Developing an online shop on the Shopify platform includes not only choosing templates and adding products to it. It means that the website should be professional-looking, it should have a good navigation, it should be mobile-friendly, there should be a payment system included, it should be optimized and, finally, it should be a convenient online shop where people can buy products.
Thus, the choice of a good Shopify development company is a very important issue for any organization which plans to create an ecommerce store.
There are a lot of such companies in India which offer different services, packages and skill levels. But before you choose one of them, you need to define your needs and check if the company can meet them.
What Is a Shopify Development Company?
A Shopify development agency assists businesses with building, designing, updating, and optimizing their Shopify eCommerce websites.
Based on what a Shopify development agency is working on, some of the things that they can be involved in include:
- Shopify website development
- Theme customizations
- Customized Shopify sections
- Shopify Liquid development
- Product and collection creation
- Payment gateway implementation
- Shipping setup
- Third-party apps implementation
- Unique features creation
- Website migration
- Mobile-friendly website design
The right development agency should know how to blend business and technical sides of Shopify.
1. Understand Your Shopify Store Requirements First
A Shopify development agency assists businesses with building, designing, updating, and optimizing their Shopify eCommerce websites.
Based on what a Shopify development agency is working on, some of the things that they can be involved in include:
- Shopify website development
- Theme customizations
- Customized Shopify sections
- Shopify Liquid development
- Product and collection creation
- Payment gateway implementation
- Shipping setup
- Third-party apps implementation
- Unique features creation
- Website migration
- Mobile-friendly website design
- Website speed optimization
- SEO-friendly website structure
- Shopify website maintenance
The right development agency should know how to blend business and technical sides of Shopify.
2. Check Their Shopify Experience
Experience is one of the main aspects to be considered while choosing a development company.
Find out about their experience with Shopify stores and whether they have worked on similar projects before.
For instance, in case your business runs a fashion store, the developers should know everything about the ecommerce features that include the variants of products, collections, size charts, filters, banners, mobile purchases, etc.
In case you require some customizing, ask about their experience with Shopify Liquid, custom sections, meta fields, APIs, etc.
Review Their Portfolio
Always make sure that you know what this company has done previously.
Portfolio will give you an idea about:
- Quality of design
- Mobile compatibility
- Usability
- Experience of customizing Shopify
- Structure of product page
- Navigation
- Design of collection page
- Functionalities that can be added
Don’t just look at the screenshots. Ideally, try visiting those websites and testing them on desktop and mobile devices.
3. Look for Shopify Ecommerce Development Expertise
A Shopify store should not only look attractive. It should also support your ecommerce objectives.
A Shopify Ecommerce Development Company in Delhi may provide services ranging from basic store setup to complete ecommerce development.
Before hiring a company, ask whether they can handle the complete development process, including:
- Store configuration
- Theme customization
- Product setup
- Collection setup
- Custom functionality
- Payment integration
- Shipping integration
- SEO setup
- Analytics
- Testing
- Launch support
Having one experienced team handle multiple parts of the project can make communication and project management easier.
4. Check the Shopify Development Services They Offer
Different companies provide different levels of services.
For example, a Shopify Development Company in Janakpuri may provide you with:
- Development of Shopify stores
- Theme customization for Shopify
- Shopify custom development
- Liquid development in Shopify
- Shopify migration services
- Integration of apps to Shopify
- Integration of API in Shopify
- SEO of Shopify
- Maintenance of Shopify
- Ecommerce consultancy
If your business operates in Delhi, a local Shopify Development Company will help you communicate better.
Businesses seeking a development partner locally may contact a Shopify Development Company in Janakpuri Delhi when they need development, customization, and support locally in Delhi.
5. Discuss Mobile Responsiveness
A large number of ecommerce visitors browse stores using smartphones.
Therefore, your Shopify store should provide a good experience across:
- Mobile phones
- Tablets
- Laptops
- Desktop computers
Ask the development company to test important pages on different screen sizes.
Pay particular attention to the homepage, navigation menu, product page, collection page, cart, and checkout experience.
6. Consider Website Speed and Performance
A well-designed website won’t do much if the customers must wait for the pages to load.
In the course of developing the website, you can request from the company to adhere to performance best practices.
Some of which might be:
- Optimized images
- Theme customization
- Limited use of unnecessary scripts
- Proper applications chosen
- Code optimization
- Website responsiveness
- Third party integration optimization
You might also want to inquire about performance testing before launching the website.
7. Ask About SEO-Friendly Development
Shopify development and SEO should work together.
A development company should understand basic ecommerce SEO requirements such as:
- SEO-friendly URLs
- Page titles
- Meta descriptions
- Heading structure
- Image alt text
- Internal linking
- Canonical URLs
- Structured data
- XML sitemap
- Robots.txt configuration
- Mobile responsiveness
- Website performance
If you are targeting a local market, discuss location-based SEO requirements with the development team as well.
8. Compare Pricing Carefully
The development price of Shopify projects may differ widely according to their nature.
A plain theme installation may be considerably cheaper than an absolutely custom-built Shopify site.
The price may depend on:
- Demands for design;
- Amount of pages;
- Theme choice;
- Necessity of custom development;
- The amount of goods offered;
- The number of integrations;
- The demands for payment gateways;
- The shipping set-up;
- The use of apps;
- The need for migration;
- The SEO service;
- The maintenance work.
Don’t simply pick the firm with the lowest price.
Request the quotation and make sure you understand the entire scope of work.
9. Check Communication and Project Management
Good communication can have a great impact on your website project.
Before you begin the project, consider:
- Who will your contact person be?
- How often will you get updates?
- How are you going to deal with the revisions?
- What will happen if the project scope changes?
- How are you going to report any technical issues?
- How are you going to report any technical issues?
Shopify Development Company vs Freelancer
Freelancer and the company both can be correct based on the nature of the project.
Sometimes a freelancer may be correct when you require some customizations and development work from their side.
A development company should be preferred when several specialists need to be included in the process of your project like designers, developers, integrations, testing, and many more.
Everything depends upon your project.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much will the development of my Shopify store cost me in India?
It depends on the design, page count, theme customization, custom functionality, integration, products and other requirements. Customization usually comes at a higher price tag compared to a simple Shopify store.
How much time will it take to develop a Shopify store?
It depends on the complexity of the project. Simpler store can be completed in a shorter time, whereas complicated custom designs, integration, larger product catalog and more complex functionality may require more development time.
Should I hire a Shopify developer or development company?
Depends on your requirements. You may need a freelance developer for smaller projects, whereas a development company can help you out in larger projects where you may need multiple services.
Is it possible to customize Shopify?
Yes. It is possible to customize the Shopify store using themes, Shopify Liquid, custom sections, meta fields, apps, APIs and other development methodologies.
What things do I have to check before hiring a Shopify development company?
Final Thoughts
Selecting the appropriate Shopify development agency in India is not just about considering the pricing alone. You have to look into factors like the experience in Shopify, portfolio, technological expertise, communication, development approach, pricing, and support post-launch.
Regardless of whether you wish to launch an ecommerce platform or enhance your existing Shopify website, having your business requirements set in stone can lead you to a development agency that gets what your business is all about.