One of the best things about pre-built or templated themes is that they are easy to set up and a store can go live in the shortest possible time. However, stores with specific functionality or unique design requirements often opt for custom theme development.
Let’s take an example here. If a store wants specialized product layout pages or product variations, pre-built themes have limitations. Other cases, advanced navigation (mega menus with product images) or if you want to follow strict branding guidelines.
With the online storefronts becoming the primary resolution when setting up a business and the current scenario also empowering online businesses over the brick and mortar – the IT service providing industry is seeing a lot of changes. Gone are the days when you would have to learn to code or hire service providers for every tweak you wanted to be done on your website.
As of now, E-Commerce service providers that enable you to set up and own your shop have become an ecosystem – offering you with a one-stop solution to beautify and equip your store with everything you need.
However, with such platforms and the number of add on themes, and plugins they offer – Finding and implementing the right one has its own complexities, where sometimes expert assistance from Shopify store professionals is required.
Shopify itself offers themes that cost between $0 to $150 and this is ideal for businesses just starting out. However, if you want tweaks more than what’s offered in a template, you better go for custom Shopify theme development.
Custom Shopify theme development cost depends on where you get your developers from. The exact feature set, custom changes in a pre-built template, or custom development from scratch – all these scenarios have different pricing structures.
In this blog post, we will guide you on the custom Shopify theme development cost.
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US-based developers and other developers cost range
Custom Shopify theme cost greatly depends on the region you are hiring a Shopify developer.
US-based developers cost ranges from $5000 – $15000 depending on whether you are looking for the custom feature set, changes in the pre-purchased template or want a fully customized store.
If you do not hire a developer from US, cost would largely vary from $300 to $5000.
While hiring developers from overseas bear in mind the time zones and what business model you want for your team. This saves your time and a lot of confusion.
Since Phaedra Solutions is a US-based company, we offer 4 business models in order to facilitate clients the best way possible.
- Time and material
- Fixed price
- Resource outsourcing
- Dedicated team
Here is what you need to know about the commonly used time and material model:
Time and Material Contract in Software Development
Freelancers vs Shopify agency
Typically hiring a freelancer is inexpensive but it also comes with its pros and cons. Here, you will miss out the opportunity to work with the team where they share experience in varying niches like marketing, content creation, store conversion and optimization. Whereas, on the other hand with the freelancing, you may be working with 1-2 persons.
Freelancers charge anywhere from $3000-$7000.
Shopify agencies are professional and normally they have Shopify team for performing different tasks. We recommend this option because a agency offers web design, development, and marketing services all in a package. All team members are better sync and produce high quality result. However, this route is expensive but you will get what you expect in most of the cases.
Shopify agency cost anywhere from $10,000-$30,000. (again depending upon the theme and design you are asking for)
Shopify theme development for startup, medium scale and large scale businesses
For a startup, you may need modifications in the pre-existing theme and it may cost you $300-600.
For a medium scale Shopify store, custom theme development can go from $600-1000.
For a large scale Shopify store or for enterprise level custom theme development cost starts from $1000 and goes as high as per the features set.
Does my store need custom Shopify theme development?
If you have a store that sells 2-3 products, you can really use any ecommerce solution. Be it Shopify, Magento, or Woocommerce.
Shopify theme custom development is ideal if you have 100s or 1000s of products to sell or if you are selling in multiple categories.
Here are some reasons why you should go for custom theme.
- Unique design and branding
- Support and maintenance
- Easy to use and navigate
- Make a good first impression
Final verdict
You may pay as little as $100 USD for someone to set up a Shopify theme for your store and as much as $5000-10,000 USD to an agency for custom Shopify theme development. If you choose an agency, we would recommend asking for custom development, there is no point in investing so much money for some simple tweaks in a template.
Hire Shopify team for custom theme development from Phaedra Solutions and build highly scalable and optimized Shopify stores. Setup a call with one of our business analysts for further assistance.
