Shopify themes: Building your Shopify store requires you to find the perfect style to suit your brand and products. However, building it might be challenging, especially if you don’t have much design experience. Luckily, Shopify has taken care of that. With Shopify themes, you can build your store’s perfect style without needing to be a web design expert.
In this article, we are going to explore what Shopify themes are and how you can use them to build your store’s perfect style. Also, we will discuss how you can find the best Shopify themes for fashion, jewelry, single-product stores, and anything else you need for your brand and products.
In general, a Shopify theme is a template you can use to give your e-commerce site a functional look. These Shopify templates allow you to create your storefront without the need for coding. Also, Shopify themes are customizable. As such, you can change them to suit your brand’s color scheme, font, and overall look.
There is a wide variety of themes you can choose from, in order to find the one that best suits your product offering. There’s a theme for every occasion, whether you’re looking for a Shopify minimal theme or one that throws your customers into sensory overdrive. There are also themes designed with specific industries in mind, like furniture stores, outdoor goods, and accessories.
Please note that some Shopify themes are completely free to use, while other themes have a free trial period before you purchase them. For newcomers to Shopify and those on a budget, free themes are the best way to go. Nevertheless, you can always switch to a paid theme if you like.
Using a Shopify theme is crucial to your store’s success. Shopify themes create an attractive visual that will engage your customers. Moreover, Shopify themes allow you to showcase your products easily and effectively. For instance, you can use a slideshow feature to highlight your most popular items. Also, you can use Shopify “collections” to group items in specific categories.
Without a theme, your Shopify store is essentially “naked.” Additionally, you might have to build your storefront from scratch. Creating a storefront from scratch requires extensive coding and web development. Unless you are keen on spending the time needed to make a storefront from scratch, using a Shopify theme is the best way to go.
Finding top Shopify themes is a straightforward proposition. You can visit the Shopify Theme Store to browse through the extensive Shopify theme selection. Please bear in mind that Shopify groups themes based on your store’s philosophy.
Here is a look at some popular theme styles:
Also, you can browse themes based on your specific industry. For example:
To help you make your decision, each theme offers a store preview. This preview allows you to get a good picture of what your finished storefront might resemble. Thus, it would be best if you took the time to browse and preview themes so you can choose the perfect one for your store.
Shopify offers two main types of themes: free and paid.
Generally speaking, free Shopify themes are native to Shopify. In other words, Shopify develops these themes so you can use them freely without having to pay a subscription. The cost of these themes is part of your monthly Shopify subscription fee.
Paid themes generally come from third-party developers. These developers are companies and individual programmers that develop themes specifically for Shopify’s platform. The vast majority of these themes offer a free trial period. The trial period typically runs from 14 to 30 days. After the trial period, you must purchase a subscription. This cost depends on the theme itself. Some themes cost a one-time free while others cost a monthly subscription fee.
Newcomers to Shopify often start with a free theme, as it saves money during what can be an expensive time. As stores expand and need change, store owners may choose to switch to a paid theme. Of course, you don’t have to transfer to a paid theme; you could run your Shopify store with a free theme as long as you like.
Amid the sea of Shopify themes, it’s important to have criteria you can use to determine which themes are the best for your shop. So, let’s take a look at seven elements you can use to judge which themes are the best for your Shopify store’s theme.
Of course, the best Shopify theme for a jewelry store is not necessarily going to be the same as the best Shopify theme for a hardware merchant, so there are lots of different factors to consider when choosing a theme.
Responsiveness is a critical element you need to consider when it comes to choosing the right Shopify theme for your store. A responsive Shopify theme works well across various device types. As such, your chosen theme should work well on a desktop or mobile device. As a result, a responsive Shopify theme allows your customers to have a smooth and seamless experience while at your shop.
Please check out https://themes.shopify.com/templates/responsive to get a look at Shopify’s carefully curated themes for “responsiveness.” Here, you can find a wide selection of themes optimized for responsiveness.
Having a mobile-friendly site is essential to your store’s success. Therefore, your chosen Shopify theme must have a mobile-friendly design in mind. Top Shopify themes for Mobile-friendly stores cater to both mobile and desktop, to simplify your customers’ experience while on your site. As a result, you can expect a boost in sales and customer engagement.
It’s one thing to get your customers on your site. But it’s another thing to convert visits into sales. To drive conversions, your Shopify theme should facilitate the purchase process. For instance, the best Shopify themes for conversions should make it easy for your customer to add products to their cart and checkout. This process includes facilitating payment methods and providing detailed product information.
Shopify themes generally come designed for specific industries. These themes highlight specific functions to facilitate showcasing certain products. For instance, some of the best Shopify themes for clothing and fashion use image-heavy arrangements to feature products. Retail-intensive themes have a layout to accommodate multiple products per page. Therefore, you can select your Shopify theme based on templates specific to your industry.
Your product catalog plays a key role in determining your Shopify store theme. For instance, shops with small product catalogs need to showcase individual products more than collections.
Indeed, there are even some Shopify themes that are developed specifically for stores with one product. In contrast, stores with large product catalogs benefit from Shopify’s “collections” feature. Moreover, large product catalogs need to display multiple products on a single page without overcrowding it.
You can search the Shopify theme store to find themes specifically designed with either large or small product catalogs in mind. Stores with a large number of product options can also find suitable themes, and you can also explore some of the top Shopify themes for dropshipping.
Your Shopify theme should be representative of your brand’s philosophy and product offering. For example, you need bright colors and a cheerful layout if your brand caters to a younger audience. Similarly, neutral colors and a formal layout are useful when serving business customers. Clean, modern Shopify themes can also have a powerful effect. Overall, it’s worth looking into Shopify themes that capture your brand’s spirit and image.
Did you know that your theme can actually help drive traffic to your store? While the main job of your theme is to make your store look beautiful, this will go to waste if your store is not appearing on relevant Google searches. Using a Shopify theme designed with SEO in mind can help boost the number of visitors to your store.
Theme Name | PRICe | Total ratings | Satisfaction rating | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Free | 87 | 68% | ||
$350 | 225 | 90% | ||
$320 | 385 | 98% | ||
$210 | 272 | 96% | ||
$300 | 115 | 97% | Help Center and Email | |
$180 | 231 | 98% | Help Center and Email | |
Free | 29 | 86% | ||
$300 | 21 | 86% | ||
$320 | 237 | 95% | ||
$240 | 194 | 93% |
This theme has a staggering number of positive reviews and seems to be loved by almost everyone who uses it. Motion by Archetype themes is light and loads quickly despite supporting high-quality images and videos.
Most importantly, it delivers a great user experience – it’s easy to navigate and simplistic in design. This theme is ideal for clothing, accessories, health, beauty, home, and garden shops. However, it can adapt to any type of brand or product.
This versatile theme offers more than 20 sections, product sales points, metafields, multiple landing points, and collections templates. It’s highly flexible and easy to use. Motion also has a drag-and-drop approach – it’s never been easier to set up your pages.
This theme has a one-time payment of $320. A free trial is available – you won’t pay for Motion until you publish.
Looking for a clean, simplistic design? This minimalist Shopify theme might be just what you need. Shift the focus onto your products with Flow by Eight, a theme that works for just about any industry.
Flow is perfect for Shopify stores with a smaller product catalog, and seems to be most popular with merchants in the fashion, accessories, and food & beverage industries. Flow is also an excellent choice if you’re planning on offering international sales in your store.
Flow is also a great choice if you’re looking for a theme you can easily customize. The minimalist layout means that it loads in rapid time, and utilizes sections and blocks that make it really easy to build and customize your pages.
Flow costs $350 for a one-time license. This theme is free until you publish, and also comes with free updates along the way.
In Showtime, Mile High Themes have created a really versatile and durable theme, that has all the fundamental features you could ask for. Showtime can handle everything from single product stores to those with thousands of SKUs, and is a great choice for those in the dropshipping business.
One of Showtime’s best features is the easy product search, which makes it simple for your customers to find exactly what they’re looking for. Such a positive UX is bound to tempt customers to return to your store.
Showtime will load your pages in a flash, reducing the chances of customers leaving your store for a competitor. It’s highly responsive on mobile and SEO-friendly.
Showtime is yours for a one-off payment of $180, as well as an unlimited free trial until you hit the “publish” button.
Clean Canvas have created an aesthetically-forward, simple Shopify theme with a great design. This theme is all about imagery, so if you have beautiful shots of your products, this could be the right theme for you. Showcase has over 20 sections and you can simply drag and drop them to build your pages in a matter of minutes.
If you have a large product catalog, Showcase has a great layout that won’t overwhelm your customers. That said, this theme is a nice choice for stores with a small number of SKUs as well. Suitable and customizable for almost all industries (including beauty, recreation, health, fashion, and beyond), Showcase can also handle stores with high transaction volumes and those selling internationally.
For Showcase, you will pay $300 upon publishing. Until then, it’s free.
Sophisticated, chic, and reliable, Retina is another great theme from the talented team at Out of the Sandbox. Enjoy highly responsive, SEO-friendly elements while you showcase your products with amazing high-resolution images.
If your store has a physical location, Retina offers a range of features like in-store pickup that makes this theme a wonderful choice for you. High volume or large product catalog stores also tend to love this theme.
Retina is affordably priced at $240, a one-time fee paid when you publish.
Whether you have a small or a large product catalog, Vantage is a solid choice for stores looking for a modern aesthetic. This highly adaptable theme is all about boosting conversions with visual imagery. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.
This theme is highly customizable without the need for code, and is designed to provide a superior shopping experience on screens of all sizes.
A one-time license for Vantage will set you back $240 (free until you publish).
If you’re just getting your store up and running, or you’re generally just on a tight budget, this could be the theme you’re looking for. Brooklyn (designed by the crew at Shopify) is completely free to use, even when you publish it. Despite being free, Brooklyn still has a lot of great features, and certainly covers everything you would need to start selling online.
Brooklyn is most widely used by brands in the fashion industry, but there’s nothing stopping you from embracing this theme regardless of what you’re selling. Make sure you check out the homepage video function, the dynamic product grid, and the built-in slide cart features.
Another great option is Spark – a trendy Shopify theme suitable for multiple industries. Spark is highly customizable and has a lot of great features. It’s a traditional choice for D2C brands as well as dropshipping stores.
If you’re selling internationally, you will be pleased to know that Spark offers multi-language support, supports currency conversion, and loads your pages in the blink of an eye.
Spark offers a free trial, unlimited in duration. This theme has a one-time licensing fee of $250.
Streamline will captivate your customers from the minute they visit your homepage. This versatile Shopify theme can be used across all industries, regardless of whether your catalog has one SKU or 1,000 SKUs. With visual storytelling, Streamline helps connect your customers to your brand in a way that feels very personal.
Streamline was designed specifically with mobile customers in mind. It certainly works well for desktop visitors as well, but if a majority of your shoppers are visiting from smaller screens, this is one of the top Shopify themes for you.
Get to know all of Streamline’s features by making the most of the unlimited free trial. Pay a $320 licensing fee if you choose to publish.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what this theme is known for. Modern stores looking for a minimalist design will love this theme, and the ease at which it can be customized to suit your brand. Simple is also SEO-friendly, loads in a flash, and doesn’t care what size your screen is. Perfect.
Another theme that’s designed by the team at Shopify, Simple is instantly compatible with any update or feature released by the platform. Oh and one more thing – Simple is completely free, even when you publish.
There are two ways to customize a Shopify theme, the easy way, and the hard way. The hard way involves coding, web design, and beta testing. While this can provide you with a unique theme that helps your store stand out, it requires some knowledge and experience, or access to a developer with those skills.
The “easy” way is to use apps to customize your Shopify theme. There are product customization apps, page-building or Shopify theme building apps, and many other types of apps that can bring a unique appearance and experience to your Shopify store.
Ultimately, finding your Shopify store’s sweet spot requires some tinkering with color schemes, layouts, fonts, images, and functionality. So, please take the time to explore how you can customize your Shopify store to suit your brand’s identity.
Shopify’s online store 2.0 is an upgrade to its traditional platform. In essence, Shopify’s 2.0 platform offers greater ease for customization, flexibility, and functionality. As such, Shopify stores requiring more robust capabilities can use the 2.0 platform to build highly customized stores.
With Shopify’s 2.0 platform, users must use compatible themes. As such, you must look for themes with the “2.0” label. When you choose a Shopify 2.0 theme, you know the theme is built to take advantage with Shopify’s online store 2.0 update, rolled out in 2021.
Here are some of the features that come with Shopify 2.0 themes:
Please note that non-2.0 themes don’t offer some or all of these characteristics. As such, you must consider using a 2.0 theme if you’re looking to get additional features and functions. Please note that some 2.0 themes are free to use though most of them come with a paid subscription.
PickyStory is compatible with all Shopify themes, including 2.0 themes. The widgets can be easily dragged and dropped onto any page in your store, allowing you to create deals displayed to your customer at key, strategic points in their journey through your store.
What’s more, PickyStory widgets are fully-customizable. You can change the font, colors, messaging, and layout of the deals to match your brand’s style and blend seamlessly into your online store.
Motion offers more than 20 sections, product sales points, metafields, multiple landing points, and collections templates. It’s highly versatile and easy to use. This theme features a drag-and-drop approach. This feature makes it highly customizable without making substantial changes to the site. It boasts smooth animations and transitions.
This great Shopify theme for SEO has a one-time payment of $320. A free trial is available. The theme is free until you publish.
PickyStory is the e-commerce conversion platform. It enables merchants to uplift their revenue in store. PickyStory offers a variety of deals like Bundle Products, Combo Products, Bundle Builder, Kits, Looks, and coupons.
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