Since its launch in 2006, Shopify has gone from strength-to-strength. Today, it is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms in the market because its super easy for online retailers to build their own web stores. With hosting and a zillion apps all included in this one handy platform Shopify is coming out trumps ahead of other ecommerce platforms. Add in the ability to not just sell wares via an online store, but to also be able to easily connect with other online marketplaces and social media sites, the numbers of brands using Shopify will continue to rise.

In terms of website design Shopify also makes it easy by offering many stylish themes that are updated frequently. It doesn’t matter if you are a small, medium or a larger inventory ecommerce venture you’ll undoubtedly find the best fit look for your business’ demeanour within Shopify.

Key points to look out for before setting up your online store…
Make your website easy to use
Look at your site from a customer’s perspective and ask how can the buying journey be easier and faster? Is your site going to suit all devices such as tablets, mobiles as well as the desktop version? Additionally, think about choosing easy-to-read fonts/headers, adding in large buttons that are easy to see and click on and monitor the number of words by concentrating on adding more beautifully- styled photos.

Pick a relevant design theme to suit your business
Think hard about how you want to visually represent your business. The way your website looks is crucial to your online store’s success, synergy authenticity with your business’ main aims and vision is vital.

Host with Shopify 
If you go with the hosting that is provided within the Shopify platform, then you are winning. In-house hosting will give you an inclusive price, a fast, reliable host and one that uses a Content Distribution Network (CDN) opening a huge international window for your store across a network of global servers.
A faster loading site is always best 
A speedy website is a hot topic du jour. The faster your ecommerce website loads all the better for your sale figures because this internet climate continues to become fiercely competitive. Read our Best ways to optimise your eccomerce site for speed blog (link) to get all the tips on how to do this successfully.

Images are always important
Make sure your pics are super professional and singing off your webpages. While your website is running at its optimum, visually photos are your main tool for selling your products. For example, if your business is fashion based or food based, to build a gallery full of beautiful product photos hiring a good photographer is certainly something to think about.

Top 5 Shopify themes in 2020

1. Out of The Sandbox – Turbo and Flex 
A third-party Shopify theme package created by ‘Out of the Sandbox’ includes themes like Turbo and Flex. These are great for high volume, larger online stores (including Shopify Plusretailers) because they are multipurpose, reliable, hardy and just have an edge in design. Turbo enables retailers and developers to build online stores easily and quickly for their clients which load super-fast. With in-built mega menus, Turbo also has additional template pages to accommodate ‘About us’ narrative and other business content like team member profiles. Brands using Turbo include
Flex is a top Shopify theme that also falls under this umbrella that can be designed in so many different layouts. It is known for its precise control of settings and advanced custom CSS which can be easily be added in. With around 13 styles, four header and four footer designs plus many other distinctive styles for items like buttons, Flex is popular with online merchants selling fashion, food and home décor.

2. Pixel Union – Super Store and Atlantic
 Created by Pixel Union, this package contains themes like Superstore and Atlantic which are perfect for online retailers to use to build stores which boost sales and give a brand a strong profile. The Superstore theme is good for high-volume stores, such as make-up brands, that require a strong looking and well-performing website. Feature include: Strong navigation; tons of flexible design and layout options; predictive live search; speed boosting features; AJAX technology for fast collection filtering; ability to promote sales with slick promotion sections; dynamic highlights banner design and easy editing of code.

Atlantic is known as a classic and clean theme that has been around for ages but continues its popularity. Due to its flexible nature, this theme assists online retailers to grow their ecommerce businesses even if their websites are kept minimal. Optimised for larger inventories, Atlantic also includes quick buy options for customers, a live search, multi-column menu and a site-wide header which is easily modified to suit any website. Customer support is fast and always available.

3. Underground Media – Icon 
Allowing ecommerce business owners the absolute freedom to create an online store just how they like is what Underground themes are made to do. Using themes in this package such as Icon will totally give a store website a personalised look that will fit any brand like a glove. Icon is perfect to use for an online store that is image heavy or relies on photography to sells its wares successfully. Its theme style names are Christian, Dolce, Yves and Vera. Highlights of Icon: easy to build a gallery of photos that can link to central products with hotspots; multi-column menu which drops down to feature prominent product items and innovative layout designs for additional webpages containing extra business info.

4. WeTheme – Envy and Flow 
This suite of themes was developed by WeTheme so that web merchants can optimise their online stores to high performance and better conversion of visitors to retaining customers resulting in higher sale figures. Let’s look at Envy’s features first—four clean styles (Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Gothenburg) which are all excellent for regular promotion of certain products to see how sales are increasing. By utilising tools such as marketing popups, a multi-level menu for easy site navigation, sale banners, large selection of colours and styles, slideshows for showing many products with images on homepage, product image zoom and easy adjustability across devices, social media icons and so much more, it’s clear that Envy will effortlessly give your website the winning edge above competitors. 

Flow is another style from WeTheme that produces sharp and uncluttered online stores. One of its main highlights is a homepage video that can powerfully tell your brand’s story via a short and sharp YouTube or Vimeo clip. Other features include a brick-style product grid, promo banner, slide-out cart, a dedicated sidebar for your collection webpage and a longer-style design for your homepage.

5. Maestrooo – Prestige 
With luxury, high end fashion brands in mind Maestrooo developed the Prestige theme for Shopify. The theme’s gorgeous styles - Allure, Couture and Vogue present your brand in a stylish design format along with clever tools like a built-in timeline and high-tech optimisation to highlight your fancy product with large, high resolution product photography. Easy to configure and with fast responding customer support, Prestige will allow customers to easily navigate even the larger online store inventories.

Call us today to discuss your website project today!