Shopify or a custom-built store: which fits you?

For most small and growing businesses, Shopify is the right choice for an online store. It handles payments, stock, shipping and security for you, you can launch quickly, and it keeps working as your sales grow. A custom-built store makes sense only when your business works in a way Shopify cannot handle well, such as unusual pricing, complex product setups or close links to your own systems. Even then, many businesses start on Shopify and have custom pieces built around it.

What does Shopify do for you?

Shopify is a ready-made platform for selling online. You pay to use it instead of paying someone to build it. Out of the box it gives you:

• a checkout that takes cards and phone wallets and keeps payment details secure;
• product pages, stock tracking and order management;
• shipping rates, taxes and receipts;
• hosting, security updates and backups, which Shopify runs for you;
• thousands of add-on apps for reviews, subscriptions, email and more.

The checkout matters most. Taking card payments online comes with strict security rules, and a checkout that breaks or feels untrustworthy loses sales. Shopify maintains its checkout for every store on the platform, so you do not pay to build or maintain your own.

This also changes what you pay an agency for. When the platform already handles orders and payments, the agency's time goes into your design, your product pages and how your customers find and buy from you.

What does it cost to run?

Shopify charges a monthly plan fee and a fee on each sale. Many add-on apps charge their own monthly fees on top. Shopify's prices vary by region and change over time, so check Shopify's current pricing page for the plan you are considering before you budget.

Three costs are worth adding up before you decide:

• The plan. Higher plans cost more each month and usually charge less on each sale, so the right plan depends on how much you sell.
• Apps. Each app is usually cheap on its own, but a store with many apps can spend more on them than on the plan. List the apps you would need and add up their fees.
• Design and setup. A theme, product photography, product descriptions and an agency's time to set it all up are one-off costs you pay before launch.

For most stores these running costs are predictable, and they are far lower than paying to build and maintain the same features yourself.

When does a custom build make sense?

A custom store is built from scratch or on a flexible framework, so it can do exactly what you need. It is worth considering when:

• your pricing is unusual, such as quotes for each customer, complex bundles or trade pricing rules;
• your products have more options than a standard store handles well;
• the store must work closely with your own stock, booking or accounting systems;
• you sell at a very large scale, where platform fees add up to more than the cost of running your own store.

The trade-off is cost and responsibility. You pay more to build it, and you are responsible for security, payment rules and updates for as long as the store runs. Those duties do not end at launch. Payment providers change their requirements, browsers change, and security fixes arrive that someone has to apply. On Shopify, Shopify does that work. On a custom store, you pay a developer to do it for as long as the store is open.

A custom build also takes longer to launch, because every feature Shopify gives you on day one has to be designed, built and tested first.

Is there a middle ground?

Yes, and it is often the best answer. Shopify can be extended with custom apps and custom themes. You keep Shopify's secure checkout and admin, and add only the pieces you need.

A custom theme changes how your store looks and how customers move through it. A custom app adds a feature Shopify does not have, or connects your store to another system you use. Either way, your staff still manage orders and products in the Shopify admin they already know.

We have built Shopify apps ourselves. Variant Organizer is a Shopify app for stores with many product options, and Cart+ is a Shopify app that recovers abandoned carts. Both add something a store needs while leaving Shopify to run the checkout, payments and hosting.

This route suits a business that has one or two needs Shopify cannot meet on its own. You pay to build those pieces, and Shopify keeps running everything else.

How do you decide?

Ask yourself:

• Can Shopify, with a few apps, do everything my customers need today?
• Is there something about how I sell that Shopify cannot handle, even with an app or a custom addition?
• Do I have the budget to maintain a custom store for years, not only to build it?

If you answered yes to the first question, start with Shopify. You will launch sooner, spend less and keep the option to add custom pieces later. If you answered yes to the second, check whether a custom app on Shopify covers that gap before you commit to a full custom build. Plan a fully custom store only if you answered yes to the third question as well.

Our e-commerce sites start at $4,500 CAD. If you are unsure which route fits, book a call and we will look at how you sell.