Launching an online store is faster than most business owners expect, but the timeline depends heavily on the platform and the size of the catalog. On a hosted platform like Shopify, a small store with a reasonable number of products can be up and selling within one to three weeks. Most of that time is not technical: it goes into product photos, descriptions, payment setup and shipping rules.
On a custom WordPress setup with WooCommerce, expect four to eight weeks. The extra time buys you flexibility: custom checkout flows, integrations with your accounting or inventory software, and a design tailored to your brand rather than a template everyone else uses.
What usually slows a launch down is not the platform. It is the number of products, whether you need multiple payment and shipping providers, legal pages and the quality of the product content. A store with 10 products launches far faster than one with 500, no matter what technology you pick.
The practical advice is to decide a launch date first and work backwards, and to resist the urge to keep adding features. Ship a store that reliably sells a core catalog, then iterate. A store live with 30 great products beats a perfect store that never opens.