What's included in a Shopify website design?
A Shopify website design from Source Digital is a finished store that's ready to take orders, not a theme with your logo dropped in. Every build includes:
- A design around your products and brand, starting from a quality theme or a bespoke one, depending on what you need.
- Your products loaded, with variants, images, collections and navigation that makes sense to a shopper.
- Payments, shipping and tax set up for Australia, with GST handled at checkout.
- Pages built to rank: unique titles, collection copy, structured data and a sitemap submitted to Google.
- Speed checked on a phone, with only the apps you actually need.
- A handover, so you can add products, run sales and update pages yourself.
You get one point of contact the whole way through. I build it myself and nothing gets outsourced.
How much does Shopify website design cost in Australia?
A Shopify store from Source Digital starts at $4,500 + GST. That's a fixed price, quoted in writing before work starts. Your Shopify plan is separate and paid straight to Shopify.
| Cost | What it covers | Who you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Store build, from $4,500 + GST, one-off | Design, setup, products, payments, shipping and SEO setup | Source Digital |
| Shopify plan, monthly or annual | Hosting, checkout, admin and security | Shopify |
| Paid apps, usually monthly | Extras like reviews, subscriptions or bundles | Each app developer |
| Payment fees, per sale | Card processing on each order | Shopify Payments or your gateway |
| Support and changes, from $200 a month + GST, optional | Updates, new pages and small changes | Source Digital |
What pushes the build price up is usually a large catalogue, a bespoke theme, moving data from an old platform, or connecting stock and accounting systems. For the full breakdown, read our guide to Shopify website cost.
One page for a single service in a tight area.
- One page, mobile first
- Tap to call and a quote form
- Google Business Profile linked
- Basic SEO and tracking
Most tradies and service businesses.
- 5 to 8 pages, one per service
- Written for local and AI search
- Your real photos, no stock
- Schema, analytics and Search Console
Shopify or a custom storefront.
- Store design and setup
- Products, payments and shipping
- SEO for every product page
- Launch support
Booking systems, portals and web apps.
- Hand-coded for speed
- Integrations and custom logic
- CRM and automation built in
- Scoped in writing first
Prices exclude GST. Hosting is separate, about $10 to $50 a month depending on platform. Ongoing changes and support from $200 a month.
Should I use a Shopify theme or a custom design?
Most Shopify website design projects are best on a well chosen theme, customised properly. A bespoke theme makes sense when your brand is the product and you want a store that looks like nobody else's.
| Option | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Customised theme | Most new stores, catalogues of any size, tighter budgets | Other stores may share the same layout underneath |
| Bespoke theme | Fashion, lifestyle and brands where look and feel drives the sale | A higher price and a longer build |
| Shopify Buy Button on a custom site | Businesses that mainly sell a service plus a handful of products | Fewer store features than a full Shopify site |
Malaya Swimwear, a Perth swimwear brand, went bespoke: a Shopify rebuild with its own theme in 3 weeks, with 21 products at launch. Cup Filling Care, a Perth specialty coffee window, went the other way, with a custom HTML site and a Shopify Buy Button for beans and merch.
Is Shopify the right platform for my store?
Shopify is the right call for most businesses that sell physical products online and want to run the store themselves. It isn't right for everyone, and I'd rather tell you before you spend the money.
- Pick Shopify if you sell products, plan to grow the range, and want checkout, stock and payments to just work.
- Pick Squarespace if you're mainly a service business with a few products on the side. We're a Squarespace Gold Partner and build on both, so see our Shopify vs Squarespace comparison.
- Pick WooCommerce if you're already invested in WordPress, need control Shopify won't give you, and you're happy to keep on top of updates.
- Pick a custom build if you need something no platform does out of the box, like a quoting or RFQ system.
Do you design Shopify stores outside Perth?
Yes. We're based in Perth and do Shopify website design for businesses across Australia, whether you're in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide or a regional town. Everything runs over phone and video calls, with a shared folder for photos and product data.
You deal with me the whole way through, the same as a local client would. If you're in Perth and would rather meet in person, see our Shopify experts in Perth page.
How a Shopify build works
- A free 15 minute call. What you sell, how many products, who buys them and what isn't working now.
- A fixed price quote. Pages, features, apps and timeline in writing, usually the same day.
- Design. I design the home page, a collection page and a product page first, so you see the look before everything else gets built.
- Build and load products. Products, collections, payments, shipping, tax and the SEO setup.
- Test it properly. Real test orders, on real phones, before launch.
- Launch and handover. Domain connected, Google Search Console set up, and a walkthrough of how to run it.
Most Shopify stores go live in 2 to 3 weeks. Product photos and descriptions are what usually hold a build up, so get those together early.
Shopify stores we've built
Two recent Shopify builds, both for Perth businesses selling nationally:
- Malaya Swimwear. A Shopify rebuild with a bespoke theme. 3 week build, 21 products launched.
- Vlosity Motorsport. A detailing studio that also sells car care products. Its Wix services site and separate Shopify store were merged into one Shopify site with service bookings, with 28 products migrated and 3 service categories.
If your store is on another platform now, our Shopify migration page explains what moves across and how we protect your rankings.
What happens after my Shopify store goes live?
Good Shopify website design should leave you in control. You own the store and run it day to day. There's no lock-in contract, so you're not tied to us after launch.
If you want help, ongoing support and changes start from $200 a month + GST: product updates, new pages, app and speed checks, and small design changes.
If your store also takes bookings or quote requests, Omega CS, our own CRM, can text every new enquiry back in seconds from your own Australian mobile number and follow up until you get a yes or no. It's from $350 + GST a week with $0 setup.
