Shopify or Custom? Choosing the Right Foundation
The first real decision in e-commerce is the platform. Shopify is the fastest, most reliable route for most stores — hosted, secure, and endlessly extensible. A fully custom store (or a headless build) makes sense when you have unusual product logic, huge catalogues, or need a bespoke experience Shopify's checkout can't give. We build both, so the recommendation you get is the one that fits your business — not the one we happen to prefer.
What We Build Into a Store
Speed that keeps carts full.
Every second of load time costs conversions. We build fast storefronts and speed-tune product pages — because a store that lags loses the sale before the “add to cart”.
Frictionless checkout.
Fewer steps, more payment options, and abandoned-cart recovery — the checkout is where money is won or lost, so it's where we spend the detail.
Products, inventory & orders.
Catalogue setup, variants, inventory sync, and order management that scales from a launch range to thousands of SKUs without breaking.
Conversion tracking built in.
GA4, pixels, and event tracking wired up from launch — so you're optimising on data, not guesses, from the first sale onward.
What's Included in an E-Commerce Build
A typical e-commerce engagement covers:
Selling on Shopify specifically? See our dedicated Shopify development service for theme, app, and Shopify Plus work.
Built for the Metric That Matters — Revenue
A beautiful store that converts at 0.8% is a worse store than a plain one converting at 2.5%. We build for the outcome: every design and engineering decision is measured against whether it helps someone buy, then verified with real conversion data after launch.
Speed isn't a nice-to-have in e-commerce — it's revenue. A store that loads a second faster converts measurably better, which is why performance is engineered in from the first page, not patched on before launch.
Ideal For
How We Deliver — From First Call to Launch (and After)
No black box. Here's exactly what happens once you bring us in:
Discovery & scoping
A real conversation about the problem, the users, and the constraints — not a sales call. We leave it knowing exactly what needs building and why.
Fixed proposal & quote
You get a plain-English scope document, a timeline, and a fixed price. What's included, what's excluded, and what happens if scope changes — all in writing before any money moves.
Design & architecture
Wireframes, UI, and the technical architecture — database schema, API design, hosting — agreed up front so there are no expensive surprises mid-build.
Build in sprints
Development happens in short, reviewable cycles with a shared board. You see working software early and often, not a single black-box handoff at the end.
QA & testing
Every feature is tested — automated tests plus manual QA on real devices — before it's marked done. Nothing ships on a “works on my machine”.
Launch & handoff
Deployment, performance checks, and a walkthrough. You get the source code, the hosting, and the documentation — full ownership, zero lock-in.
Support & iteration
We stay on for bug fixes, monitoring, and new features on a retainer or ad-hoc basis — whichever fits how your product will actually grow.
How Much Does E-Commerce Development Cost?
E-commerce development cost in the UK depends on platform and complexity. For reference:
| Option | Typical range |
|---|---|
| UK agency — Shopify store | £8,000 – £40,000 |
| UK agency — custom / headless build | £30,000 – £120,000+ |
| Freelance build (variable quality) | £3,000 – £20,000 |
| E-commerce store via Codified Studio | from $1,800 |
The cheapest quote on paper isn't always the cheapest in practice — a low day rate that needs heavy management, or a build that needs redoing, costs more than a fixed scope delivered right the first time. With Codified Studio, pricing is transparent from the first quote: no hidden onboarding fees, no surprise scope creep, and full code ownership at the end.
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Ready to start your e-commerce development project?
Tell us what you're building and we'll come back with a scoped recommendation and a fixed quote — not a generic sales call.