Off-the-shelf Shopify Themes: The pros and cons

Having a well-designed and functional website is essential for businesses of all sizes. It serves as a digital store, where potential customers can learn about your products/services, find out more about you and your brand, and ultimately, make a purchase. It’s said that 82% of the UK population shop online and therefore, making sure your website is up to scratch is critical for success! When it comes to creating and maintaining a Shopify store, there are two main options: off-the-shelf Themes and a custom website. With a new website being built every 3 seconds, the online environment is very crowded. So, choosing the right option for your specific needs is crucial. In this post, we’re exploring the pros and cons of off-the-shelf Themes to help you make an informed decision.

What are off-the-shelf Shopify Themes?

In the Shopify world, off-the-shelf website solutions take the form of pre-built Themes and are designed websites that you can customise to suit your business and requirements. The idea behind these solutions is to provide a user-friendly interface for teams lacking the web development skills needed to build a website from the ground up. Off-the-shelf Shopify Themes allow you to add content, images and other elements to a pre-set design without requiring extensive coding knowledge.

Some popular Shopify Themes include:

• Dawn
• Refresh
• Brooklyn
• Supply

What are the pros of off-the-shelf Shopify Themes?

This style of website is relatively popular with smaller businesses with limited budgets and there are plenty of advantages of using these solutions which we explore below:

Affordability

Off-the-shelf solutions are typically cheaper (or even free) compared to custom websites due to them not being bespoke. This makes them a good option for organisations with limited budgets.

Quick turnaround

Unlike custom website builds, you can often create a basic website using an off-the-shelf solution in a short period of time (sometimes hours/days). This provides a fast and efficient way to get your store online. Therefore, this is a good solution for those looking for a quick turnaround when it comes to launching their site.

Ease of use

Themes have been created with the user in mind and therefore, they’re flexible and user-friendly, even for those without technical expertise. This allows people to create, manage and update their website without having to engage in the services of a web developer.

Wide range of Themes

Despite having a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, there are plenty of Shopify Themes to choose from, allowing you to select a design that may closely resemble your requirements. This can save time and effort rather than creating a bespoke site that matches your exact needs.

Pre-built features

If you only require standard features such as contact forms, blog functionality, basic filtering and searching etc. it’s common to find these on most pre-built Themes. This means you can add the right features for your requirements without having to develop them from scratch.

What are the cons of off-the-shelf Shopify Themes?

Although pre-built Themes can provide a quick turnaround, they do have plenty of limitations which may steer you towards a custom-built website. Some of which we explore below:

Limited customisation

Despite off-the-shelf solutions allowing some customisation, they do not offer the same level of flexibility. A pre-built Theme can really limit your possibilities which can be particularly felt as a brand scales. Of course, you can tap into the Shopify App Store to plug feature gaps, but on top of the additional costs, you risk owning a “patchwork” web store that lacks a coherent customer journey due to the respective limitations of those third-party solutions.

Risk of being too generic

According to a study, 59% of global website users prefer a beautiful design over something plain and simple. Unfortunately, using a templated Theme that has most likely been widely used by other businesses can make your website appear generic. This can make your brand less impactful, makes it difficult to stand out from the competition and reduces customer lifetime value (CLV).

Code bloat

Due to off-the-shelf website solutions having a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, they often come with unnecessary code in order to cover many bases and be as attractive to as many businesses as possible. Therefore, most pre-built themes use less than 20% of the overall codebase to power a single store. This slows down your website’s loading time, negatively impacts user experience and search engine rankings. All of this will have a negative impact on your bottom line as with each second of load time that goes by, website conversion rates drop by 4.42%. This also makes technical optimisations a potential nightmare as web developers have to tip-toe around huge codebases that may not react well to additional code.

Scalability issues

As your business grows, it’s likely you’ll want to add new features and adjust UX. Whilst this is possible through the help of web developers, over time your website is likely to become less and less stable as “sticky-tape” solutions get applied over, what is often, locked-down code. We talk to our clients about the “Jenga” effect of repeated pulling and pushing of a pre-built Theme before things start falling over. “Sticky-tape” solutions can only get you so far before development slows down so much due to ever increasing stability issues that starting again is often the most financially sound decision.

Vendor lock-in

If you choose to go down the route of an off-the-shelf Theme, even if you have a web developer you are often at the mercy of the vendor. You are somewhat powerless if a new Shopify feature comes out, or web technology surfaces that your Theme doesn’t support. This can result in loss of earnings to your business whilst you get left behind by the competition.

When should you use an off-the-shelf Shopify Themes?

So, now that we’ve been through the pros and cons of pre-built website templates, when might they be a suitable option for you?

An off-the-shelf Shopify Theme could be right for your business if you:

• Have a limited budget
• Need a quick turnaround
• Have just started a new business and are proving a concept

However, if you want a site that can scale alongside your business, offer a unique customer experience and boost conversion rates over the next 5 years+, a custom website may be the best option.

Final thoughts

When it comes to the right option for building your website, it all boils down to your circumstances, requirements and goals. Off-the-shelf Shopify Themes provide a quick and affordable way to get online quickly, but you may experience difficulties with customisation and scalability. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a more tailored and flexible website to scale with your business, a custom solution might be the right choice for you.

If this is something you’d like to explore further, let’s chat!