Shopify Plus Development Agency for US & EU DTC and B2B Merchants

Both, but with a clear opinion. For most merchants under 50M USD GMV, a well-built Liquid theme (Online Store 2.0 with sections everywhere, custom Liquid + Alpine.js for interactivity) gives 90 percent of the result at 30 percent of the cost. Hydrogen + Oxygen makes sense when you need a real frontend product (rich product configurators, account dashboards, multi-locale routing with logic Shopify Markets cannot express, or shared design system across web and a Remix-based admin). We ship Hydrogen on Oxygen with Remix routing, the Storefront API 2024-10+, and Customer Account API for the logged-in surface. We will not push you into headless because it is fashionable — the cost is real and so is the operational overhead.

Shopify Functions in Rust or JavaScript are the replacement for Shopify Scripts and the right answer for any cart, checkout or delivery customization on Plus. We write Cart and Checkout Validation Functions (block invalid combinations of B2B SKUs, enforce minimum order values per company location), Discount Functions (BOGO with custom rules, tiered B2B pricing that depends on company tag), Delivery Customization Functions (rename, hide, or re-order shipping methods per cart), and Payment Customization Functions (hide payment methods per market or per company). All Functions are deployed via the Shopify CLI in a Git repo with CI per dev store → production, and we monitor Function execution time against the 5ms p99 budget Shopify enforces.

Yes. The hard parts are not the catalog import (we use Matrixify or custom ETL via the GraphQL Admin API 2024-10+ for that) — they are the URL redirect map (we keep your earned SEO equity), the customer password rehash (Shopify does not import hashed passwords, so we use a force-reset email flow), the historical order migration for support continuity, the metafield design for attributes Shopify does not have a native field for, and the tax/region setup for EU VAT including OSS and IOSS. A typical Magento 2.4 to Shopify Plus migration runs 10 to 14 weeks. We write the cutover runbook with rollback steps and run it on a Friday night with the merchandising team in the call.

Yes — Shopify B2B is now mature enough to replace most dedicated B2B platforms. We configure Companies with multiple locations, catalogs per company (or per company tag), volume pricing, quantity rules, payment terms (Net 30/60/90) via Shopify Payments, and the B2B customer account experience on Hydrogen or Liquid. Where the native B2B surface ends, we extend it: custom quote-to-cart Apps with Customer Account UI extensions, Shopify Flow automation for credit-limit checks, and integration to your ERP (NetSuite, SAP B1, Microsoft Dynamics) via the GraphQL Admin API with proper rate-limit handling against the cost-based query bucket.

Shopify Markets is the answer for most multi-region setups. We configure markets per country or region, presentment currencies via Shopify Payments multi-currency, EU VAT collection per market (with proper Intra-EU OSS registration handling), IOSS for low-value orders below the EU threshold shipped from outside the EU, market-specific catalogs, market-specific pricing rules, and domain strategy (subfolders vs ccTLDs depending on SEO posture). We sign a DPA, configure GDPR-aligned customer data handling, and document the Article 30 record of processing your DPO will sign. GDPR-aligned · ISO 27001 ready · SOC 2 Type II in progress.

Fixed-scope and all-in, quoted in USD, tiered by the store you build. A starter Shopify Plus store runs from $1,100; a branded corporate store from $2,900; a full production store with Shopify Functions, custom Apps and an ERP or 3PL integration from $5,800; a headless or B2B marketplace/portal from $10,400. The exact number depends on whether you go headless on Hydrogen or stay on Liquid, how many Shopify Functions you need, how much Shopify B2B you switch on, integration depth and the replatform source and data scope. You see the line-item budget at the end of discovery and sign off before any code is written — no hidden fees, no recruitment markup, no tool surcharges, and Shopify Plus platform fees run on your own account. We are listed in the Shopify Plus Partner directory and every developer is current on the Shopify Partner Academy certifications.

The two biggest killers on high-SKU Shopify Plus PLPs are LCP images loaded without priority and layout shift from lazy-loaded product cards. Our approach: LCP hero image with fetchpriority="high" and explicit width/height on every card, preload hints in the Liquid {% render %} chain, Shopify CDN image transformation with srcset at 240/480/720 break points, and deferred loading for below-fold sections. We enforce Lighthouse budgets (LCP ≤2.5s, CLS ≤0.1, INP ≤200ms) in CI on a 4G throttle profile. For Hydrogen storefronts we add streaming SSR with Remix deferred data and selective hydration so the browser paints product content before heavy interactive components hydrate. We also audit the third-party app stack on every engagement — most Core Web Vitals regressions on Plus stores come from chat widgets, review apps and personalisation scripts that fire synchronously.

The honest answer is: App Store first, custom app only when the cost or the constraint is real. A $29/month App Store app that does 90 percent of the job is better than a $15,000 custom build. The cases where a custom app makes sense: the functionality does not exist in the App Store; available apps add a blocking third-party script that kills INP or LCP; you need deep Shopify Admin UI extensions (embedded in the admin, not a separate tab); you need Customer Account UI extensions on the logged-in storefront; the app encodes proprietary business logic you do not want a SaaS vendor holding; or the combined monthly cost of App Store apps for the same outcome exceeds the annualised cost of a custom build within 18 months. We document this trade-off explicitly at the architecture decision step and will not push you into a build that does not pay off.

Shopify Markets with Translate & Adapt (the native translation layer) handles most multi-language needs: market-specific language, currency and domain (subfolder or ccTLD). We configure the hreflang tag structure, translate theme strings via the Shopify Translate & Adapt API, and use Transifex or a custom translation workflow for metafield content and metaobjects. On Hydrogen storefronts we implement locale routing in Remix (each market gets its own loader with localised Storefront API queries) and set the correct Accept-Language headers at the Oxygen edge. For high-volume catalogs we also set up Shopify’s bulk translation API to batch-translate product titles, descriptions and metafields without manual per-entry work.

Discovery is one week and produces four things you keep regardless of whether you proceed: a written store audit covering theme code quality, your current app stack (with a monthly cost breakdown), every Shopify Function and Flow workflow, all integrations and their API usage against the cost-based query bucket, checkout customizations, B2B configuration, and Shopify Markets setup; a Core Web Vitals baseline on your three highest-traffic templates on a 4G throttle; a headless-vs-Liquid recommendation with a cost model for each path; and a 90-day priority backlog with line-item scoping signed off by your lead. You see the full budget before any code is written. Discovery is billed separately, credited against the build if you proceed.