Create your store

1. Go to admin.myorbitcommerce.net/signup and create your account.
2. Give your store a name. You can change it later, so do not agonise.
3. Enter your business address when asked. It sets your currency, tax and shipping defaults.

That is it. You are on a 14 day free trial with no card needed. Nothing is charged unless you choose a plan at the end of it.

Connect to Dynamic

1. In the left menu click Suppliers.
2. Find the Dynamic Office Solutions card and click Enter password.
3. Type makeithappen and click Connect.

You will land on the Supplier connection page. It has four tabs: Settings, Products, Mapping and Orders. The next two steps happen here.

Set your pricing rules first

Do this before you import anything, so every product lands already priced.

1. Under Pricing rules, set your Blanket markup. It is a percentage on top of the Dynamic price you see in the catalogue.
2. Want a different margin for a particular brand? Add a brand override. Everything else keeps the blanket rate.
3. Under Sync settings, leave Stock levels switched on so your site mirrors what Dynamic actually has.
4. Under Automation, switch on Auto-accept new products. This is the bit that makes new Dynamic lines appear in your store on their own, already priced.
5. Click Save changes.

Import the products you want

1. Use the search box or the Available filter to find what you want to sell. Search works on name, SKU or brand.
2. Tick the products, or tick the box at the top of the list to select the page.
3. Click Import selected. To take the whole catalogue, use Import with the count next to it.

The import runs in the background. You can leave the page. When it finishes you will see Imported with the number of products, and the images, descriptions and specifications come across with them.

Switch the products on

Imported products arrive as Draft. That is deliberate: it gives you a chance to look before anything goes on sale.

1. In the left menu click Products. Open one or two and check the price looks right. If it does not, go back to step 3 and adjust the markup; prices recalculate for you.
2. Happy? Tick the products, or select all, and change their status to Active.

You will see a confirmation with the number of products updated. From here on they are live in your store.

Pick a theme, then make it yours

A theme gets you a good looking shop straight away. Most people then want to make it their own: their photos on the homepage, their own words, a section moved here or there. That is what the page builder is for.

1. Open the Theme Store. Free themes are included with every store. The five office furniture themes, Apex, Canopy, Depot, Index and Quorum, are a one-off £120 each and are already laid out for selling furniture. Pick one and click Install.
2. Back in Storefront, open the page builder. Start with the basics: your logo, your colours, your fonts, your contact details.
3. Then work through the homepage section by section. Drag sections to reorder them, swap the images, rewrite the headings in your own voice, delete anything that does not apply to you.
4. Check the product page and the category pages while you are there. The theme has already styled them, so this is usually a quick look rather than a rebuild.
5. Set up your menu under Storefront → Navigation. Link the top level to your categories (Desks, Seating, Storage and so on) so shoppers can browse the range.

Set up payments and shipping

1. Click Payments in the left menu and connect a payment provider so customers can pay by card.
2. Go to Settings → Shipping and set up your shipping zones and rates. A flat rate for UK mainland is a fine place to start.

Want to mirror Dynamic's own delivery rules instead of building your own? Email websites@dynamicos.co.uk and we will send you a delivery file. On the same Shipping page click Import, choose the file, and you get our zones and methods in one go. You can edit them afterwards.

VAT: go to Settings → Store settings → Tax Settings, add your VAT number and click Set Up Tax Rates. Decide whether your shop shows prices with or without VAT and set it here once.

Policies: under Settings → Store Policies, fill in your privacy, refund and terms pages. Card processors expect them and customers look for them.

Connect your own domain

1. Add the web address you own. Orbit shows you a small table of DNS records.
2. Log in to wherever you bought the domain and add those records. Orbit checks them for you and sorts the security certificate once they are in place.

No domain yet? You can buy one on the same page and it connects itself.

Launch

Your Dashboard keeps a short checklist: add your first product, install a theme, connect a domain, set up payments, set up shipping, launch your store. When every line is ticked, hit Launch your store and you are open.

Orbit will ask you to choose a plan before the 14 day trial ends. Self Serve is £25 a month, or £19 a month billed yearly.