Shopify & Ecommerce
Shopify stores, built properly and looked after
Anyone can spin up a Shopify store, it's such a powerful platform that we at Abyss love to work with. The hardest part is building a store that appeals to your potential customers and converts traffic to sales! A store that gets you ranking well on google and having the advice on hand to help you bring your dream to reality.
At Abyss, we like to work alongside you as a partner for your store. We develop the theme and the core integrations you need to get your shop up and running, and we stay working alongside you to either manage the store, or be a technical partner you can call upon when the store needs to do something that isn't available out of the box.
That means that we also care about the parts that don't show up in a proposal; how the theme is structured so future changes don't turn into archaeology, and how the integrations you rely on keep working without you having to think about them. We bring our knowledge from software engineering and building ecommerce store from scratch to shopify!
A shopify store isn't really a website, it's your business's entire online presence. It's often the only thing that actually generates revenue for your business. When there's an issue on your site at 5pm on a friday or a theme update quietly stops the add-to-cart button working on mobile, that's money leaving while you sleep. Most of what we do is making sure that doesn't happen, and being reachable when it does.
What we cover
Store builds & theme development
New stores and custom theme development, built around you and your brand, how you actually sell rather than a generic template. It's your business and your brand, and we want to work alongside you to develop a store that we're both proud of.
Migrations & replatforming
Moving off WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, or a custom ecommerce platform onto Shopify, with data integrity checked at every step, proper URL redirect maps, and rankings preserved rather than reset to zero; the riskiest part.
Integrations with your business systems
Connecting Shopify to what already runs the business: ERP, fulfilment and 3PL, accounting, CRM, and stock management. Most merchants have the data they need already, it's just sitting in four systems that don't speak to each other and someone is keying it between them by hand.
Custom Shopify apps
Custom apps for the logic that shopify doesn't do out of the box, or doesn't do without three subscriptions and a workaround. Also useful when an off-the-shelf app almost fits but the last 10% is the bit your business actually depends on.
Speed & conversion
Slow stores lose sales, hurt search engine rankings, and Shopify themes accumulate bloat fast once a few apps are installed. You often don't notice it as it doesn't happen over night. Core Web Vitals, page speed, and the practical conversion work on product and checkout pages. These are metrics we measure our development against.
B2B, wholesale & selling internationally
Wholesale and trade customers who need their own pricing, accounts, and terms, alongside selling into other countries with the currencies, tax handling, and storefronts that go with it. Both add real complexity, so they're worth setting up properly rather than bolting on.
Subscriptions & retention
Subscription products and the repeat-purchase side of a store. We have the knowledge and expertise to be able to advise you. Winning the second order is always cheaper than winning the first, so keeping existing customers is paramount to a successful shopify store.
Ongoing management & ownership
Theme and app updates tested before they go near your live store, conversion monitoring and general on-going store analysis, the change requests that come up month to month, technical SEO, and a peak-season readiness check before Black Friday. Plus being the person who picks up when something breaks. Not a fixed package; it flexes to what your store actually needs, when it needs it.
How it works
Scope
We look at the store as it actually is today (if it already exists!), not as a generic checklist, so the plan fits your brand, your catalogue, your traffic, and the systems you already depend on.
Build, migrate or manage
Work happens in phases with clear milestones that are set out at the forefront of the project, whether that's a new build, a migration or taking over management, so you're never staring at a black box until launch day.
Stay on
Once it's live, we like to stay on as a partner for you and your business; monitoring, changes, and being a partner you can rely on when needed.
What's included
- New builds and custom theme development
- Migrations with redirects and rankings preserved
- Integrations with your ERP, 3PL, accounting and CRM
- Speed and conversion work on product and checkout
- Theme and app updates tested before they go live
- Someone who picks up when checkout breaks
Ways to work with us
No fixed packages, because every business is different - these are the shapes an engagement usually takes. We'll scope the detail, timeline, and cost with you before anything starts.
Store build
A new store, built properly.
- Custom theme around how you sell
- Fast and conversion-focused
- Integrated with your systems
Migration
Move to Shopify safely.
- Data integrity checked at every step
- Redirects and rankings preserved
- Phased, with clear milestones
Ongoing management
We own the store after launch.
- Updates tested before going live
- Checkout and uptime monitoring
- Peak-season readiness checks
Frequently asked questions
I already have a Shopify store - can you just take over from here?+
Yes, that's a really common starting point. We don't need to develop a store from scratch to take it on. We're happy to take on ongoing changes and management without needing to rebuild anything that's already working. After all, if it's not broke, don't fix it!
Can you migrate us to Shopify without losing our search rankings?+
This is a very common concern from businesses looking to migrate away from their current ecommerce platform. It's a big risk in any migration, and it is avoidable with the right process. If a migration is what you're looking for, we'll walk you through the entire process before anything starts, so you're aware of the risks before you commit!
We already own a shopify store, and we're just looking for some custom work to be done. Is this something you can do?+
Absolutely! If you just have a one off piece of work you need completing, get in touch and we can bring your idea to reality together. We don't need to manage your store to do custom work for you.
If we have you develop our new store, what actually happens after the store launches?+
In most situations, clients want us to stay on to assist them with ongoing maintenance and general business as usual duties. In practice that means ongoing theme updates and custom work on a regular basis, monitoring so we know about any issues before your customers tell you, the changes that come up as you trade, and a readiness check before peak season. That's the difference between us and an agency handover. If you don't need us, that's fine as well! We'll always be at the end of the phone in case of an emergency.
Do you work with Shopify Plus?+
Yes, including the higher-volume and higher-complexity builds that come with it, though most stores don't need Plus and we'll say so if yours doesn't.
Is Shopify always the right choice?+
No. If you need something Shopify genuinely can't do well, or you're already committed to a stack it doesn't fit into cleanly, we'll tell you that upfront rather than force the platform to fit. Being honest about that is worth more to you than another Shopify build we shouldn't have talked you into.
Our store is slow. Can that be fixed, or do we need rebuilding?+
A slow store can almost always be fixed, and a rebuild is rarely the answer. Most slow Shopify stores got that way gradually; a stack of apps each injecting their own scripts, oversized images or poorly optimised images, a theme carrying features nobody uses any more. A fair amount of that can be stripped out without touching how the store looks. We can provide an site audit for you, so we can workout what's causing the issues, and how we'll fix it. We'll tell you what's realistically recoverable and what's baked into the theme before you spend anything, because occasionally the honest answer is that the theme is the problem.
Can you set us up for wholesale customers or selling into other countries?+
Yes, absolutely. Wholesale means trade customers getting their own pricing, accounts, and terms without your retail customers seeing any of it. International means currencies, tax handling, and deciding whether you want separate storefronts per market or one that adapts. Neither is a switch you flip; they change how your catalogue, pricing, and fulfilment work, so they're worth planning rather than retrofitting once orders are already coming in.
Can you add subscriptions to our store?+
Yes. Often subscriptions support are available as an off the shelf solution. These solutions can be costly overtime though, and if your store is big enough you might be wanting to handle it yourself. We can provide you the advice you need, so give us a call and we can have a chat.
What does a Shopify project cost, and what are the ongoing costs?+
The cost really depends on scope; the size of the store, the number of pages you need, does it include custom app development or is it just small tweaks to your existing store. Because of this, we can't give standard figures, but before you commit to any project with us, we'll provide you with a quote with costs and relevant milestones outlined. If you just want a ballpark figure, give us a call and we'll be able to roughly ballpark a figure with some project information.