Set up demo shop: test new ideas without risk

A demo shop is worth its weight in gold when you want to try things out without touching your live store. Whether you need to test a new theme, play around with a Black Friday setup, train a new employee, or just see how a change works in practice, a second test shop is the easiest and safest way to get there. In Shoporama, you can set up a second shop under the same company in minutes and copy products from your existing store so you have something realistic to work with. A demo store is free as long as it has demo status.

This guide shows you how to create the demo shop, copy products from your current store, test in peace - and how to extend the test period when you need to.

Why create a demo store?

A demo store is a regular Shoporama online store, but it lives alongside your real store under the same company and has demo status. As long as the shop is in demo status, it's free - so you can have a permanent or temporary playroom at no extra cost. Typical use cases:

• Test Black Friday setup - discount codes, promotional banners and sale prices - without the risk of toppling the live shop during the peak season.
• Try out a new theme with your real products and see how the front page, product pages and checkout will look before you press the button.
• Train new employees to create products, update texts and manage the shop without them messing things up for real customers.
• Review new shipping setup (e.g. GLS, PostNord, DAO) and prepare it in advance before moving the changes to production.
• Build a clean demo environment for a B2B customer or supplier who wants to see the assortment presented in your shop without disrupting your regular operations.

How to set up the demo shop

The set-up takes less than a minute and there is no cost associated with the set-up itself. The shop is created with demo status and remains free as long as it is in that status.

1. Log in to the Shoporama administration.
2. Go to the Company and Online shops menu item.
3. Click Add online shop.
4. Enter an online shop address. It's easiest to use a .shoporama.dk address(e.g. test-your-shop-name.shoporama.dk) so you don't have to mess with DNS and can get started quickly.
5. Save - your new demo shop is created with demo status and ready to be configured.

Copy products from your existing shop

The easiest way to get realistic content into the demo shop is to copy products from your existing store. This is done directly from the product overview as a bulk action and you can copy as many products at once as you want.

1. Go to your existing shop and open the product overview.
2. Select the products you want to copy - either individually or all on the page.
3. Select bulk action Copy to another store.
4. Select your new demo shop as the destination.
5. Click Copy. The products are created as drafts (offline) in the demo shop.

What is copied - and what is not

The feature copies everything related to the product itself. The shop's operations - orders, customers, theme, etc. - are not included as the two shops are completely separate.

The copied products arrive as a draft (offline) so they are not visible to visitors. This means you can review them at your leisure and activate them manually when you're ready.

Test designs and setups in peace

The demo store is a real Shoporama online store, so you can work with almost all features as you know them from your live store - but without risk to operations or customers:

• Install and customize a new theme - try the Delaware theme or a completely different style.
• Build front pages and landing pages with Page Builder without moving the live front page.
• Review shipping methods, category setup, extended fields and texts.
• Try out discount code setup, variants and templates for automatic emails.
• Let a designer or developer work directly in the demo shop with limited user access.

Limitations in a demo shop

A demo shop is meant to be a safe playroom, so there are some deliberate limitations you should be aware of:

• Payments don't work: You can't make real payments in a demo shop. Payment gateways are only activated when the shop goes live - so you can't run a full checkout with card payment, MobilePay or similar during the test period.
• Indexing is disabled: The demo shop has a robots.txt that rejects search engines. It will only become available to Google when the shop goes live.
• Separate data: Orders, customers, statistics and discount codes are not shared with your real shop. They are two different stores in terms of data.
• Auto-deactivation: If a demo shop sits unused for 180 days, it is automatically deactivated. See the next section on how to extend the trial period.

Extend the trial period

A demo shop is automatically deactivated after 180 days of inactivity, so unused test shops don't pile up. If you need more time - or want to use the shop as a permanent test environment - you can extend the test period indefinitely by writing to support@shoporama.dk. We'll agree together how long it will run, and it still costs nothing as long as the shop is kept in demo status.

Tips to remember

• Use a .shoporama.com address: It's the fastest way to a new shop - no DNS setup, just an address like test-your-store-name.shoporama.com and you're good to go.
• No Google worries: Demo shops automatically have a robots.txt that prevents indexing - no need to remember to hide it from search engines yourself.
• Payments only work live: You can't test a real payment gateway in a demo shop. If you need to see the full checkout flow, the shop needs to go live.
• Activate products deliberately: Copied products come as drafts. Review them and activate them manually when you're ready - it also gives you a good overview of what's included.
• Plan separate setup: Theme, shipping setup and discount codes need to be set up in the demo shop - they are not included with the products.

Frequently asked questions

What does it cost to have an extra demo shop?

It costs nothing. As long as the shop has demo status, it's completely free - even if you leave it for a long time. Only on the day you decide to start operating the shop as a real store will you need to choose a pricing model and pay for it. If in doubt, write to support@shoporama.dk.

Will my demo shop be found on Google?

No, it won't. Demo shops come with a built-in robots.txt that tells Google and other search engines not to index the page. You don't have to remember to block it yourself - it's set up from day one and is only removed the day the shop goes live.

Can I test real payments in a demo shop?

No, you can't. Payment gateways do not work in a shop with demo status. To test the full checkout flow with card payment or MobilePay, you need to make the shop live. To test the actual setup and fields in the checkout, the demo shop works fine - it's only the actual payment processing that is disabled.

Are orders, customers and discount codes included when I copy?

No, they are not. Only product data is copied (name, price, texts, images, categories, variants, brand, supplier, meta fields). Orders, customers, statistics, discount codes, newsletter subscriptions and theme must be set up separately in the demo shop. The two shops are completely separate data-wise.

How do I know if a product is copied correctly?

Copied products land as a draft (offline) in the demo shop. Go to Products, filter on draft status and check that images, variants and prices are included. Only when you activate the product will it be visible to visitors.

Can I invite a designer or colleague to work only in the demo shop?

Yes, you can. Users are managed per shop, so you can create a user with access to the demo shop without giving access to your real shop. This is handy if, for example, a designer needs to play with the theme and page builder without being able to touch production.

How do I close the demo shop again when I'm done?

You can just leave it - a demo shop is automatically deactivated after 180 days of inactivity and it doesn't cost anything during that time. If you want to close it immediately or extend the test period beyond the 180 days, please write to support@shoporama.dk. We can both close the shop and extend the trial period indefinitely by agreement.

Can I use my own domain on the demo shop?

Yes, but the easiest way is to use a free .shoporama.dk address- e.g. test-your-store-name.shoporama.dk. Then you don't have to mess with DNS and the shop is ready right away. If you want to move to your own domain later, you can always add it - see the DNS setup guide for details.