What Is Checkout? How Shopify Checkout Works

Quick Definition

Checkout is the last step of an online order, where a shopper enters contact, delivery and payment details and pays. It's also called the checkout page. When the payment goes through and an order is created, that's checkout completion. On Shopify, the checkout is run by Shopify itself, not by your theme.

Shoppers get to checkout by clicking Checkout in the cart, or by tapping a buy button on a product page that skips the cart. Before that, the shopping cart just holds their picks. Checkout is where the money actually changes hands, so every sale goes through it.

What a Shopper Fills In at Checkout

Contact: details the store uses to send the receipt.
Delivery: an address and a shipping method, or local pickup if you offer it.
Payment: a card, or a wallet like Shop Pay or PayPal if you've turned it on.
Order summary: items, shipping, tax, the final total and a box for discount codes.

Depending on your checkout settings, Shopify shows all of this on one page or splits it into steps. Wallet buttons fill in saved details, so there's less typing.

Shopify hosts the checkout, so your theme's code can't reach it. You can still add your logo and colors and tweak some fields. Apps can add blocks inside the information, shipping and payment steps, but only on Shopify Plus. Our app, Growth Suite, uses this on Plus stores to show a checkout offer progress bar and upsell offers.

How Few Visitors Ever See Your Checkout

In our data from 958 Shopify stores, about 8 in 100 sessions reached the cart. Of those carts, 42% moved on to checkout, and 57% of checkouts ended in a purchase. To see where those checkouts stall, read our guide to fixing Shopify checkout conversion.

Example: a candle store with 1,000 sessions

About 80 sessions reach the cart.
80 × 42% ≈ 34 shoppers start checkout.
34 × 57% ≈ 19 complete checkout and pay.

That's 19 orders from 1,000 sessions, or about 1.9%. These are averages across many stores, not a controlled test, so expect your own numbers to differ.

The share of started checkouts that end in an order is your checkout conversion rate.

Myth: Checkout Is Where You Lose Most Buyers

In the candle store, about 15 shoppers quit during checkout, and they were the closest to buying. But say all 34 checkout starters had paid. The store would have 34 orders instead of 19, and the other 966 sessions would still end without one. If few people reach the cart at all, start with why a store gets traffic but no sales.