Hiring A Shopify Dev Agency: How Much Does It Cost?

You’re planning on opening up an online store and have settled on Shopify as your chosen platform. Congratulations — you’re one step closer to running your new business! While Shopify offers a great choice of premade templates, there are thousands of other stores out there using them. To make sure your business succeeds, you need to stand out from the masses and a Shopify dev agency can help you get there.

But can you afford to hire a Shopify dev agency? It sounds a bit cheesy, but when you really look into it, a better question to ask may be: “Can you afford not to hire a Shopify dev agency?”

If you skimp on things and use a standard, premade Shopify template, you run the risk of your online store getting lost in the masses and failing. But if you hire a Shopify development agency, you’re laying the foundation for a one-of-a-kind online store that will stick in your customers’ minds and provide them with a unique experience.

Why Hire a Shopify Dev Agency?

Plenty of people design and maintain their own online stores with Shopify. So why would you even consider hiring a Shopify dev agency to do something you’re totally capable of doing yourself?

Not only will an agency help you concentrate on other aspects of your business that need your time, but they’ll also create a one-of-a-kind website that’s better than anything you could ever hope to create. It will be worlds apart from the basic websites newbies have thrown together themselves.

A Shopify dev agency will help you with:

• Customizing premade themes
• Building new themes from scratch
• Turning PSD files into Shopify themes
• Search Engine Optimization
• Migrating your online store from another platform
• Integrating payment gateways
• Creating and implementing custom graphics
• Third-party API integration
• Ongoing store maintenance and support

You may think you can take care of a few of the above jobs on your own. But unless you’re an experienced Shopify developer, you’ll definitely struggle to deal with Shopify’s code yourself.

Shopify Code

Shopify’s template code is known as Liquid, and unless you’re fluent in it, you won’t be able to make many custom changes to your online store yourself. By editing Liquid, you can totally customize your online store, changing design elements and adding functionalities that the basic theme doesn’t include.

By editing and adding to Liquid, you can make your online store do whatever you want to. At the same time, you can also completely break your online store with the click of a mouse.

If you accidentally break your online store, you need to be knowledgeable enough to fix it. If you’re not confident or comfortable enough to fix your mistake, you’ll wind up paying a Shopify dev expert to fix it for you. Depending on the complexity of your error, this could really eat into your eCommerce budget.

It’s a much better idea to put your money to good use and hire a Shopify dev agency from the beginning. These agencies are made up of Shopify experts who know everything there is to know about Liquid. They also know exactly how to fix any mistakes they make.

How Much Does it Cost?

How much the services of a Shopify dev agency cost depends on how complicated you want your online store to be. If you’re just interested in a custom template and graphics, you can expect to pay as little as $500-$1,000. But if you want a fully custom-designed Shopify website, you’ll need to set aside a little more of your budget.

Shopify development agencies charge $5,000-$15,000 for a complete Shopify website built exactly how you want it. The more complex and intricate the project, the more money you can expect to spend.

Here’s a breakdown to give you a better idea of how much you can expect to pay:

Basic Small Website

The cheapest way to work with a Shopify dev agency is to go with an MVP (minimal variable product) website. This involves selecting an available store template and asking the agency to adapt it to suit your business needs and brand. An MPV website is the best choice if you’ve got a small budget to work with, you want to get started ASAP, and you want a professional website.

Template price: $50-$170

Shopify dev agency price: $1,800-$2,500

Medium-sized Website

If you have a physical business selling products and want to move online, a medium-sized website will be a better fit for you. This option will give you multiple pages to display your products, sell their benefits, and provide your buyers with all the info they need to make a purchase.

You’ll choose one of the available store templates and the Shopify dev agency will customize it to suit your established branding. You may want to have custom graphics to give your site the wow factor and incorporate dynamic effects to improve the user experience.

A medium-sized website will likely involve a lot of trial and error, testing, and revisions. All these incur additional costs.

Template price: $50-$170

Shopify dev agency price: $3,000-$6,000

Complex, Large Website

If you want a stellar website with 100s of pages, custom graphics, bespoke design layouts, unique functionality, and loads of extra features, your best option is to have a website made entirely out of scratch. While you can start with a premade template, it may be easier to have one built for you if you’ve got a vision that you’re not willing to deviate from.

The price of a complex large website is often divided into two sections: one price for the UI/UX design and one price for the Shopify dev agency. The UI/UX designer makes the mockup of the website, then the developers transform it into a working product.

This type of Shopify development can take up to a year, so you need to take this into consideration when planning your launch.

Shopify dev agency price: $7,250-$15,000

Conclusion

When it comes to Shopify development, you get what you pay for. If you choose one of the cheapest Shopify dev agencies, you’re not going to get the wow-worthy website you’ve envisioned. You’ll save money at the beginning, but it will end up costing you more overall when you have to pay a second agency to fix all the errors and give you the product you wanted in the first place.

To get the amazing website you’ve been dreaming of, it’s a much better idea to save up or reallocate some of your budget so you can choose one of the top Shopify dev agencies. This way, you’ll only have to pay for your online store once and you’ll get the top-quality product you’ve been searching for.

Shopify Dev Agency FAQs

Still curious about Shopify development agencies? Or maybe you’re even thinking about becoming a Shopify developer? Here are some of the most common questions people have about Shopify dev agencies and their answers to clear some things up for you.

Q1. Is there a demand for Shopify developers?

There’s a fantastic demand for Shopify developers and Shopify dev agencies. As more people open Shopify stores, the more knowledgeable merchants are seeking out trained and skilled Shopify devs and Shopify dev agencies to build them unique websites that work exactly the way they want them to.

According to Builtwith.com, almost 4 million eCommerce sites are built using Shopify. This means the company owns 10% of the global market share, making it one of the leading eCommerce platforms today. Since 2020, Shopify store numbers have increased massively by 200%. With this in mind, it’s a safe bet that Shopify developers and Shopify dev agencies will become even more in demand over the next few years.

Q2. What are the top Shopify Web development companies?

The best Shopify dev agencies in 2022 are:

• VentureDive Pvt Ltd
• ShopTrade™
• LanternSol
• Codal
• WRK Partners
• Raven Digital
• Quantum Mob
• RNF Technologies
• Resourcifi
• Pivofy

Q3. How do I become a Shopify developer?

You need the right skills to become a Shopify developer. If you want to work on your own or as part of a Shopify dev agency, start by doing the following:

• Gain an excellent knowledge of Shopify’s Admin System
• Become experienced in Full-Stack Web Applications and diverse programming languages
• Be confident using Liquid for Shopify Themes and Shopify Stores
• Learn HTML5 and CSS3
• Learn Ruby on Rails, PHP, or anything that uses JSON REST APO with Auth to build Shopify apps
• Understand Google Analytics — specifically for Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
• Become an expert with Google Content Experiments for testing purposes
• Be familiar with other popular eCommerce platforms, plush as BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento
• Develop the correct interpersonal skills to communicate with stakeholders across multiple teams
• Learn to be confident, self-motivated, and prepared to work in all kinds of team environments