Custom Shopify Development

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

GOOGLE PREMIER PARTNER STATUS

As a Google Premier Partner, we have exclusive access to beta features, advanced support, and cutting-edge insights that give your paid search campaigns a competitive edge. We're recognised by Google for our expertise and proven results.

BALANCING AUTOMATION AND MANUAL OPTIMISATION

With ecommerce marketing campaign insights informing everything we do, we blend automated bidding strategies with manual optimisations. This ensures your budget works harder and delivers better results.

INTEGRATION BETWEEN PAID AND ORGANIC SEARCH

We understand the dynamic relationship between paid and organic search, and our paid search campaigns are built to unlock the true potential of your brand. Our paid search strategies are built to empower your organic search terms, not cannibalise them.

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Do businesses need to work with us to use our Tech solutions?

Whilst the majority of our work is done in direct collaboration with ecommerce brands, a number of our solutions are available independently. Our list of Shopify apps are available for any ecommerce business to install as a part of their Shopify Store.

This gives them access to our retail-first ecommerce methodology, without having to commit to working with us on a long-term basis.

Our solutions provide businesses with a taste of our full offering.

What ecommerce platforms do we work with?

We work with a number of different ecommerce platforms. As a Shopify Plus Agency, we primarily work with Shopify stores, however our development team has a diverse skillset and can bring to life whatever project you need, no matter what platform it requires.

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What development services do we offer?

As a full service ecommerce agency, we do more than simply develop Shopify stores.

In addition to Shopify development services, we also offer a number of other web development services. These include the development of webflow websites, mobile app development - both for Shopify stores and other businesses, and the development of Shopify apps available within the Shopify App store.

This vast array of services paint the picture of us as a holistic ecommerce partner for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

If you have a development enquiry that you can’t see listed anywhere, please get in touch and we’ll see what we can do for you.

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Can we design your website and your branding?

Every branding and design agency will have its own specialism, but those focused on branding and design for industries like ecommerce will be able to provide a full brand suite as well as a robust framework for a new ecommerce store on Shopify.

By working with a branding and design agency that can take the wheel in both primary brand touch points and the outlines of an ecommerce brand’s Shopify site, an ecommerce brand will have a much more cohesive set of brand touch points with which to run their business.

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Why is branding important for an ecommerce business?

Branding is extremely important for an ecommerce business. It goes beyond just a logo or colour scheme - it encompasses everything from your brand voice and messaging to customer experience and emotional connection. As an all encompassing aspect of how your business communicates across all outward facing touch points, branding acts as your foundation. When it’s thought out thoroughly, your ecommerce business’s branding will help you stand out in an otherwise crowded marketplace.

A strong, well-thought-out brand not only attracts customers but also keeps them coming back, helping your ecommerce business grow and thrive in the competitive digital landscape.

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What branding and design services do we offer?

As an ecommerce agency, the primary branding and design services offered by Cake Agency are all in the pursuit of assisting and empowering ecommerce brands, whether it be brand strategy planning, a refreshed visual identity, or brand ideation projects for new ecommerce businesses. Regardless, all branding and design services are designed to create impactful, conversion-driven brand experiences across all customer touch points.

What does a branding and design agency do?

A branding and design agency helps brands and businesses develop their visual identity and brand strategy through the creation of strategic design and messaging. The work of a branding and design agency can span from making a small batch of design touchpoints, to defining a business’s entire persona.

The services offered by a branding and design agency can take many forms depending on the skills of the team, the services advertised by the agency, and the specific needs of the business they’re working with. The services offered by the branding and design team at Cake Agency include brand strategy development, logo design & wider visual identity design, packaging design, website design, and pioneering rebrands and brand uplifts.

A branding and design agency helps to define how a brand looks, feels, and communicates to ensure it resonates with its audience and stands out in the market.

What does Shopify Plus offer?

Shopify Plus’ powerful features aren’t just limited to 10 client stores… you also have access to 24/7 priority support, Shopify Flow, advanced reporting, multi-currency and a bespoke checkout. If that wasn't enough, Shopify Plus has unique features to take your brand to the next level such as offer bundles, free gifts, advanced discounts and free shipping with Shopify Scripts. You can also save precious time by automating customer journey workflows, flash sales, product drops and restocks with Launchpad.

You will also get early access to beta programs and features, an opportunity to connect with other Shopify Plus merchants in an invite-only group and access to the Merchant Success Program.

What’s the difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus?

Shopify plus differs from other Shopify plans in multiple ways. Shopify Plus is Shopify’s enterprise program, built for high performance ecommerce stores making large amounts of sales on a daily basis. Shopify Plus allows ecommerce merchants to continue to grow their business through additional features such as internationalisation, B2B, and other growth opportunities.

Another difference between Shopify Plus and Shopify is the ability to edit the checkout and account section in Shopify Plus. Through Shopify’s checkout extensions editor, merchants can make edits to the checkout, creating opportunities to increase their average order value and ensure customer retention.

As Shopify’s enterprise platform, Shopify Plus is also priced differently than other Shopify plans. With a starting price of $2300 per month as part of a 3 year plan, Shopify Plus is a much more expensive option than other plans. However, Shopify Plus also takes a smaller percentage of each transaction. So for businesses making a large volume of sales, Shopify Plus can work out to be more economical despite the higher price point.

How much does Shopify Plus cost?

Shopify Plus plans start at $2,300 per month. When compared to similar packages, such as annual Magento licences, this is great value for money. as you will not have to invest in expensive support structures to maintain your website once built. Shopify does the heavy lifting for you.

You will also need to consider the cost of the website itself. If you are considering Shopify Plus then you probably should not be looking at a 'bought-theme' website. You should be considering your customer's unique user behaviour and finessing your brand message, as well as developing some custom features that make your website stand out from the pack.

For this reason you should probably be thinking about a bespoke build on Shopify 2.0. We would recommend you budget $20k-30k. This investment should be sufficient for at least 3 years and should be viewed as a cost over that period. We advise our clients to budget 2-3% of their annual turnover for all their website tech related costs.

is Shopify Plus Worth it?

The cost of moving to Shopify Plus can seem daunting in comparison to other packages available on Shopify. Whether it is worth it depends on where your business is now and what your plans are for the future.

There is no doubt that for growing businesses, with plans to go global then Shopify Plus is fantastic value for money. Shopify takes a lot of the headaches out of running an ecommerce business, it's low maintenance, self-serve and incredibly reliable. It will give you peace of mind and allow you to concentrate on the areas of business that need your focus.

Consider whether or not you need the extra support and unique features that Shopify Plus has to offer to make sure it's worth your investment. As a rule of thumb if your annual turnover is over £1 million and growing then Shopify Plus should certainly be on your shortlist and we would be happy to give you a demo and discuss the ways it can help you on your journey to retail glory.

Can an ecommerce marketing agency help with my Shopify store specifically?

Whilst not all ecommerce marketing agencies will be a Shopify Plus Partner or even offer services such as Shopify development, most ecommerce marketing agencies will at least have knowledge of how the Shopify platform works in partnership with their marketing efforts.

Cake Agency isn’t just an Ecommerce Marketing Agency but is also a recognised Shopify Plus Partner. Having been awarded the status by Shopify themselves, Cake Agency can not only handle all ecommerce marketing needs, but also Shopify & Shopify Plus development services, migrations to Shopify, and more.

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How long does it take to see results from ecommerce marketing campaigns?

he time it takes to see results from ecommerce marketing campaigns can vary depending on the type of service being used. For example, performance marketing campaigns, such as paid ads, can yield short-term results quickly, sometimes even within a day. On the other hand, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) typically provides longer-term results. While SEO efforts might take more time to show measurable outcomes, they can lead to sustainable, ongoing traffic and growth over time.

As an experienced ecommerce marketing agency, Cake Agency recommends a full funnel approach that targets users across each touchpoint, including SEO, PPC, CRM & Email, and loyalty marketing, for continued growth amongst all customer cohorts.

How does an ecommerce marketing agency measure the success of marketing campaigns?

An ecommerce marketing agency will use a number of different methodologies and metrics to measure the success of their ecommerce marketing campaigns on both a macro and micro scale.

For example when measuring the success of an individual advertisement on Meta platforms, the ecommerce marketing agency may look at the Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) or Marketing Cost of Sale (MCOS) of that ad, but when looking at the overall effectiveness of a marketing campaign they may look at improvements in sales, website traffic or newsletter signups.

There’s a wide variety of different KPIs to measure, and depending on the services a brand is employing, the brand’s goals, and the agency’s capabilities, a different set of KPIs will be used.

As an industry leading ecommerce marketing Agency, Cake Agency set each brand they work with a set of Objective Key Results (OKRs), which each encompass meeting a number of KPIs in relation to their marketing.

What services does an ecommerce marketing agency offer?

The specific services offered by an ecommerce marketing agency will differ depending on the agency in question. However, nearly all ecommerce marketing agencies will offer performance marketing services, which include the management of Meta ads, Google Ads, and potentially ads across other social media platforms such as Pinterest, TikTok, or Snapchat.

Other services may include technical SEO, written content, and email marketing, but this will depend on the skills within the ecommerce marketing agency and the needs of the brand requesting them

Cake Agency’s list of ecommerce Marketing services include performance marketing, search engine optimisation, CRM & Email Marketing, loyalty marketing, written content, and best practice ecommerce guidance via the use of their Gross Demand Plan service.

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What is an ecommerce marketing agency?

An ecommerce marketing agency is a type of marketing agency who specialises in marketing and growing ecommerce businesses through the tools that are an extension of their ecommerce store. An ecommerce Marketing agency looks to increase an ecommerce brand’s brand awareness, whilst improving the traffic, conversion rate, and sales of their website.

Depending on the specific requirements of the brand, the ecommerce marketing agency will fulfil various different services such as Search engine optimisation (SEO), Performance marketing (PPC), email marketing, content marketing, and loyalty marketing, all whilst understanding how those marketing channels best integrate with the brand’s ecommerce store.

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How important are paid search Landing pages?

In short, very!

Landing pages are absolutely critical to paid search success - they're where clicks convert into customers and directly impact both your quality score and conversion rates. A great ad with a poor landing page wastes your entire advertising investment.

Landing page optimisation should be treated with the same intensity as ad creation as driving traffic to poorly converting pages burns your advertising budget.

How do I choose the right keywords for Paid search?

Whether it’s paid search or search engine optimisation, keyword selection is both an art and a science - it requires balancing search volume, competition levels, and commercial intent to maximise your return on investment.

Your keyword strategies should evolve continuously, expanding successful themes while pruning ineffective terms to ensure your budget targets searchers most likely to become customers.

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What should my Paid Search budget be?

Your paid search budget needs to be substantial enough to compete in keyword auctions while gathering meaningful performance data. Unlike social media advertising, paid search, especially Google search ads, operates on a competitive bidding system where budget directly impacts visibility.

Your industry will heavily influence your paid search budget requirements. Highly competitive industries may require more budget monthly to achieve meaningful visibility, while niche markets might see success with more modest monthly budgets.

It’s best to start with comprehensive keyword research and competitor analysis to provide accurate budget recommendations specific to your industry, goals, and market competition.

What should my Paid Social budget be?

There's no one-size-fits-all budget for paid social. Your investment depends on your business size, growth goals, profit margins, and which platforms align best with your target audience.

For ecommerce brands, we typically aim for an MCOS (Maximum Cost of Sale) between 18-22%, which we've found to be the sweet spot for sustainable, profitable growth. B2B and lead generation campaigns may have different benchmarks based on customer lifetime value.

Budget allocation across platforms depends on where your audience is most active and engaged. We often recommend testing multiple platforms with smaller budgets initially, then scaling investment toward the channels delivering the strongest returns.

The advantage of paid social is its scalability - start with a modest budget to identify winning combinations, then increase spend strategically as you prove ROI and discover what drives profitable growth for your specific business.

How do you measure Paid Social Success?

Success metrics will vary depending on your campaign objectives - whether that's driving sales, generating leads, building brand awareness, or increasing engagement. However, we focus on several key metrics across all social media platforms:

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) remains our primary success metric for conversion-focused campaigns, showing exactly how much revenue each pound of ad spend generates.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) or Cost Per Lead (CPL) tells us how efficiently you're acquiring new customers or qualified leads.

Monitoring platform-specific engagement metrics including click-through rates, video completion rates, engagement rates, and conversion rates helps you ensure your ads resonate with each platform's unique audience and drive quality traffic that converts into loyal customers.

Our monthly reports break down performance across all platforms and metrics, providing clear insights into what's working, why it's working, and our optimisation strategy for continued improvement.

What is Paid Social?

Paid social ads are targeted advertisements that appear across social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Snapchat. These ads allow brands to promote their products and services directly to highly targeted audiences based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and more.

Each platform offers unique advantages: Instagram and Facebook excel at visual storytelling and broad reach, TikTok captures younger audiences with authentic, creative content, LinkedIn targets professionals and B2B audiences, while Pinterest drives purchase intent through inspirational discovery.

Paid social ads come in various formats - from single images and carousels to short-form videos, Stories, and sponsored content - allowing you to build cohesive cross-platform campaigns. Your ads reach users in their natural scrolling environment, appearing at moments when they're most receptive to your message.

Platform algorithms determine ad placement based on your targeting parameters, audience engagement patterns, and campaign budget, enabling precise audience targeting with the flexibility to scale as your business grows.

YOU GET AS MUCH INSIGHT AS WE DO

You will have as much insight into our paid social strategies as us. Our bespoke reporting dashboards will give you complete insight into the performance of your ad accounts and the minute details of each ad.

MANAGING THE WHOLE JOURNEY

We know that getting a click is just one step of the buying journey. We build and merchandise landing pages with as much scrutiny as we do the ads themselves, ensuring that social media clicks result in purchases too.

DESIGN IS INTEGRAL TO META AD SUCCESS

A great paid social strategy doesn’t just get placements in front of customers, but ensures that the ads themselves convert.

With creative direction that steals the spotlight, our design team plays as critical a role in our paid social strategy as our ecommerce marketing team.

BUILDING FULL-FUNNEL STRATEGIES

Our paid social strategies are made to engage whether a customer is at the discovery, awareness, conversion, or loyalty stage of the buying journey. We build tailored messaging and choose the assets that are best positioned to maximise customer interest at every stage.

IN-DEPTH REPORTING DASHBOARDS

You’ve never seen reporting like ours. From weekly updates on the data powering your business to our bespoke reporting tools, we make sure all of the information you need to progress in the world of ecommerce is laid out in plain view.

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FAST RESPONSE TIME

Urgent query? Website emergency? Sudden change of plans? We pride ourselves on responding to all queries swiftly and correcting all issues as soon as possible.

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ALL OF OUR EXPERTISE

We’re a team of 25+ and we each bring something unique to the table. Over your journey working with us, you’ll be opened up to working with a range of our different team members.

FLEXIBLE OFFERING

Ecommerce is an ever changing industry, so why should we expect your needs to stay the same? Our services can flex to fit your needs. Whether what you need from us changes or you need additional assistance outside of your typical means, let us know and we’ve got your back.

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How much does Webflow cost?

Webflow has a number of different plans available, each with a different price tag. Webflow’s eCommerce plans are priced separately from their other CMS options. The options are as follows:

Non eCommerce plans

Webflow free, which provides limited features for zero cost.

Webflow basic, which is priced at $14 a month and is billed yearly.

Webflow CMS, which is priced at $23 a month and is billed yearly.

Webflow business, which is priced at $39 a month and is billed yearly.

eCommerce Plans

Webflow’s standard eCommerce plan - £23 a month if billed annually, or £34 a month if billed monthly.

Webflow’s Plus eCommerce plan - £60 a month if billed annually, or £68 a month if billed monthly.

Webflow’s Advanced eCommerce plan - £172 a month if billed annually, or £190 a month if billed monthly.

Each plan has its own features, and a business will have to decide which plan is best for them depending on their own unique needs.

Can Webflow be used for ecommerce stores?

Yes! Webflow can be used for eCommerce stores. Whilst the platform does not provide the robust ecommerce infrastructure of a platform like Shopify, Webflow offers ecommerce plans that allow visual-first brands to build a home online.

What are the benefits of Webflow?

Webflow offers a full range of benefits to businesses of all sizes who are looking to establish a presence online.

Most notably, webflow offers code-free Visual Design Flexibility: Webflow allows users to create fully responsive, visual-first websites without needing to write any code. Webflow uses a drag-and-drop interface, which offers precise control over individual elements, making it easy for graphic designers to bring their ideas to life. This makes it accessible to both beginners and non-developers, while still giving advanced users the flexibility to add custom code if they choose.

Built-in CMS: Webflow comes with an integrated content management system (CMS), which enables the easy management of dynamic content like blogs, product listings, or portfolios. Users can design custom content structures and update content without the need for technical expertise.

Scalability: Webflow is highly scalable, making it suitable for small personal projects to large ecommerce stores. Webflow’s flexible nature means it can grow with your needs, whether you are starting with a single page or building a complex ecommerce store.

What is Webflow?

Webflow is a powerful web design and development platform developed by Webflow Inc., providing a comprehensive solution for website creation. It is an online, visual-first editor platform that allows users to design, build, and launch websites without needing to write code. The platform empowers both designers and developers by offering intuitive design tools that eliminate the complexity of traditional web development.

The Webflow platform features an inbuilt content management system (CMS) that enables users to easily manage their entire site's content, from text and images to blogs and product pages. This streamlined CMS provides a user-friendly interface to update, edit, and organize content, ensuring a seamless experience for site owners.

Similarly, Webflow is a fully self-sufficient platform, offering everything needed to design, manage, and launch a website without relying on third-party applications or services. From hosting to backups, custom domains, and SSL encryption, Webflow integrates all essential tools into one platform, making it an all-in-one solution for web projects. Additionally, Webflow's offers a robust ecommerce platform too, allowing users to build and manage online stores, with customisable product pages and secure payment integrations.

IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE AN ECOMMERCE SITE

If you’re not an ecommerce business but a service-based business, or you just want a central hub to advertise your brick-and-mortar store, Webflow is a great route. Webflow-built websites don’t have to sell anything online.

COST EFFECTIVE

Webflow is a more affordable platform than most other ecommerce platforms, reducing the amount it takes to run your business online.

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EASY TO MAINTAIN

Webflow sites are built to be visually expressive, but not to handle the huge behind-the-scenes spiderwebs of tech and plugins we’d implement for a Shopify site.

As a result, they’re easy to maintain once we hand the reins over to you.

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SPEED TO MARKET

Webflow sites are much less technically intense than the other websites we build. So, we can build these quick.

Need a quick turn around on your website’s go to market? Webflow might be your ticket to get there.

What are the benefits of the Cake Shopify Theme?

Over our eight years of building ecommerce stores, we have found that the Cake Shopify theme offers a variety of benefits to ecommerce stores regardless of the level of theme that a customer might choose.

The Cake Shopify Theme offers a number of bespoke features and functionalities, such as an editable content management system, easier integrations of Shopify Apps, and optimised content fonts and codes, all of which provide a unique experience for the brand and customer.

The Cake Shopify Theme offers enhanced identity and credibility as it creates a unique and memorable brand experience, setting the store apart from competitors and creating a relationship between the brand and customer.

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What is the Cake Shopify Theme?

The Cake Shopify Theme is a pre-built set of modules and style settings that can be applied to an existing Shopify store.

It's entirely scalable, but ensures customisation and bespoke functionality no matter what your ecommerce store needs.

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What is a Shopify Theme?

A Shopify theme is a set of pre-built templates, modules and style settings that determines how an online store will appear visually, with the different styles and layouts each creating a unique customer experience. Shopify themes are built using Shopify’s theme template language, Liquid, along with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and JSON. Developers can either build unique themes from the ground up, or edit an existing theme to make a new one.

Shopify has its own list of themes that are available as standard with a regular Shopify subscription. However, if a store wishes to look truly unique the more common route is to purchase a custom theme from the Shopify Theme Store, or work alongside a developer to create a truly bespoke theme. Shopify provides tools and best practices to accelerate the theme development process, and themes can be modified using the theme editor from the Shopify admin.

UNIQUE TO YOU

Despite being a Shopify Theme at heart, as we work in partnership to build your site, the Cake Shopify Theme will be adapted and morphed to be unique to your business and its needs.

BUILT FOR CONVERSIONS

Conversions are the primary goal of any Shopify website. The Cake Shopify Framework is purpose-built to express your brand whilst funneling customers to place orders.

BRAND EXPRESSION

The Cake Shopify Theme incorporates the foundations of an aesthetic, functional ecommerce website, but there’s enough creative room left in the build to make the site look truly unique to your business.

SCALABLE FUNCTIONALITY

As your brand grows, so must your website. The Cake Shopify Theme offers more flexibility, more customisation, more optimisations, and more control over the overall user experience. Whatever add-ons you need, we’ve got it sorted.

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OPTIMISED PERFORMANCE

If there’s one element of your ecommerce business you want at a high rate of performance, it’s your ecommerce website. All sites built with the Cake Shopify Theme are fast-loading, quick to respond, and can handle high volumes of traffic for your peak trading periods.

What kind of ecommerce mobile apps are there?

Before you can add a mobile app to your ecommerce brand’s arsenal, you first need to decide what type of app will best help you reach your business’ goals. Depending on your budget and your preferences, a different type of ecommerce mobile app will be better for you. Whilst there are many different types of mobile apps, in ecommerce there are three key types of mobile apps: webview apps, native apps, and hybrid apps.

A webview app is an app that displays web content without a traditional browser, embedding web pages without address bars or tabs. A native app is designed specifically for one operating system (e.g., iOS or Android) and is downloaded from app stores. A hybrid app combines elements of both native and web apps, built for a specific platform but incorporating content from a corresponding webpage. For ecommerce businesses, a hybrid or webview app is typically best.

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Why is an ecommerce mobile app better than a website on mobile?

An ecommerce website on mobile is built with desktop in mind first and foremost, and therefore will not be built with mobile serving functionality. Whereas ecommerce mobile apps are tailored for smaller screens and touch interactions, providing a smoother and more intuitive experience compared to websites. They offer intuitive navigation, seamless browsing, and easier access to account features, fostering customer satisfaction and loyalty.

How do mobile apps benefit ecommerce businesses?

Mobile apps benefit ecommerce businesses in many ways.

Once downloaded, ecommerce mobile apps provide ecommerce businesses with a highly-targeted method for communicating with their most loyal customers through the use of push notifications, which are shown to bring consistent traffic.

Secondly, an ecommerce mobile app allows ecommerce businesses to garner more insights from their customers through more customer journeys being opened up to them. In turn they have more analytics, more tracking, and more options to refine their marketing and website in the future.

Finally, an ecommerce app provides a higher conversion rate and a higher average order value than an ecommerce business’s web-native ecommerce store. With nearly 70% of ecommerce sales being made on mobile, a highly converting platform is key.

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What is an eCommerce mobile app?

An ecommerce mobile app is a software application that acts as a purpose built ecommerce store for mobile phones. A Mobile app acts as an extension of an ecommerce brand’s typical ecommerce storefront, allowing for the implementation of mobile first functionality such as pinch and swipe.

Ecommerce mobile apps provide a dedicated space for businesses to engage with their customers and offer personalised experiences. Ecommerce mobile apps can drive customer loyalty, increase convenience, and lead to repeat purchases, ultimately enhancing the overall retail experience. They are designed to be intuitive, provide a frictionless sales experience, and offer features such as one-tap checkout, order tracking, and personalised content.

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MORE TRACKING & INSIGHTS

Mobile apps enable more tracking options across a wider range of different customer journeys than your standard ecommerce site. This gives you more insight into your customers and can shape your activity in the future.

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HIGHER CONVERSIONS THAN YOUR WEBSITE

Plain and simple. An ecommerce mobile app promises a higher conversion rate than your website.

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DIRECT ADVERTISING THROUGH PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

Once downloaded, a Shopify mobile app opens you up to one of the most powerful CRM tools there is - push notifications.

Push notifications allow you to give your customers instant messages and direct them to your store.

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How much does custom Shopify development cost?

While Shopify themes provide a solid foundation for ecommerce merchants, they do come with some limitations especially for businesses with unique requirements. Shopify allows for extensive customisation of these themes, but the level of flexibility depends on your Shopify plan and technical expertise, which makes hiring custom Shopify developers beneficial.

Custom Shopify development allows you to fully customise your store beyond the limitations of pre-built themes. If an existing Shopify theme doesn’t meet your needs, a custom built Shopify theme becomes more appealing. Custom Shopify themes give you total control over the design, layout, and user experience, ensuring your store stands out while optimising performance and conversions.

Can I fully customise my Shopify store, or am I limited by themes?

The cost of custom Shopify development varies depending on the level of customisation you require, the complexity of the project, and the experience of the developer or agency you hire. Here’s a general breakdown:

Basic customisations: Small tweaks to a theme, such as layout adjustments, custom fonts, or minor functionality changes.

Mid-level development: Customising product pages, integrating third-party tools, or adding unique design elements.

Advanced development Full theme development from scratch, complex integrations, or headless Shopify setups.

Freelance Shopify developers tend to charge lower rates than agencies, but agencies offer more comprehensive support. If you need continuous maintenance or new features over time, budgeting for ongoing costs is important.

Additionally, Shopify Plus users may need to invest more in development, especially if they require a fully customised checkout experience or enterprise-level integrations. While the upfront cost of custom development can be high, it often results in better performance, increased conversions, and reduced reliance on third-party apps, saving money in the long run.

As expert Shopify developers, Cake Agency can fulfil any custom Shopify development needs, and we’ll even work with you to find a way to get the project to suit your needs.

What are the benefits of custom Shopify development?

Custom Shopify development allows businesses to go beyond the limitations of standard Shopify themes and the functionalities of third party apps, tailoring their store to meet specific needs.

One of the key benefits of bespoke Shopify development is an enhanced user experience for both customers and merchants. After all, a store that’s designed specifically for your audience can improve navigation, streamline checkout, and boost overall conversions.

Custom Shopify development can also allow you to create a unique brand identity, making your store stand out from competitors who rely on default Shopify themes.

Another major advantage of Custom Shopify development is custom functionalities. Whether you need personalised product recommendations, a custom pricing structure, or advanced filtering options, custom Shopify development can build features that aren’t available with Shopify’s native tools or third-party apps. Additionally, custom Shopify development allows for seamless integrations with ERP systems, CRMs, or other external tools, improving business efficiency.

For businesses planning to scale, the performance optimisation that custom Shopify development can provide is another crucial factor. Custom-developed Shopify stores rely on fewer integrations and are therefore faster and more efficient than Shopify stores that use many third party apps. Custom Shopify developers can write optimised code, reducing unnecessary elements that might slow down your site.

Lastly, Shopify Plus users gain the ability to fully customise the checkout experience, providing even more opportunities to optimise conversions.

SOLVE UNIQUE BUSINESS CHALLENGES

Shopify may not cater to the specifics of your business.

Clunky, unintuitive workarounds can put off potential customers and slow down internal processes. With a custom-built solution, you can overcome these challenges to better serve your customers and yourself.

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DELIGHT YOUR CUSTOMERS

The modern customer has seen it all. They know what to expect with the typical ecommerce experience. With custom Shopifydevelopment, you can separate yourself from the pack and delight your customers.

BRING IRL EXPERIENCES TO LIFE

Whether it’s a custom fitting, consultation, or something more. Those tailored-to-you experiences are amongst the most memorable shopping experiences out there. Our Shopify Agency team can bring them to life online.

Can I migrate to Shopify Plus from Shopify?

Yes. It is very easy to migrate from Shopify to Shopify Plus. Unlike the migration from other ecommerce platforms, migrating from Shopify to Shopify Plus is very simple, and can be completed in less than 24 hours.

To upgrade to Shopify Plus, simply switch your payment from the basic, standard, or advanced Shopify tier, to Shopify Plus. Businesses typically transition to Shopify Plus when the monthly cost equates to 2-3% of their revenue or once they reach £1 million in annual sales.

The onboarding process is straightforward, with priority support available to assist with migration. Shopify Plus guides you through each step and can connect you with accredited Shopify Plus Partners if needed.

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Will a Shopify migration affect my ecommerce store’s SEO?

A migration from another ecommerce platform to Shopify can both negatively and positively affect your SEO. Shopify’s pages have a very rigid URL structure, which - whilst intuitive - may differ from the URL structure of your current ecommerce site. A change of your URLs may lead search engines to see this as new content, leading to temporary ranking drops. It’s therefore crucial to implement proper 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones to maintain SEO equity.

Equally, a major ranking factor for Google is your site’s speed. Assuming your ecommerce store’s migration goes to plan, your new Shopify store will have significantly reduced technical debt and increased site speed, leading to higher rankings on search engine results pages.

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How do I migrate to Shopify?

There is not a one-size-fits-all solution for migrating to Shopify. The process of migrating to Shopify will heavily depend on the ecommerce platform being used to run your business currently, what you need from the platform, and what your goals for Shopify are.

However, there are some requirements that must be done regardless of which platform you are migrating to Shopify Plus from. You must sign up to a Shopify plan, set up all necessary 301 redirects, and rebuild your store in Shopify - allowing you to launch your new Shopify store.

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Why migrate to Shopify?

Migrating to Shopify from another ecommerce platform presents a number of benefits to ecommerce merchants, regardless of which platform they are on. Despite Shopify marketing itself as the ecommerce platform for entrepreneurs, Shopify Plus, as an enterprise level platform, provides the tools for large and enterprise level businesses to scale.

Businesses migrating from other ecommerce platforms will immediately benefit from Shopify’s checkout, which converts up to 36% higher than the checkout of any other ecommerce platform, as well as the growth and scalability opportunities that the platform provides. These opportunities include Shopify Markets, which allows for businesses to expand their central store to manage international stores, B2B stores, and Brick and mortar locations that make use of Shopify’s POS System, all from one dashboard.

Additionally, many businesses immediately benefit from the flexibility, the reduced technical debt, and the lower cost of running their business, which are all immediately felt benefits of moving to the Shopify platform.

IMPROVE YOUR CONVERSION RATE

Shopify’s checkout converts up to 31% better than comparable ecommerce platforms. By migrating to the platform you can expect your conversion rate to significantly increase.

SAVE ON TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

Shopify’s plans are much more affordable than the comparable plan of any other ecommerce platform.

With a Shopify migration, you can consolidate your tech stack and reduce the number of outgoings dedicated purely to keeping your website running.

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SAVE ON TECHNICAL DEBT

Moving to Shopify is more than just a new opportunity, it’s a massive time saver in the long run too. By reducing your technical debt, Shopify enables you to implement changes to your website in a fraction of the time of competing platforms.

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NEW OPPORTUNITIES

A simple rebuild of your website on Shopify would be doing your business a disservice. Not only will we listen to your suggestions, but we’ll put forward opportunities to improve your current website’s customer experience, SEO performance, and internal operations throughout your Shopify migration.‍

DATA PROTECTION

A Shopify Migration nets you nothing if you can’t build on or maintain your customer base. We make sure to be extra careful with all customer data, so that you can continue communicating with customers and ensure processes don’t slow down. ‍

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PRINT, PACKAGING, AND MORE

Need to keep your other brand touchpoints in line with your brand suite? This is the power of our design resource. Whether it’s your packaging or printed assets for an event, just ask, our design team can sort it.

EMAIL DESIGN

We’re great email marketers for a reason. Great email design is more than just having high-quality assets to use; it’s a skill all of its own.

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WEBSITE ASSETS

Your ecommerce store is constantly evolving, and newly refreshed design touchpoints are always in high-demand.

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ADVERTISING

Be it Meta ads, Google ads, or videos across TikTok and Instagram reels, advertising design has its own set of best practice principles. A dedicated design resource can keep all your marketing touch points on brand whilst letting your ads flourish.

ART DIRECTION AND CONTENT CREATION

Scroll stopping visuals - that’s the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign. It takes clear art direction, a unique visual style, and a deep understanding of your brand’s character.

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CAMPAIGN MESSAGE

Build a message that resonates and connects. Get people interested in your campaign overall, and they’ll become customers before long.

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THE CONCEPT

A truly cohesive campaign will revolve around a central idea - be it visual, message based, or a more malleable idea that can be applied to many different formats.

THE GOAL

Every campaign has an end goal, whether it’s generating interest around a new product, drumming up seasonal buzz, or changing the positioning of your brand within the marketplace.

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What are the key principles of good UX and UI design?

Good UX and UI design is built upon a number of core principles to create intuitive, accessible, and visually appealing digital experiences for customers using a digital product such as a website or mobile app.

UX design focuses on user-centered design, efficiency, and feedback, ensuring that interactions are smooth and with minimal friction. Additionally, clear navigation, logical structure, and emotional engagement are all key to enhancing the experience.

UI design emphasises visual hierarchy, readability, and scalability, using contrast, typography, and spacing to guide users through a website. Consistency in design patterns, responsive layouts, and intuitive affordances ensure seamless usability across devices. Great UX/UI design delivers a user-friendly and visually appealing digital experience.

What’s the difference between UX design and UI design?

Although user experience design and user interface design are two concepts that work hand in hand, they are two separate concepts. User interface design typically refers to the visual elements of a digital product such as clickable buttons, layout, and where core brand elements appear on a site. Whereas user experience design may refer to how a button interacts to being pressed, how elements move on a site, and the number of steps it takes to complete a given task such as logging in to a site.

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What is UX & UI design?

UX & UI design, short for user experience and user interface design, are the two core design principles in designing engaging user-centered interfaces for digital products such as websites, mobile apps, and technologies. The primary focus of UX & UI design is to ensure user satisfaction, by making digital products intuitive, accessible, and efficient.

UX & UI design are often packaged as the singular “Web Design,” which refers to the layout, interface, and structure of a website or ecommerce store. UX & UI design is a primary service offered by Ecommerce Agency and Shopify Plus Partner, Cake Agency.

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EASE OF USE

Good UX design makes the connected technologies and services easier for customers to use. Our methodology creates intuitive pathways that feel effortless, meaning the people using the site daily can focus on what matters most - accomplishing their tasks with ease.

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WIREFRAMING

The blueprint of your digital experience. Our wireframing process maps out the structure and flow of your website, ensuring every element serves a purpose and naturally guides users toward making a purchase.

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RESEARCH & DISCOVERY

Our design team can create user experiences that keep customers coming back and interfaces that eliminate the hurdles that prevent them from checking out.

Your ecommerce website is your brand’s house - the fullest experience of your brand you can give. Our ethos is to make you the last website you’ll ever need, which means it has to be both easy for you to manage and strongly represent your brand's identity.

How do you measure the success of a brand strategy?

While there’s no specific metric that a business can use to measure the success of a brand strategy, overall customer sentiment, positive customer feedback, and high customer loyalty will paint a picture of how your brand’s strategy is having a positive impact on customers. Additionally, quantitative measure such as search volume, website traffic, average engagement time, and social media follows will also imply whether a brand strategy is performing.

Why is brand strategy important for an ecommerce business

Brand strategy is crucial for an ecommerce business because it shapes how customers perceive and connect with the brand in a competitive online marketplace. A strong strategy builds trust, fosters loyalty, and differentiates the brand from countless alternatives. It ensures consistency across all digital touchpoints, from website design and product packaging to social media and advertising. By defining a clear identity, voice, and messaging, brand strategy enhances customer experience and emotional connection, leading to higher conversion rates and long-term growth. In a crowded ecommerce space, a well-executed brand strategy turns first-time buyers into repeat customers and brand advocates.

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How can a branding & design agency help with my brand strategy?

A branding and design agency helps develop a clear, strategic foundation for your brand by refining your positioning, messaging, and visual identity to create a cohesive and memorable presence. Through research and competitive analysis, they identify what sets your brand apart and ensure it resonates with your target audience. They craft compelling storytelling, design logos and brand assets, and establish guidelines for consistency across all touchpoints. Beyond aesthetics, they align strategy with business goals, helping you build trust, increase recognition, and create a lasting impact in your market.

What are the core elements of a strong brand strategy?

The core elements of a strong brand strategy will differ for every business. For some, the visual identity and more surface level aesthetics will be more important, whereas others will get more value from what lies deeper underneath the outward communications. However, the core elements of a strong brand strategy typically include a clear purpose that defines why the brand exists beyond making a profit, a distinct position within the market to set the brand apart from competitors, and a deep understanding of the target audience to ensure that all messaging resonates.

What is brand strategy?

In short, brand strategy is a long-term plan that defines how a business presents itself to the world, connects with its audience, and differentiates itself from its competitors. Brand strategy encompasses a number of key elements such as brand positioning, messaging, visual identity, and customer experience, all working together to create a strong and consistent outward perception. A well-crafted brand strategy helps to build trust, drive recognition, and foster long-lasting customer loyalty by making sure that all touchpoints align with the business’s core values and long-term goals.

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YOUR BRAND BROUGHT TO LIFE

Your logo, colour palette, fonts, and more… Each one is an opportunity to entice customers and invite them into the unique world you have created.

BUILDING BRAND CHARACTER

Brands, like people, are expressive. The culture, voice, and what they stand for are as much a part of why people will choose your business as your products and services.

GIVING YOUR BRAND A WHY

Most brands can tell you what they do, some can express the way they do it. But few brands understand why they do it. Having a clear reason behind your business makes it easier to know how it should express itself.

How do you measure the success of a loyalty program?

Each business will measure the success of their loyalty program in different ways. However, as an experienced ecommerce agency, Cake Agency employs a comprehensive approach to measure the success of loyalty programs by analysing various customer-centric metrics across different levels. This structured evaluation allows us to gain deep insights into a loyalty program’s performance and make informed strategic decisions.

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How do loyalty programs help increase customer retention?

Loyalty programs incentivise repeat purchases by rewarding customers for their continued business. These programs create a sense of exclusivity and appreciation, making customers more likely to return rather than shop with competitors. Offering points, discounts, or exclusive perks fosters emotional engagement, strengthening brand loyalty. Additionally, well-structured programs provide valuable customer data, allowing businesses to personalise offers and improve overall customer experience. By consistently rewarding engagement, brands build long-term relationships, reducing churn and increasing customer lifetime value.

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How do you market an ecommerce loyalty program?

As an existing ecommerce business, it can be difficult to get customers to sign up to your loyalty program upon its launch. Your ecommerce loyalty program should not be something you market extensively outside of its launch but you do need to encourage sign ups at the end of the day.

Your CRM systems are going to be most effective in marketing your loyalty program. Not only can mass emails go out upon launch, but flows can be built out to encourage sign ups from customers in the future.

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What are the benefits of an ecommerce loyalty program?

An ecommerce loyalty program is primarily implemented into an ecommerce store with a brand’s existing customers in mind. The intended outcome of implementing an ecommerce loyalty program is to retain these existing customers for a longer period of time. An ecommerce loyalty platform achieves this by encouraging customers to purchase with a brand multiple times, or buying more at one time, rather than buying from a competitor’s brand. Ecommerce loyalty programs are well proven in increasing customer loyalty and average order value, with top performing programs being able to boost average order value amongst loyalty customers by 15-25% and increase customer retention by over 7%.

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What is an ecommerce loyalty program?

An ecommerce loyalty program is a marketing strategy used by ecommerce stores to nurture and reward the most loyal customers. Ecommerce loyalty programs are designed to encourage repeat purchases, enhance customer loyalty, and improve the overall customer experience.

Each ecommerce loyalty program is going to be slightly different but each will typically offer various benefits such as discounts, exclusive content, early access to products, and personalised offers. Ecommerce loyalty programs can come in different forms, including subscription-based, rewards-based, and membership-based programs.

Ecommerce loyalty programs are typically facilitated through the use of a third party technology platforms such as Yotpo and Loyalty Lion, however they can be managed without an integration too, although this usually requires a lot more time to be spent building the platform.

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STRENGTHENED CUSTOMER LOYALTY

It is in the name after all. A loyalty program increases both the average order value and customer lifetime value of a given customer - encouraging them to shop with you more over time.

GETTING MORE OUT OF YOUR CUSTOMERS

Through loyalty rewards, you can encourage customers to do more than just buy products from you. You can encourage Reviews, app downloads, referrals, and more. All of these actions are invaluable within your ecommerce marketing strategy.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What are the benefits of custom Shopify development?