They sent a custom quote because Shopify was slow. Eleven apps. Checkout took eight seconds. Should you use Shopify, or build a custom online store? I turned six of the apps off. A stranger could pay again. The rebuild was for a store that wasn't the problem.
I still treat a catalogue a stranger can buy from as website work until staff live in orders every day. Then it is closer to a web product wearing a storefront. I write a brief before I quote. The number sits with how much a custom website costs if they pay once, and with how much a web product costs if they come back for the order.
What people mean by Shopify or a custom store
I opened the admin. Rebuy. Reviews. Loyalty. A chat widget. Two pixels. The theme was fine. The cart had eleven things writing to it. They wanted custom because "Shopify doesn't scale." The stranger couldn't pay because the page was busy.
Sometimes they mean the theme looks like every other candle shop. Or an agency quoted a custom store because Shopify takes a cut. The cut is rent. I don't rebuild a store to dodge a percentage.
Shopify is a checkout you did not write, a catalogue, apps, a theme. You pay on every order. A custom store is pages, checkout, and shipping you own. You pay a build. Then someone has to pack the box. I sell that build. I would rather lose the invoice than rebuild a store that got slow from apps.
How to tell Shopify from a custom online store
Look at the buy. Twelve SKUs and a normal checkout is still a website with a cart. The day staff live in orders, courier rules, and accounts, you are on a product clock.
Shopify
A stranger can pay today
- A stranger can pay on Shopify checkout
- The catalogue is the offer, not the shipping rules
- You can turn apps off and the store still works
Custom store
The way they buy is the job
- Checkout, shipping, or pricing is the job
- People come back for orders that are still theirs
- You already pay a courier a theme cannot talk to
The cut
Authentic Urban is the custom job. Food. Checkout. Shipping. Accounts. About thirty thousand people a month, and most of them come back. Courier rules had to be the product. It is in selected work. A candle shop with twelve SKUs and a checkout Shopify already gave you is not that job. Don't buy the food store for the candles.
What a Shopify store is actually buying
You are buying a checkout that already exists. A theme. An app store. Hosting you do not touch. That is useful. It is also how Rebuy, a reviews app, and a second pixel all hook the same cart. Each one takes a cut. Shopify takes a cut. The page gets slower. Then someone sells you a custom rebuild because the platform "doesn't scale." I have opened that URL. Six of the apps were doing nothing a stranger needed to pay.
The custom number looks huge next to Shopify rent until you name what you actually need. A subscription that is yours, not an app that can vanish. Shipping that talks to the courier you already pay. Pricing a theme will not hold. That job is how long a first version takes. A marketing site with a catalogue is still how long a custom website takes. Those are different weeks. I quote them as different weeks.
If the brief is "make it look less like Shopify," that is a theme. Dawn looks like Dawn. Hire a theme. Don't hire me to rebuild checkout so the header feels original. Slow on a theme you are keeping is already costing you. That is a speed pass, not a new store.
When a custom store is the wrong next step
People leave Shopify for a wait I can cut in the admin, or for a percentage, or because they are bored of Dawn. None of those is a custom store.
Checkout is slow
Do the app pass. I will. A rebuild quoted as the only way to a fast cart is how you pay for a store you didn't need. Turn things off. Time the checkout. Then I quote, if there is still a store to build.
You hate the percentage
Shopify takes a cut. Custom takes a build and someone who can pack a box after launch. If a stranger can pay today, the percentage is cheaper than a quarter of engineering. Come back when the buy itself is the product.
You wanted it to look less like Shopify
A theme can do that. A custom store will too, and you will own shipping. Don't mix those invoices. The look is the cheap one. If the shop is already live and someone priced a blank custom store after an hour, start from the live URL. That is a takeover, not a new shop next to a working cart.
I turned six apps off. Checkout was fine. The custom quote was for a store that didn't exist.
Send the live store. I'll count the apps before I quote a rebuild. Tell me what you're selling.
