitals (LCP especially critical for product pages)

Soft Launch vs. Hard Launch Protocol

Soft Launch (Recommended First Step)

Day 1–7: Soft Launch
  ✔ Remove Maintenance Mode
  ✔ Share URL with 50–100 trusted customers only (email list)
  ✔ Monitor error logs (Server errors section in cPanel)
  ✔ Watch checkout completion rate
  ✔ Collect and fix any reported issues

Day 8+: Hard Launch
  ✔ Social media announcement
  ✔ Google Ads activation
  ✔ First promotion/discount campaign

Complete Pre-Launch Checklist Summary

Domain:
  ✔ All TLDs registered (.pk, .com.pk, .com)
  ✔ DNS TTL reduced to 300 seconds 48 hours before launch
  ✔ Primary domain confirmed and all others 301-redirecting

Hosting:
  ✔ Correct hosting tier for expected order volume
  ✔ Load test completed
  ✔ Server in correct geographic region (Pakistan or UAE)

SSL / Security:
  ✔ SSL certificate installed and auto-renewing
  ✔ HTTPS forced on all URLs
  ✔ HSTS header active
  ✔ wp-admin restricted by IP or 2FA

Payments:
  ✔ JazzCash integration tested with real transaction
  ✔ Easypaisa integration tested
  ✔ Card payment tested
  ✔ COD configured
  ✔ All transactional emails tested end-to-end

Email:
  ✔ SPF + DKIM + DMARC configured on sending domain
  ✔ SMTP plugin configured (not PHP mail)
  ✔ All WooCommerce email templates tested

Performance:
  ✔ Cloudflare activated with correct bypass rules
  ✔ Images optimised (WebP, < 100KB each)
  ✔ Caching plugin active
  ✔ Google PageSpeed score > 70 on mobile

Backup:
  ✔ Daily automated backups confirmed running
  ✔ Off-site backup destination configured
  ✔ Restore test completed

Monitoring:
  ✔ UptimeRobot configured for / and /checkout
  ✔ Google Search Console verified and sitemap submitted
  ✔ Error logs accessible and clear

Launch Protocol:
  ✔ Soft launch with limited audience first
  ✔ Full launch only after 7-day soft launch stability

Conclusion

A Pakistani e-commerce store that goes through this checklist before launch will avoid the most common post-launch disasters. The stores that skip it spend their first two weeks firefighting payment failures, email issues, and performance problems that were entirely preventable.

The infrastructure work in this checklist takes approximately 3–5 days for a developer who knows the tools. It is less than the time you will spend managing a post-launch crisis caused by skipping it.

Get the hosting foundation right from day one: (/managed-wordpress-hosting) is pre-configured for WooCommerce with the performance stack (Nginx, Redis, PHP-FPM) required for a Pakistani e-commerce launch — including cPanel, AutoSSL, and daily backups included as standard.