228 | Shopify Themes: Off-The-Shelf vs Custom Built | with Shawn Khemsurov

Shawn Khemsurov is a Designer and Co-founder of Electric Eye, a Shopify Expert agency. 

He brings over fifteen years of fashion retail and ecommerce experience to the table and has worked with the likes of Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap Inc, Nike, The Black Keys, Barton Perreira, Homage and Only NY. 

When he's not building websites or designing, he's investing in and advising for other small businesses, listening to heavy metal, and playing golf and ice hockey.

In This Conversation We Discuss: 

• [00:00] Intro
• [01:11] Off-the-shelf theme vs custom theme
• [03:05] Advantages of off-the-shelf themes
• [05:19] Don’t buy themes outside the Shopify store
• [07:04] When you should consider a custom built theme
• [10:06] Custom theme drawback: Less flexibility
• [10:41] Why you would go custom beyond design
• [12:23] Sponsor: Electric Eye electriceye.io/connect
• [13:20] Sponsor: JSON-LD For SEO jsonld.app
• [14:37] Sponsor: Retention.com retention.com/honest
• [15:29] Recapping the pros and cons of off-the-shelf themes
• [16:16] Customers wouldn’t notice if you use similar themes
• [16:50] Off-the-shelf themes are way cheaper than custom
• [17:14] Set up off-the-shelf themes, then customize later
• [18:34] Custom was the way to go, a year or two before
• [20:42] The pros and cons of going custom
• [21:23] The budget for custom, off-the-shelf, and hybrid
• [22:06] Hybrid approach works best for most Ecom stores
• [23:25] Off-the-shelf themes has a great foundation
• [24:37] Custom solutions are recommended more for Plus
• [25:13] Shawn’s recommendations: Switch Themes
• [27:52] Shawn’s recommendations: Maestrooo
• [28:37] Shawn’s recommendations: Archetype
• [29:02] Shawn’s honorable mention: Mode Theme
• [29:24] Out of the Sandbox and Pixel Union
• [29:54] Themes are getting better and better
• [31:07] Looking forward to the future of themes
• [32:30] Try out off-the-shelf themes for yourself
• [32:44] What we do at our agency

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Follow Shawn on Twitter @shawnkhemsurov
• A typography theme designed for the unconventional switchthemes.co/shopify-themes/baseline
• A retro inspired them for energetic brands switchthemes.co/shopify-themes/shapes
• A bold grid-style theme, perfect for lifestyle and product imagery themes.shopify.com/themes/focal/styles/carbon
• A colored, typography-oriented theme for impactful brands themes.shopify.com/themes/impact/styles/home
• Flexible, fashionable, proven design with powerful promotions archetypethemes.co/products/shopify-theme-impulse
• Feature-packed and fast, hand-crafted for growth and large inventories themes.shopify.com/themes/mode/styles/solar
• Award-winning ecommerce design and development company outofthesandbox.com/collections/themes
• A leading design agency known for creating premium themes for the world's best brands and creators pixelunion.net
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
• Get your free structured data audit for your store jsonld.app
• Book your demo today and get 20% off the annual commitment fee retention.com/honest

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