Which approach should I use to customise a Shopify theme?

Shopify is an incredibly popular e-commerce platform, offering businesses a great online store with a range of features, including a range of paid themes available from the Shopify theme store. However, it is important to remember that it is not a good idea to make code edits to paid Shopify themes purchased from the Shopify theme store. There are a number of reasons why this should be avoided.

One of the main reasons is the fact that making code edits to a paid Shopify theme can lead to slower page speed and poorer SEO performance. Google Page Speed Insights scores (Shopify paid themes typically score 50/100 out-of-the-box) are used to measure website speed, and these scores can be significantly lower if code edits are made to a paid Shopify theme. This can have a major impact on SEO performance, as Google rewards faster-loading websites with higher rankings. Therefore, making code edits to a paid Shopify theme can have a negative impact on ranking, leading to fewer visitors.

Another issue is that code edits to a paid Shopify theme can potentially create conflicts with the original code of the theme, leading to a range of problems. This can result in the website not working properly, and it can also lead to a range of other issues, such as bugs and errors. This can be difficult and time consuming to fix, and it can also be costly if you need to.

In summary, when considering the right approach for Shopify theme customisation we recommend sticking broadly within the constraints of the paid theme (ie. using the theme editor only to customise the theme), or designing and building a custom theme from scratch with speed optimisation built in. The middle route of code-editing a paid theme is quite often seen as a legitimate compromise to reduce costs (i.e. by avoiding the higher cost of custom design and build), is in reality a “rookie” approach that will lead to sub-par business performance. If you’re considering Shopify options and would like to talk to an expert – get in touch for an exploratory chat, we are happy to assist.