When building an online store for your business, the look and feel is as important as the products you sell. While the excitement of launching your first online store is immense, choosing between a pre-made theme and a custom design can be challenging. It is also the most important decision that you will make while establishing your brand online.
While the pre-built Shopify themes offer a quick start with over 70 free themes and thousands of premium options, custom designs promise unlimited possibilities with tailored branding and features. So the question remains: Which path should you take for your brand?
In this comprehensive guide we will reveal the real difference between pre-built Shopify themes and custom designs, and help you make the right choice that best fits your brand’s needs.
Because customers value trust, identity, and experience over everything else. Think about the last time you visited an online store. Did you trust it instantly, or did something about how the store looked make a difference? It takes less than a second for any user to form an impression of a website, so if your store looks outdated, poorly built, or hard to navigate, any potential customers might leave instantly for any number of reasons.
Your storefront is the first thing customers see, and it plays a crucial role in building trust and brand identity. A polished design makes your brand look legitimate and more reliable, whereas easy navigation and intuitive layouts help in enhancing user experience.
A clear design also helps businesses establish a clear brand identity and enable smoother navigation till checkout, thereby increasing the conversion rates.
This makes choosing between a bespoke Shopify theme and pre-built Shopify themes more important than ever in establishing your brand’s presence online.
These are pre-built templates either created by Shopify or by third-party developers, available for instant usage. These include styling, layouts, functionalities and more which you can customize with the choice of content, branding, and colors. Types of Themes Available in Shopify
Shopify’s pre-built themes are available in two forms - Free and Premium.
Free Themes: Shopify offers around 70 free themes that cover the needs of various industries. New businesses that are only starting off on their online journey leverage these themes to create basic websites at minimal cost.
Premium Themes: These are usually third party themes that developers sell on Shopify for a price. These could range anywhere from $100 to $350 depending on the features offered in them. The difference between these and the free themes apart from the price lies in the quality of designs, features, and customization options.
Bespoke Shopify themes offer businesses the opportunity to build their own completely unique website from scratch. Businesses can tailor every element from layout and navigation to user experience and functionality as per their choice and business need. You can also control the Custom Shopify themes cost by only choosing the features that you require.
Now that we have weighed in the pros and cons of both Shopify themes and custom designs, choosing the right one should be an easy process.
However, if you are still confused about making the choice, here is TLDR that would make the job easy -
Go with Shopify themes if,
Choose Custom Designs if,
Having read through the above, one may wonder that if both approaches offer something for every business, why not get the best of both worlds? Well, here’s the secret: you don’t always have to choose one extreme or the other. Many businesses start with a theme and gradually layer in customizations. This is another great advantage of using Shopify as an e-commerce development platform. So start with a premium theme so you can launch quickly, then later on when you have established your presence with your online store, hire a Shopify website development services provider like Amhwiz to customize certain features, and gradually evolve into a fully customized design.
When it comes to Shopify themes vs custom design, there is no one answer that would fit every situation. While pre-built Shopify themes may appear promising to some businesses, others may find custom designs enticing. While themes are quick, convenient, affordable, and perfect for anyone getting started, custom designs take time and are usually perfect for established businesses that can invest a significant amount towards developing a custom website.
The best way ahead is to understand and analyze your present business requirements while keeping future requirements in mind. You could start simple and gradually move on to custom solutions as your business grows.
You could also partner with Amwhiz, a leading Shopify website development agency, to create a shopping experience that builds trust, reflects your brand’s values, and drives measurable results. After all, the goal isn’t to just make your store look good, but to create a space that brings lasting value to your business.