Now that you’ve successfully installed the Alpha Ecommerce Theme using the full site import, your website looks exactly like our demo. It’s time to personalize it to reflect your brand and meet your business needs.
Because the installation replaced your database with our demo data, there are a few critical housekeeping tasks to handle before adding your products. This guide walks you through the essential first steps.
Step 1: Update General Settings
Since you imported a snapshot, the technical email address of the site is currently set to the demo administrator’s email. You need to change this immediately to receive notifications and password resets.
- Go to Settings > General.
- Change the Administration Email Address to your own email.
- Scroll down and click Save Changes.
- Check your email inbox to confirm the change.
Step 2: Manage Your Products
The theme comes with “dummy” (placeholder) products to demonstrate the layout. You now have two options depending on whether you are starting fresh or migrating from an old shop.
Option A: Starting Fresh
- Delete Dummy Products: Go to Products > All Products. Select all dummy products and move them to the Trash.
- Add Your Products: Click Add New to create products manually. Enter the name, description, price, and stock details.
Option B: Migrating Products from an Old Shop
If you had an existing WooCommerce store, you don’t need to re-enter products manually. You can import them.
- Export from Old Shop: In your previous shop installation, go to Products > All Products and click Export at the top. This will give you a CSV file.
- Import to Alpha: In your new Alpha installation, go to Products > All Products and click Import.
- Upload your CSV file. WooCommerce will ask you to map your old columns to the new fields.
- Tip: If asked, choose to “Update existing products” if you want to override any remaining demo data with matching IDs (though starting with an empty list is safer).
Step 3: Organize Categories and Tags
Clean up the organization structure to match your inventory.
Navigate to Products > Categories/Tags and click Edit beneath the category/tag name. Rename the dummy categories/tags to your desired titles. Ensure you also update the slug, description, and SEO text.
- Description: This appears at the top of product archive pages, just below the main title.
- SEO Text: This appears at the bottom of the page, below the product grid.
Step 4: Upload Custom Images & Logo
Personalize your store with your own visuals to enhance its appeal.
- Site Logo: Navigate to Appearance > Customize > Site Identity to upload your logo.
- Header Logo: Navigate to Kadence > Headers > Main Header and change the logo and site title.
- Update Product Images: In the product editor, add high-quality photos under the “Featured Image” and “Product Gallery” sections.
- Optimize Images: Ensure images are compressed and in the correct dimensions to improve load times.
Recommendation: We use vertical images for this theme. Aim for approximately 900x1200px for product images.
Step 5: Adjust Text Content
Tailor the text to match your brand voice.
- Edit Pages: Go to Pages in the dashboard. Open key pages like Home, About, and Contact and replace the text with your own.
- Menus: Update your navigation bar and footer links in Kadence > Navigations.
Step 6: Configure WooCommerce Settings
Now, let’s make sure the “engine” of your shop runs correctly.
- Shipping Costs: In WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping, configure your shipping zones and rates based on your location.
- Payment Gateways: Under WooCommerce > Settings > Payments, enable and configure payment methods (like Stripe, PayPal, or Klarna).
- Tax Settings: Set up tax rules in WooCommerce > Settings > Tax to comply with your local regulations.
- Currency: Check WooCommerce > Settings > General to ensure the currency and address settings align with your business location.
Step 7: Test Your Store
Before announcing your launch, verify everything works.
- Preview Changes: Visit your site as a guest (incognito mode).
- Mobile Check: Open your site on your phone to ensure the design adapts perfectly.
- Test Purchase: Many payment gateways provide a testing mode that allows you to process test payments.
