Expect Best
Web design
Judson Developments Essex Web Design
Judson Developments renovate homes, build extensions and fit kitchens and bathrooms across Essex and Suffolk. Their website had to show that standard to homeowners who have never met them.
View
Shopify · UKShopify development, past what the theme will do.
Shopify gets you trading quickly. The trouble starts when the theme cannot do the thing you need and the app that claims to do it slows the whole store down.
Theme developmentApp integrationMigrationsSpeed work
What we do
Shopify development for stores that have outgrown the template.
Shopify is an excellent place to sell, which is why most stores start on a paid theme and a handful of apps. That works until it does not. The theme will not lay out a product the way your range needs, the app that solves it adds three hundred kilobytes to every page, and six apps later the store is slow, expensive and awkward to change. That is the point where development pays for itself. Sometimes the answer is custom theme work so the store does natively what apps were bolting on. Sometimes it is removing four apps and replacing them with one piece of code. Occasionally it is a proper custom build. We will tell you which, including when the honest answer is that your theme is fine.
Growing stores
Merchants whose range has outgrown what a paid theme handles comfortably.
App-heavy stores
Stores that have accumulated subscriptions and lost speed along the way.
Migrations
Businesses moving onto Shopify from WooCommerce, Magento or a bespoke platform.
Stores needing integration
Merchants connecting stock, accounting or fulfilment to systems they already run.
Our work has been featured in
Why it matters
Where Shopify stores lose money.
App bloat slows everything
Every app adds script. Six of them on a product page is a measurable conversion cost, paid on every visit.
Subscriptions accumulate quietly
Several apps at twenty a month, some charging per order, rarely gets reviewed once it is set up.
Themes fight your range
A theme designed for forty products behaves badly with four thousand, and no amount of settings fixes it.
Wondering where your own website falls short? Tell us what you are working with and we will tell you honestly, for free.
Get honest adviceWhat's included
What the work covers.
Theme development
Custom sections and templates so the store does natively what apps were patching.
Speed optimisation
Auditing scripts, images and apps, then removing what is not earning its weight.
Integrations
Stock, accounting, shipping and marketing connected properly through the API.
Migrations
Moving onto Shopify with products, customers, orders and redirects handled so rankings survive.
Custom functionality
Bundles, configurators and pricing rules that no app quite gets right.
Ongoing support
A team on hand when something breaks during a sale rather than a ticket queue.
Why Expect Best
We will tell you to keep the theme.
Honest scoping
If your theme does the job, we will say so. Plenty of Shopify problems are configuration rather than code.
In-house Poole team
Developers you can ring, in your time zone, rather than a reseller.
Here for the long run
Trading since 2010 with 400+ clients. We support the stores we work on.
You own it
Your store, your theme code, your data. Nothing is locked to us.
Rather talk it through? Call 01202 237027 and speak to the team, or send us a message.
Send us a messageOur process
How a project runs.
01
Review
We look at the theme, the apps, the speed and what is actually costing you orders.
02
Scope
What is worth building, what is worth removing and what is fine as it is.
03
Build and test
Developed on a duplicate theme so the live store is never the test.
04
Launch and measure
Published, then checked against the numbers that made the case for it.
Theme work is usually two to six weeks. Migrations take longer and the redirect mapping is the part that must not be rushed.
The exact timeline and cost depend on your project. Tell us what you have in mind and we'll come back with both, no pressure.
Tell us about your projectOur latest web design case studies
Trusted by local businesses in Poole for over a decade, we build fast, SEO-ready websites designed to generate enquiries and long-term growth.
Custom software
Signs & Stickers Reporting Portal
A busy WooCommerce store whose data was locked inside it. We built a portal alongside the shop that answers the questions the store could not, and took their consent record back from a third party.
View
Custom software
Premier Sports Solutions Order Portal
A prestige car dealership needed order paperwork signed and paid without the endless chasing. The portal we built does the chasing itself, and keeps the record.
View
Custom software
F40 Parts Email System
F40 Parts were emailing customers by hand with no reliable record of opt-outs or dead addresses. We replaced that with one system that verifies everything before it sends.
View
Custom software
Fox Wardrobes CRM
Fox Wardrobes run the whole business through a single custom system, replacing scattered spreadsheets, paper cut lists and personal inboxes with one place where nothing gets lost.
View
Web design
Jordan Acoustics Bournemouth Web Design
Jordan Acoustics sell some of the finest hi-fi in the world from a showroom near Bournemouth. The site had to carry that standard into an online shop.
View
Web design
Clad Force Poole Web Design
Clad Force re-roof and re-clad the factories, warehouses and retail units that keep Dorset working. Their website needed to look as solid as the buildings they hand back.
View
Web design
ACL Poole Website Rebuild
Asbestos Contracting Limited had outgrown the site we first built them. The rebuild gives a regulated, safety critical business a presence that matches how it has grown.
View
Web design
Green IP Poole Web Design
Green IP bring voice, mobile, connectivity and security together for businesses here and abroad. The website had to read as seriously as the clients they win.
ViewThe numbers
Each day we facilitate
Real results we help our clients achieve, day in, day out.
What we take on
Three sorts of Shopify work.
Most requests fall into one of three shapes, and they cost very different amounts.
Theme and front end
Sections, templates and speed. The most common and usually the best value.
Integration work
Connecting Shopify to the systems that already run your business.
Migration onto Shopify
Moving a store across without losing the search visibility you already have.
FAQs
Shopify development FAQs
The questions merchants ask before commissioning work.
Usually a good deal of it. Most Shopify speed problems are apps and images rather than the platform, and removing four apps often does more than any amount of code tuning.
An app if it does the job without slowing the store badly. Custom when you are paying several subscriptions for something one piece of code would handle, or when no app quite fits.
Not if the redirects are mapped properly, which is the part most migrations get wrong. We map every old URL to its replacement before anything goes live.
Yes. The development is similar; Plus mainly adds checkout customisation and scripting that are not available on the standard plans.
From the blog
More on this, from our blog.
More from Expect Best
Everything else your business needs online.
Store slow, or fighting your theme?
Tell us what it is doing and we'll take a look and come back with an honest read, including when the fix is free.