Our age is the golden era for commercial business, as it offers unlimited access to numerous tools and solutions to help manage online businesses regardless of location and time. As long as the majority of businesses are building their presence in both online and offline dimensions, it creates an increased demand for solutions that help to manage all the points of commercial presence.
One of the leading E-commerce platforms to offer their services is Shopify, which gives a successful start to every small business. However, when getting to know the platform, the subscription plans, and the offered opportunities, more and more business owners consider the idea of a customized website development to create a unique brand and company image.
How to find the developers who can make your dream vision come true, and what is the list of their must-have characteristics? Let’s explore together.
Table of Contents
What Is Shopify?
Shopify is a multinational E-commerce solution that helps to create, run, and grow online stores. Shopify is like a centralized hub where all the points of E-commerce (including brick-and-mortar stores, pop-up shops, and social media marketplaces) are unified. Shopify offers efficient performance and functionality for both business newbies and seasoned merchants. According to statistics, current users make over 4.36 million.
What Are the Options for Businesses?
Shopify is a user-friendly platform, as it offers an intuitive layout and comprehensive tools, which simplifies the user’s experience. Business starters who don’t possess enough skills in programming and coding can subscribe to a basic plan with predefined features of the store. Such a mode will be just enough for a small business and an efficient online performance.
However, when long-term development is in question, and there is a need to customize the store according to the individual vision of the brand, it is recommended to subscribe to a customizable plan and hire a team of developers who offer E-commerce services and help to create a unique website, which will ‘talk’ to the customers on behalf of the business owner.
What Do the Shopify Developers Do?
Source: weblyticlabs.com
The main purpose of Shopify developers is to create a unique online store for the customer and ensure its smooth functionality. The developers are responsible for:
- Developing payment gateways
- Creating custom themes
- Building applications and adding plugins to meet business requirements
- Integrating third-party APIs
- Troubleshooting and technical support, etc.
When there is a team of developers for your online store, there are unlimited opportunities regarding the individual style of the store and brand evolution.
How Do You Hire a Development Team?
Our society is blessed with the ability to choose. Regardless of what we require, there are always numerous options to select from. However, such freedom has a significant downside — constant doubts about the choice since there are too many companies with sweet promises, yet the outcome is always under question.
We have gathered the most significant features to consider when choosing a developer for Shopify web design & development. Let’s have a closer look at them.
Level of Expertise
The first and foremost thing to consider is the level of developers’ knowledgeability, proven by the number of successful projects of a similar type. The team of developers can present a decent knowledge of the E-commerce world and the way it functions, an understanding of the documentation, payment methods, design options, etc.
Oftentimes, the expertise of the company is defined by its size. However, it’s the least viable approach to follow. Big companies have a lot more expenses to maintain their departments and teams of workers, while middle-sized ones have a smaller network of employees, which can influence price formation.
The decent level of the team’s expertise also depends on the number of junior, middle, and senior developers. The higher the position, the higher the price for development.
Our advice — don’t look for cheap offers, as there is a high chance of mistakes, and thus, a need to re-hire another team to correct and improve the functionality of the store.
Ability to listen
The ability to listen is key to understanding. The clients should be free in their ‘wantings’, and be as clear as possible when presenting their vision. The team of developers needs to hear all the requirements and offer the best solutions and services to satisfy them.
A successful cooperation is a two-way street, where each party is interested in the best outcome. Not only do the developers need to listen to the clients, but the clients need to give thought to the expert’s advice as well. Considering a rich experience in the customization of E-commerce solutions, the developers may sometimes offer a better and more efficient solution.
Case studies
A case study related to the Shopify store customization is one of the easiest to verify by simply visiting the website mentioned on the portfolio and analyzing the user’s experience. Check all the examples given in the portfolio, as it will help to define if the company’s services can fulfill the customer’s expectations.
Pricing Structure
Source: raoinformationtechnology.com
Pricing can often be a decisive option, as those who are on a relatively low budget will find it difficult to afford a top-class developer’s team. However, who would know better than the people of commerce that quality should never be compromised by low prices? Low cost and top quality never match in real life. Therefore, when the long-term business functioning is one of the main goals – custom development of the store is the first and best investment to consider.
A lot of startuppers consider customization as an unnecessary and expensive option, as it’s always possible to start with basic patterns and options offered by Shopify. Yet, such an attitude will never help to create a brand, with its philosophy, principles, and values. When you opt for the standard patterns — you choose the way of being one of many. Yet, when you decide on customization — you create your unique online existence.
Pricing is never set in stone, the final cost will depend on the complexity of the work, the number of things to create, time frames, and the level of developers’ competence.
Time frames
When choosing a company developer, it is also important to consider the time frames they offer, as it helps to see the big picture.
Oftentimes, less-experienced teams agree on very short timing for development, aiming to retain the client; however, it can lead to numerous mistakes and faulty store functioning. As a result, there will be a need to correct all the bugs, which will again take time and bring a high level of dissatisfaction to the business owner.
Instead, consider cooperation with companies that offer genuine and reasonable timing, as it is the best protection against hasty mistakes, imperfection, and incompleteness of the project.
Testimonials and reviews
One of the best features the Internet can offer us is the availability of information. Having narrowed down the list of potential candidates, it is important to read the testimonials about their work by other clients. All the mentioned bits and pieces should be taken into account, as it helps to see the way the company delivers its responsibilities. Apart from checking up on the hard skills, it is also worth tracing the soft skills of the team and their ability to communicate and hear the requests of the clients.
The reviews should be checked on all the possible platforms like Google, Linkedin, Clutch, Facebook, Instagram, TrustPilot, etc. While expecting mostly positive reviews, be also ready for occasional bad ones, as some people tend to be rather non-cooperative, red-flagging everyone who doesn’t fit their vision.
Individual perception
The last but not the least important thing is your gut feeling. It may seem a rather weird criterion in the whole list of more ‘serious’ options. However, it matters as well. Certain types of personalities simply can’t make contact with each other. When the team of developers presents a decent experiential load, however, you don’t seem to be finding a common language. It isn’t recommended to go along with them. Cooperation based on mutual misunderstanding will never lead to success.
Types of Shopify Stores
While the choice of the developers is the key to the impeccable functioning of the shop, the knowledgeability of the contractor is the key concept of the whole cooperation. Before contacting the developers, it is important to get acquainted with the options of Shopify, to have a clear vision of the type of a store to develop.
There are four types of Shopify stores — general store, niche store, single-product store, and hybrid store. Each type has its own specific features, which are important to consider.
General Shopify Stores
General stores are cover-it-alls, as they offer a variety of products from different niches and follow a dropshipping structure. Almost every buyer can find something useful since there are numerous positions covered. One major advantage is a lack of need to do market research, trying to outline the needs of the target audience. However, some buyers may consider such an approach as non-specific and rather generic.
The cases of usage:
- Entrepreneurs who are on a limited marketing budget.
- Conservative entrepreneurs who have a low-risk tolerance.
- People who have little or no experience in E-commerce.
Niche Shopify Stores
Source: bestfulfill.com
Niche stores are more specific compared to general ones. They also follow a dropshipping structure, yet, they build their brand around a specific industry. Niche stores gain more credibility among buyers regarding the knowledge of the assistants and the quality of goods. Under a well-performed marketing strategy, a niche store is bound to attract a wide audience of loyal customers.
Despite a rather positive foundation for growth, the niche stores are still quite risky to start, as they require the full devotion of the owners, a well-developed brand style, principles of work, tone of voice, market research, specific promotion strategies, etc.
The cases of usage:
- Risk-taking investors, who support every challenging idea.
- Entrepreneurs who are experienced in market research and promotion techniques.
- Dropshippers with affordable advertising costs.
Single-Product Shopify Stores
As the name says, the store is entirely dedicated to a single product with all the possible modifications regarding the sizes, colors, editions, etc. Single-product stores attract a very specific target audience, and thus, well-conducted market research, however, they also bring the best conversion rates by the loyal supporters of the brand.
Since the whole shopping experience is dedicated to one product, the marketing approach can’t be less than perfect — high-level website development, professional photos, sophisticated ads, etc.
The cases of usage:
- Risk takers and innovators, who are afraid to go all-in.
- Entrepreneurs with a solid understanding of E-commerce and market research.
- Those who are in a favorable financial position.
Hybrid Shopify Stores
A hybrid store is a more flexible option, which allows businesses to create a strong brand while overlapping the niches and the customers. It is a smart approach as it gives the chance to try and test the chosen niches, and then adjust the shop to a specific one.
Takeaways
- A customized Shopify store takes more investment and time, yet it is a chance to establish a distinctive online store.
- The team of developers possesses a great deal of knowledge and experience regarding Shopify store development. However, they are also skillful with other E-commerce solutions and understand the benefits and downsides of each one.
- The cost of customization is never low, as quality, knowledge, and experience don’t tolerate haggling.
- When having the introductory meeting, it is important to be very clear with your vision of the product and listen to the advice from the developers. Considering their years of accomplishments, they may offer a few worthy solutions and suggestions.
- Every development case mentioned in the portfolio should be double-checked, as well as the reviews of the clients.
- Avoid sweet promises regarding the timing and low expenses, as the outcome is likely to be rather defective.
E-commerce is in full swing nowadays, as there are all the necessary tools to organize and manage business most efficiently. Make sure you dedicate enough time to the search and choose the team that will materialize your vision of the online store.
