Shopify provides an excellent foundation for ecommerce, but most stores rely entirely on free or cheap themes that hundreds of other retailers use. Your brand looks identical to your competitors. Customer trust erodes when a store appears generic.
Off-the-shelf Shopify themes load slowly due to bloated code, excessive app scripts and poor image optimisation. A 3-second delay results in 40% of visitors abandoning the store. Your conversion rate suffers directly.
Default Shopify checkout experiences lack conversion optimisation. Form fields aren't streamlined. Trust signals are absent. Social proof is minimal. These friction points cause customers to abandon shopping carts at the final moment.
Off-the-shelf themes are used by thousands of retailers. Your store needs to look like yours, not theirs.
Every app you stack adds scripts, slows the store and erodes the conversion rate. Custom-built means we add only what's needed.
Trust signals, social proof, streamlined fields — every friction point removed. Recovered carts mean recovered revenue.
A bespoke theme built to your brand identity. Every element — fonts, colours, layouts and interactions — designed to drive sales.
Product pages, collection layouts, cart flows and checkout designed around reducing friction and increasing purchase completion.
Product titles, meta descriptions, URL structure, schema markup and site architecture configured for organic search from day one.
Theme code audited and optimised for PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals. Slow ecommerce sites lose customers at every funnel step.
Designed and tested across mobile devices as a priority. Product imagery, add-to-cart and checkout built for thumb-friendly shopping.
SSL, PCI compliance guidance, GDPR-compliant cookie handling and secure payment gateway configuration.
We'll come back within one working day with a clear plan and an honest forecast.
WordPress with WooCommerce requires extensive ecommerce customisation and can be slower. Shopify is purpose-built for retail with payment processing, inventory and fulfillment already optimised.
WooCommerce runs on WordPress and requires plugins for every ecommerce function — bloat, complexity and performance issues. Shopify is a complete ecommerce system from the ground up.
Squarespace is an all-in-one builder with limited ecommerce. Shopify is built entirely around selling online with advanced inventory, variants, subscriptions and multi-channel selling.
Both are enterprise-grade. BigCommerce suits larger catalogs and complex operations but has higher setup costs. Shopify offers the better balance of power and simplicity.
"UNKNWN transformed our ideas into a powerful brand and high performing website. They went beyond design, delivering SEO that keeps us ranking locally and generating leads every day. Strategic, creative and committed to results."
"We used Craig and the team in Wrexham for design, branding and website work and they were fantastic from start to finish. Professional, easy to deal with and quick turnaround."
"Rob and the guys at UNKNWN were really helpful and professional helping me make choices on my business logo and design. I'm really happy with how it's come out."
If ecommerce is your primary focus and you want product, payment and inventory tooling out of the box — Shopify. If your business mixes content/blog/portfolio with a shop and you need WordPress flexibility — WooCommerce. We build both and will recommend honestly.
Yes. We handle complete data migration including products, pricing, images, customer data and order history. Migration is planned to minimise downtime during launch.
8–12 weeks for a standard ecommerce build including design, development, payment integration, testing and training. Complex multi-currency or subscription stores take longer.
Significantly faster. Most marketplace themes carry years of unused features and inflated bundles. A custom theme contains only what your store needs.
Bespoke theme. Conversion-tuned checkout. Mobile-first design. SEO from day one. Tell us about your products and we'll come back with a clear plan and pricing.
Tell us where you are and where you want to be — we'll come back within one working day.
One of us will reply within one working day. If it's urgent, ring +44 1978 803060.