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. See the work we've delivered or tell us what you're building.
Get a Tailored QuoteFrequently Asked Questions
Shopify for most stores — it's faster to launch, hosted, secure, and extensible enough for the vast majority of businesses. Go custom or headless when you have unusual product logic, a very large catalogue, or need a checkout experience Shopify can't give. We build both and recommend based on your business, not our preference.
Yes — migrations are common work. We move products, customers, orders, and (carefully) your SEO — with redirects in place so you don't lose rankings in the switch. We audit the current store first so nothing gets lost in transit.
Yes. We start with an audit — speed, checkout flow, product pages, tracking — then give you a prioritised list of fixes ranked by likely impact on revenue. Most stores we take over have quick wins hiding in load time and checkout friction.
Projects are priced in USD and invoiced via Payoneer or Elevate Pay — no international wire fees, no currency surprises. Fixed-price projects run 50% deposit to start, 50% on delivery, against a plain-English scope document agreed before any money changes hands.
100%. Source code, assets, hosting credentials, and domains are all transferred to you at handoff, with documentation. You're never locked into us for maintenance — everything is yours.
Shopify for most stores, custom where the model genuinely doesn't fit. Shopify handles payments, PCI compliance, hosting and checkout — rebuilding that from scratch is expensive and rarely wins. Custom e-commerce development earns its cost with unusual pricing logic, deep ERP integration, marketplace or multi-vendor models, or B2B ordering rules no platform supports. We scope which one you actually need before quoting, and we'll talk you out of custom when Shopify would do.
Related Services
Would a dedicated developer suit you better?
A fixed-scope project works best when you know what you need built. If the work is ongoing, or you already have a team that just needs more capacity, embedding one of our developers full-time is usually the cheaper route.
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.