We build on Shopify, and we stay after launch
Theme development, product and cart experience, subscriptions, fulfillment integrations, and the campaign turnarounds that arrive mid-launch. We rebuilt the Rootless store alongside the live one and have been their development team since.
What we build on Shopify
We work in the theme itself, in Liquid, built on the Online Store 2.0 structure. That means JSON templates and sections available on every page type, so your merchandising team can build a campaign page or reorder a homepage without opening a ticket.
Where a page builder app is doing work a native section could do, we replace it. That usually trims the app bill and the page weight in the same change.
Theme builds and 2.0 upgrades
New themes, or moving a vintage theme onto the current section structure. We build the new one beside the store that is taking orders and cut over on a chosen morning.
Product and cart experience
Variants, badges, bundles, and purchase modes consolidated into one configurable template instead of four that each drift. Metafields and metaobjects for the content that does not fit a product description.
Subscriptions and customer accounts
Subscription platform migrations, account portals, and the parts of a recurring order flow customers actually complain about.
Integrations
Email and SMS platforms, fulfillment and shipping providers, referral and affiliate tools, reviews, and analytics. Built narrow so both sides stay clean.
Accessibility and performance
Keyboard and screen reader fixes, contrast, and the page weight your ad spend is paying for. An inaccessible store loses customers without ever generating a complaint.
When Shopify is the right call, and when it is not
Shopify is the default we recommend for most stores, and we will tell you when it is not.
Good fit: you sell products and want to keep selling, not administrate
Payments, tax, fraud screening, and PCI scope are Shopify's problem instead of yours. For a direct-to-consumer brand that is worth a great deal more than the platform fee.
Good fit: your team ships campaigns often
Sections and metaobjects let non-developers build landing pages, swap heroes, and run promotions without a release. That rhythm is where Shopify earns its keep.
Watch out: checkout is mostly not yours
You can configure checkout, but rewriting it is a Shopify Plus capability. If your business depends on an unusual checkout flow, price that into the platform decision before you build.
Watch out: complex B2B pricing fights the data model
Per-customer contract pricing, deep quantity break tables, quote-to-order workflows, and approval chains can be forced to work with apps. They are cheaper to own on a platform built for them.
Watch out: the app bill compounds
Ten apps at forty dollars a month is a developer day every month, forever, plus the page weight each one adds. We audit that list early and usually find two or three we can replace with theme code.
The store stack we work in most
These are the tools we connect to Shopify regularly, so we are not learning your stack on your budget.
A rebuild that ran beside the live store
Rootless makes crispy seaweed snacks and sells them direct. We rebuilt their theme over four months without taking the store down, and we still run their board.
Rebuilding a Shopify store, then maintaining it
Questions we get about this
- Do you work directly in our Shopify theme?
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Yes. Most of our store work happens in the theme itself, built on modular sections your merchandising team can edit afterward. Where a page builder app is doing work a native section could do, we replace it, which usually trims your app bill and your page weight at the same time.
- Can you take over a Shopify store another agency built?
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Yes. We start by reading the theme, the app stack, and whatever documentation exists, then give you an honest read on what is safe to build on and what needs replacing. Most stores we inherit are a mix of both, and we will tell you which is which before you spend anything on it.
- How long does a Shopify 2.0 theme upgrade take?
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It depends on how much custom work lives in the current theme and how much of the store you want to rethink along the way. A full rebuild usually runs alongside your live store for several months so nothing has to go dark. We stage it behind a preview theme and test every purchase path before anything touches live revenue.
- Will changing our subscription or fulfillment platform break orders?
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It should not, because we do not swap a live revenue flow in one move. We stage the new flow behind a preview theme, test every purchase combination end to end, and leave the existing flow in place until you have signed off on the replacement. That is how we ran a subscription platform migration on a store that was taking orders the whole time.
- Can you help us cut down our Shopify app bill?
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Usually, yes. We start by listing every app, what it costs, what it actually does on the storefront, and how much script weight it adds. On most stores two or three of them are doing work a native theme section could do just as well.
Replacing those reduces the monthly bill and the page weight at the same time, which your ad spend notices. We will also tell you which apps are worth every dollar, because some are.
Want a second opinion on your store?
Bring your store URL, your app list, and the two or three things that keep slipping. A free consultation is usually enough for us to tell you what we would pick up first and whether we are the right fit.