Stores built to load fast and convert, not just to look good in a template preview. Product structure, checkout flow and search foundations handled properly before launch.
The usual causes are consistent. A theme chosen for its homepage rather than its product page. Fourteen apps installed to solve small problems, each adding scripts that slow every page. Product descriptions copied from the supplier, so the store is competing against forty others with identical text. Collection pages left unstructured, so the pages with the most search potential have the least content.
A Shopify store should be built around the product page and the checkout. Everything else is decoration.
Shopify’s monthly fee is the number everyone compares. It’s rarely the number that matters most.
Over three years, apps and transaction fees usually exceed everything else combined. This is worth modelling before you commit, and it’s the main reason some businesses are better off on WooCommerce.
| Cost | Typical range | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | £25–£289/mo | Depends on plan. The number everyone compares, and the smallest one here. |
| Transaction fees | % of every sale | If you don’t use Shopify Payments, Shopify takes a percentage on top of your payment processor’s fee. At volume this becomes the largest line on the list. |
| Apps | £10–£50/mo each | The real cost centre. Reviews, subscriptions, upsells, advanced search, loyalty. Stores commonly run eight to fifteen — frequently more than the Shopify subscription itself. |
| Theme | £150–£350once | One-off for a premium theme, if you’re not going fully custom. |
We’ll build you what fits, and part of scoping is working out whether Shopify’s convenience is worth its running cost at your volume and margin. Sometimes it clearly is — hosted, secure, no maintenance burden. Sometimes it clearly isn’t.
We review your catalogue, margins and volume, then agree a fixed scope and price before anything begins.
Collection hierarchy, product taxonomy and URL structure decided first, because these determine your search potential.
Custom design from Growth upward, or a premium theme properly customised at Essential. You approve before build.
Products, payments, shipping, tax, apps, speed optimisation, schema markup and tracking, all before launch.
Redirects mapped on migrations, everything transferred to your name, plus training on running the store.
Shopify probably isn’t right if content marketing is central to your growth, if your margins are thin enough that transaction fees hurt, or if you need checkout customisation that only Shopify Plus allows. WooCommerce may suit you better — we’ll say so before quoting.
Product and collection structure decided at build time is what Shopify SEO in phase two works with — retrofitting a taxonomy after launch means redirects, lost rankings and rework. Tracking installed before launch gives you real baseline data. And forms and customer records built expecting a CRM mean phase three doesn’t require rewiring.
| Feature | Essential | Most Popular Growth | Advanced | Custom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £1,950 | £3,950 | £6,950 | From£12,000 |
| Products | Up to 25 | Up to 100 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Design | Theme, customised | Custom design | Bespoke | Bespoke |
| Included | Payments, shipping, basic SEO | + apps, email flows, ecommerce SEO | + subscriptions, integrations, CRO | + ERP, inventory, multi-market |
| Support | 30 days | 90 days | 6 months | Agreed |
Shopify subscription and app costs are billed to you directly, in your name, at cost.
Get a free store audit. We’ll check speed, app load, product page structure, checkout flow and search readiness, then tell you what’s worth fixing first.
We reply within one working day.
No spam, no pitch deck.