Your theme is what every shopper sees the moment they land. We've been writing Shopify Liquid since 2017, building themes from scratch and reworking existing ones into something that actually fits the brand. Our New York team doesn't outsource. Fast, clean, built to work on every device.
Every brand's situation is different. Some want a codebase with nothing borrowed from an existing theme. Others have a premium theme they like and want taken much further than any settings panel allows. We've done both hundreds of times. And we'll tell you honestly which route makes sense for what you're building, including when the cheaper path is genuinely the right one.
Built from the ground up in Liquid, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No base theme, no inherited quirks. The codebase is yours outright. Every template, section, and layout exists because it serves your brand. Not because it shipped with someone else's theme. Take a look at our portfolio to see what that looks like in practice.
You pick the theme, or we suggest one, and we take it apart and rebuild the parts that don't work for you. Layouts adjusted, sections added, pages redesigned, brand identity applied all the way through. The result doesn't look like the demo. It looks like your store. We've done this kind of work for projects like Bubbaroo.
From the first line of code to the final cross-browser check, our 30+ in-house developers build themes that are structurally sound, visually accurate, and tested on real devices. Nothing ships until it's right. That's been our standard since we started in 2011, and it's part of why we've held a 98% client retention rate.
Online Store 2.0. Every theme we build uses JSON templates, modular sections, and flexible blocks. Your team can rearrange layouts, swap content, and manage pages in the editor. No developer ticket needed for everyday updates. If you're on Shopify Plus, we take full advantage of the additional customisation headroom that gives you.
It's what every visitor touches the second they arrive. A well-built theme reduces bounce rate, holds attention longer, and makes the buying process feel natural. A poorly built one, even a good-looking one, costs you sales quietly, every single day.
We've worked across Shopify's full theme ecosystem: free themes, premium ones, third-party builds, and full custom work. Not sure which theme to start with? We'll give you a straight recommendation based on your products, brand, and budget. No upsell agenda, just an honest answer. You can also browse our portfolio to see themes we've worked with in real projects.
Whether it's a minor customisation or a full custom build, every project follows a clear, milestone-based process. You always know what's happening and what comes next. We don't leave people guessing.
We talk through your requirements in detail: which pages need work, what functionality is needed, any existing design files or brand guidelines, and your timeline. You get a clear written scope of work before a single line of code is written.
For customisations, we review your existing theme and brand assets. For custom builds, our designers produce wireframes and high-fidelity mockups for sign-off. Nothing moves to development without your explicit approval of the visual direction.
Our developers build on a duplicate theme, keeping your live store untouched throughout. We push regular updates to a staging preview URL so you can follow progress and give feedback during the build, not just at the end when it's too late to change course.
We run thorough cross-browser and cross-device QA before publishing anything. On launch day, we coordinate the theme activation, confirm all functionality is working, and stay available for any immediate post-launch queries or adjustments.
Shopify theme development is the work of building or modifying the front-end design and functionality of a Shopify store using Shopify’s Liquid templating language, alongside HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
It covers a wide range of work, from creating a fully custom theme from scratch to making targeted changes to an existing one. That might mean redesigning a product page, adding custom sections and blocks, rebuilding a cart experience, or building interactive features that aren’t available in the default theme. Our store design service covers the full end of that spectrum when you need everything built at once.
A custom Shopify theme is built entirely from scratch in Liquid with no base theme. You get complete creative and structural freedom: every template, section, and layout is built to your exact specifications. It’s the right choice when your brand needs something a standard theme can’t support.
A customised theme starts with an existing Shopify theme (such as Dawn, Impulse, or Prestige) and is modified extensively, adjusting layouts, redesigning pages, adding custom sections, and applying your brand identity throughout. It’s typically faster and more cost-effective, and it still delivers a fully on-brand result. We’ve used both approaches across 500+ stores. You can see some examples in our portfolio.
It depends entirely on the scope:
Minor customisations (adjusting a section, tweaking fonts and colours, adding a small feature) typically start from a few hundred dollars.
Deep theme customisation or a significant redesign of an existing theme typically ranges from $1,000 to $5,000.
A fully custom Shopify theme built from scratch typically ranges from $3,000 to $15,000+ depending on the number of templates, complexity of design, and custom features required.
We give you itemised, transparent quotes after understanding your exact requirements. No guesswork, no surprises.
Timeline depends on scope:
Minor customisations: 1 to 5 business days.
Significant customisation or page-level redesign: 2 to 4 weeks.
Full custom theme from scratch: 4 to 8 weeks from design sign-off to delivery, including QA testing.
Every project starts with a detailed scope document that includes a milestone-based timeline, so you know what’s happening and when to expect each stage. We don’t leave people in the dark.
We never work directly on your live theme. We always duplicate your current theme first and develop all changes on the copy, which is completely invisible to your customers.
Your live store keeps running without interruption throughout the entire development period. When the work is done and you’ve reviewed and approved it, we publish the updated theme. The switchover takes seconds and there’s no downtime.
We work with all Shopify themes, including Shopify’s free themes (Dawn, Sense, Craft, Refresh, Crave) and all premium themes from the Shopify Theme Store, including Impulse, Prestige, Motion, Symmetry, Debut, Narrative, and others.
We’re also experienced with popular third-party themes sold outside the official store. For fully custom builds, we develop our own Liquid theme architecture from scratch, built to Online Store 2.0 standards.
If you’re not sure which theme to start with, we’ll give you a recommendation based on your industry, design requirements, and budget in our first conversation.
Yes. Custom section and block development is one of the most common requests we handle. We build custom Liquid sections that show up in your Shopify theme editor with a settings panel. Your team can adjust content, layout, and options without touching any code.
Common custom sections we build include editorial content blocks, featured collection grids, custom hero sections with video support, countdown timers, testimonial carousels, product comparison tables, lookbook layouts, custom product tabs, and more. If you can describe it, we can build it.
Done properly, theme development should improve your store’s SEO and performance, or at minimum hold it steady. Our developers write clean, efficient Liquid code that avoids unnecessary scripts and render-blocking CSS, follows semantic HTML conventions, and is tested against Core Web Vitals benchmarks.
If your existing theme has code that’s hurting your performance or SEO, we’ll identify and flag it at the start of the project. We also offer a dedicated speed optimisation service if a more thorough performance overhaul is needed.
Online Store 2.0 (OS 2.0) is Shopify’s current theme architecture, introduced in 2021. It replaced the older static section system with a flexible JSON template structure that lets sections and blocks be used on any page, not just the homepage.
It gives merchants much greater content management flexibility. You can rearrange page layouts, add or remove sections, and customise any page directly in the editor, without needing a developer for everyday content changes.
Every theme we build or significantly customise is structured to OS 2.0 standards. If your current theme is still on the older architecture, we can migrate it as part of a redesign project.
Yes. Targeted page-level redesigns are a very common project type for us. We regularly rebuild specific templates: a product detail page, a collection page layout, a homepage template, or a cart page, without touching the rest of your store.
It’s a low-risk way to improve specific pages that aren’t performing. A single PDP redesign can have a real impact on conversion rate if the current template isn’t showing your products properly. Check out our Lumination project as an example of targeted theme work that moved the needle.
"Axis Web Art developed our website. They are easy to work with, thorough, and responsive. We have been very happy with their service."
"Great work, they know how to change your theme effectively without any issues. Fixed a few tiny issues moments after identifying them. Always a pleasure to work with this team of highly skilled players."
"We crafted a soothing online shopping experience for Bubbaroo, a leading Australian baby sleep bag brand. Our Shopify store design and development focused on safety, comfort, and parent peace of mind."
Tell us what you need — a minor customisation, a full page redesign, or a theme built from scratch. We will scope it clearly and get it done properly.
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