Shopify or a custom store: which one fits your business?

When is Shopify the better choice?

If you sell clothing, food, beauty, home goods or anything with simple options like size and colour, Shopify will almost always do the job. It is what we recommend on most first calls, even though a custom store would be the bigger project for us.

• You want to be selling within a few weeks
• Your products have simple options such as size and colour
• You would rather not manage servers or pay a developer every month
• Your team wants to add products and run sales on its own

When does a custom store make sense?

A custom store starts to pay off when the platform gets in the way more than it helps. The signs are usually easy to spot:

• Products are made to order, bundled or priced by rules
• A drop or a sale brings tens of thousands of visitors in one minute
• The store has to work closely with your own stock, accounting or booking systems
• You have tried themes and apps and the store still does not feel like your brand

What is a headless store?

It is the middle path. Shopify keeps running the products, cart and checkout, and we build the front of the store, the part your customers see, from scratch. Your team keeps a back office it already knows and you get full freedom over speed and design.

The catch: it costs more to build, and changing the layout needs a developer. We only recommend it for brands where the shopping experience is the reason people buy.

What does each option cost?

Shopify costs the least to build and to run. Headless and fully custom stores cost several times more, and so does their upkeep. The hidden cost on Shopify is apps: five or six paid apps can add a few hundred dollars a month, so we question every one before it goes in.

With us, a Shopify store starts at $450 and takes 3 to 5 weeks. A custom store starts at $900 and takes 7 to 10 weeks. A headless front end is priced once we know the scope.