Shopify developer in Newcastle upon Tyne

An existing theme is a useful starting point when its layouts suit your products and the way customers shop. Customising it keeps the initial work lighter and makes later theme updates simpler. A custom theme gives you more control over the brand and unusual product layouts, but later layout changes need development work. Consider who will maintain those changes before choosing the route.

For a content-led brand or an unusual buying flow, a headless storefront built with Hydrogen or Next.js is another option. The trade-off is that you give up the theme editor, and apps that add features through a theme might not work. It is worth checking the features your staff expect to edit before committing to that approach.

Checkout and payment choices need a separate review. Shopify runs checkout itself: standard customisation works from the Basic plan up, while apps that change the information, shipping and payment steps are limited to Shopify Plus. A third-party payment gateway also carries an extra Shopify transaction fee, even if Shopify Payments is active, so compare the total cost per order when choosing a gateway.

Online customers in the UK must be told about their cancellation rights. We set up a returns policy page with that information as part of the store. If your business is a UK limited company, we also provide space on the site for its registered number, registered office address, place of registration and limited-company status.

Marketing emails to individual customers need permission and an opt-out. We set up the email sign-up and unsubscribe route around those requirements, so you can collect permission and give recipients a way to stop further messages.

Bring the details your team will need to manage the store after handover.

• A Shopify account and plan in your business's own name and billing.
• A product sheet with titles, descriptions, prices, SKUs, barcodes, weights, options and stock per location.
• Consistent product photos for each colour or style, plus size charts, care instructions and specifications.
• Business and bank details for your payment gateway, along with reviewed shipping, returns, privacy and terms policies.
• For a migration, exports of products, customers and orders, plus a list of URLs bringing traffic and sales.

• !

  Skipping migration redirects

  Map old URLs to their new destinations and import the map at launch. Redirects only work from URLs that no longer load a page.

• !

  Adding an app for every small task

  Review scripts and subscriptions before installing. Check theme files for leftover code when removing an app.

• !

  Using inconsistent tags, product types or vendors

  Clean these fields before building automated collections and filters, so products do not appear in the wrong place or disappear.

• !

  Leaving demo wording live

  Check placeholder policies and default notifications before launch, along with any remaining theme demo content.