Ecommerce website design Shopify development
Shopify stores that get found, load fast and sell more.
We build Shopify stores two ways. A fully custom (headless) store loads in under a second and can look and work exactly the way you want. A custom Shopify theme keeps everything in the Shopify admin your team already knows. Both are optimised down to the last detail for Google and for AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. We're a Shopify Partner.
- One theme, AU + NZ
- 10,000 SKUs
- Live in 6 days
<1s
every page
POP Local · 10k items for sale, down from 20 seconds
33%
conversion rate
Made Quiet · headless Shopify store, built in six days
+51%
visitors from Google
Karis Life · since moving off WooCommerce
Double
digit growth in sales
Quitine · since moving off their old Shopify theme
What's the Problem?
Most stores are slowest where it costs the most.
Product and category pages are where people buy, and they're usually the slowest pages on a store: apps stacked on the theme, code left behind by every tool you ever tried, and images nobody resized. Some stores even crash when demand peaks, under the traffic they worked hard to win.
If a store is slow at the moment people buy, you're paying for visitors who leave without buying.
Pick One
Two ways to build it.
We'll recommend one after a 20-minute call. Both use Shopify's checkout.
01 under a second
Headless storefront
Pick this when speed and brand matter most, you want features a theme can't do, you have a lot of content alongside your products, or the store is part of a bigger site.
- A custom shop front built with modern web tools. Pages are prepared in advance and served from servers near your customers, so product pages load in under a second.
- Shopify still runs the cart, checkout, payments, stock and orders, so the parts customers trust aren't rebuilt.
- Your team writes content in Sanity and previews it before publishing, while products stay in Shopify. Each thing has one home.
- No theme limits on layout, search or filters. If you can draw it, we can build it.
- Stack
- modern JS framework
- Shopify Storefront API
- Sanity
- Cloudflare
In use at: POP Local (over 340 makers, under a second on every page, moved from Square to Shopify for both online and in-store sales) · Made Quiet (built in six working days after a week of design) · Quitine (moved off a Shopify theme, and now updated by asking Claude)
02 weeks to launch
Custom Shopify theme
Pick this when you want to launch in weeks, your team already works in Shopify's admin every day, and the design fits what themes do well.
- Built from a clean base, not a marketplace theme with your logo on it.
- Your team rearranges sections and blocks in Shopify's theme editor without calling us.
- Only the apps you really need, because every app adds code that slows your product pages.
- Selling in several countries and currencies through Shopify Markets, when you need it.
- Stack
- Shopify
- Liquid
- theme editor
In use at: Constellation Brands: one enterprise theme across their Australian and New Zealand stores, with dozens of custom sections their team can edit.
Side by Side
Headless or theme?
Side by Side
| Compared on | Headless | Custom theme |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Headless Loads in under a second, by design | Custom theme Fast for a theme, but each app you add slows it a little |
| Time to launch | Headless 6–10 weeks | Custom theme 3–6 weeks |
| Design freedom | Headless Anything | Custom theme Within what Shopify themes allow, which is a lot |
| Editing | Headless Sanity for content, Shopify for products | Custom theme Shopify's theme editor, all in one place |
| Apps and integrations | Headless Shopify apps for checkout and behind-the-scenes work; features customers see are built by us | Custom theme Any app from the Shopify App Store, installed in a click |
| Best for | Headless Brand-led stores, custom features, catalogues with lots of content, and stores inside a bigger site | Custom theme Teams who want everything in one place and a launch in weeks |
Our verdict
Choose headless when you want freedom: any layout, search and filters built your way, content alongside your products, and pages that load in under a second. Choose a theme when launching within weeks, with everything in Shopify, matters more.
Easy to Edit
Your team runs the store without a developer.
On a headless store, your team edits banners, pages and product stories in Sanity and publishes them straight away, while prices, stock and orders stay in Shopify, where they already manage them.
- Edit the page, not the code.
Every banner, page and product story is a few named fields, so nothing else gets in the way.
- Products stay in Shopify.
Prices, stock and orders are managed in Shopify, the way your team does it today.
- Live the moment you publish.
There is no rebuild to wait for. The change is on the store straight away.
- Every version kept.
Any change can be rolled back, so trying something new is safe.
Baked In
Included with every store.
-
Shopify checkout.
Payments, fraud checks, tax, shipping and Shop Pay are handled by Shopify, which processes billions in sales. We don't rebuild the part customers already trust.
-
Speed measured, not promised.
We check Google's speed scores (Core Web Vitals) before launch and in every care plan report.
-
Built to be found.
Product details marked up for search engines, tidy collections and fast pages: what Google Shopping and AI shopping answers look for.
-
Migration handled.
We move your products, customers, orders and page addresses across, and redirect old links so you keep the traffic you've built.
-
Connected to your other tools.
Your accounting, shipping, email marketing, reviews and in-store point of sale.
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12 months of care.
For a year after launch, we fix any bug and apply critical updates, at no charge.
-
Never offshored.
Designed and built in Australia, by a small studio with a network of Australian specialists.
-
No lock-in.
The store sits in your Shopify account and the code is in your name, so any Shopify developer can take over.
Fresh Out
Stores we've shipped.
Fresh Out
Constellation Brands An enterprise Shopify theme for their Australian and New Zealand stores, built to meet their US parent company's standards.
POP Local A store for more than 340 Australian makers that loads every page in under a second, plus a portal that pays them.
Made Quiet A headless store built in six working days after a week of design. First sale in week one, and a 33% conversion rate.
Quitine A Shopify theme replaced by a headless store that the client updates by asking Claude, an AI assistant. Double-digit sales growth since.
Growing Spaces Their WordPress site and Shopify store, combined into one.
Karis Life A WooCommerce store that kept crashing and was hit by ransomware twice, replaced with one that doesn't.
Kea Health A store that crashed when demand peaked, rebuilt to handle it.
The Process
Scope. Design. Build. Launch.
- Step 1 · week 0
Scope.
We start with a 20-minute call, then send a fixed quote, with our recommendation (headless or theme) and the reasons in writing.
- Step 2 · weeks 1–3
Design.
We design the home, collection, product and cart pages using your real products, not placeholders.
- Step 3 · weeks 3–8
Build and migrate.
We build the store, connect your apps, move your products and customers across, and test the checkout from start to finish.
- Step 4 · week 8+
Launch and after.
We point your old page addresses to the new ones, connect analytics and Google Search Console, and watch your sales and traffic through the first month. For 12 months after launch, we fix any bug and apply critical updates at no charge. A care plan for ongoing changes is up to you.
Price List
What it costs.
Price List
- Headless storefront
- from $12,000 typically $18–35k
- Custom Shopify theme
- from $9,000 typically $9–16k
- Care plan monitoring, updates, small changes and a monthly speed report
- from $250/month
What affects the price:
- how many products you have, and how much we move across
- how many custom sections or page layouts
- connections to your other tools (accounting, shipping, email, reviews, point of sale)
- selling in several countries or currencies
Fixed quote after a scoping call. Before that, our estimator can give you a price range from a description of your store.
Try the estimatorDo we have to use Shopify?
No. We've built on BigCommerce, and custom setups on Stripe and Square. Shopify is our default because it's the one we'd choose for ourselves: checkout, payments and fraud checks are handled by a platform built to do that at huge scale. We're a Shopify Partner.
We're on WooCommerce, Squarespace or Wix. Can you move us?
Yes. We move your products, customers, orders and page addresses across, with redirects so you keep your Google rankings. Karis Life and Kea Health both came from WooCommerce stores that couldn't handle their traffic, and Karis Life's had been hit by ransomware twice. How a move off WordPress works is on our leaving WordPress page.
Headless or theme?
A headless store keeps Shopify running the checkout, products and orders, and replaces the shop front with one we build from scratch. Choose headless when you want freedom over layout, search, filters and custom features, when you have a lot of content alongside your products, or when the store sits inside a bigger site. Choose a theme when launching within weeks, with everything in Shopify, matters more. We'll recommend one on the first call.
Can we start with a theme and go headless later?
Yes. Your products, orders and customers stay in Shopify. Going headless replaces only the shop front your customers see.
Will our team be able to update it?
Yes. With a theme, your team uses Shopify's editor. With a headless store, they write content in Sanity and preview it before publishing, and manage products in Shopify as they already do.
Why is our current store slow?
Usually it's the apps. Each one adds code to every page. We review what's installed, keep what you really need, and build the rest into the store itself. Then we measure the result.
Also on the menu All industries
- Websites. Static websites that load in under a second, with nothing to patch.
- Web & mobile apps. Client portals, booking systems, dashboards and mobile apps.
- AI Automation. Orders, enquiries and stock levels updated automatically, so nobody types them in twice.
- Shopify store inspector. See which theme and apps any store runs, how much code they add, and how fast it loads on phones. Free.
Made to Order
Tell us what you sell and where it's slow.
A couple of lines is enough. Within a business day of our call, you'll get our recommendation (headless or theme) and a fixed quote.