We've been building Shopify stores since 2011 and we know what Chicago brands actually need. B2B wholesale portals for Merchandise Mart distributors. DTC stores for Midwest food & beverage manufacturers. High-SKU catalogues for industrial supply companies going digital. We're a Shopify Plus partner with 500+ stores built and 37 verified 5-star reviews. We handle Chicago's commercial complexity without the runaround.
Chicago is the third-largest eCommerce market in the United States and one of its most commercially serious. While New York leads in fashion and LA in culture, Chicago’s eCommerce strength is rooted in B2B trade, wholesale distribution, food manufacturing, and mid-market retail. These are businesses that have been doing commerce for decades and are now moving serious volume online.
Chicago brands do not need stores that look impressive on Instagram. They need stores that handle 10,000-SKU catalogues without slowing down, integrate cleanly with ERPs and warehouse management systems, support net-30 payment terms for trade customers, and process the kind of order volumes that would break a store not purpose-built for scale.
We build Shopify stores for Chicago brands that work as hard as the businesses behind them operationally sound, technically robust, and built to handle Chicago’s demanding commercial reality without compromise.
Chicago's eCommerce landscape is dominated by B2B, wholesale, food, and mid-market retail. These sectors don't want visual polish. They want Shopify builds with operational depth. We've got category-specific experience across every major Chicago vertical and we don't outsource any of it our 30+ in-house specialists handle every project.
From a first Shopify store to a full Shopify Plus B2B implementation with ERP integration and multi-warehouse inventory we handle every layer of the project. Chicago's most operationally complex brands don't have to split this work across multiple agencies. We've got 30 in-house specialists and we don't outsource.
Chicago brands are operationally serious. They don't need an agency talking about design aesthetics they need a partner who understands B2B purchasing flows, ERP integrations, and the real complexity of selling wholesale on Shopify. Here's why Chicago brands choose Axis Web Art over the alternatives.
Chicago businesses expect clear scope, realistic timelines, transparent pricing, and delivery that matches what was agreed. Our six-step process is built to exactly that standard. No ambiguity, no surprises halfway through, and no excuses at the end.
Yes particularly on Shopify Plus, which has a dedicated B2B feature set built specifically for wholesale commerce. Shopify Plus B2B supports company profiles with multiple contacts and locations, customer group pricing with percentage or fixed-price rules, net-30, net-60, and net-90 payment terms, minimum order quantities, draft order creation by your sales reps, and purchase order upload. It’s a real wholesale platform, not a workaround.
For Chicago B2B brands with more complex requirements quote workflows, tiered volume pricing, custom payment term negotiation, or integration with existing ERP trade account systems — we build custom Shopify apps and integrations that extend the native B2B feature set to match your actual commercial model. We’ve done this for multiple Chicago wholesale brands and the result is a B2B store your trade customers will genuinely prefer to use over calling your sales team.
Yes. ERP and WMS integration is one of our core capabilities for Chicago brands. We’ve built integrations between Shopify and NetSuite, SAP Business One, Epicor, Infor, Fishbowl, QuickBooks Enterprise, and a range of custom warehouse management systems. It’s not a specialist engagement for us it’s part of most of our larger Chicago project scopes.
Depending on your ERP, the integration can be built using the ERP vendor’s existing Shopify connector (where one exists and meets your data flow requirements), a middleware platform like Celigo, Boomi, or Zapier Enterprise, or a fully custom API integration that we design, build, and maintain. We document the full integration architecture before any development begins so your IT team can review and approve the data flows before we start coding.
Yes. Magento to Shopify migrations are one of our most common project types and Chicago brands account for a significant share of our Magento migration work. We handle the full migration: product catalogue (including configurable products and custom attributes), customer records and order history, category and URL structures, SEO redirect mapping, and all app functionality equivalents on Shopify. Our migration service page has the full breakdown.
For SEO, we audit every URL on your current Magento store, map it to its Shopify equivalent, and implement 301 redirects before launch so your search rankings carry over to the new platform. We also reconfigure your meta data, heading structures, and XML sitemap on Shopify before submission to Google Search Console. We’ve completed multiple large Magento 1 and Magento 2 migrations with zero data loss and no significant SEO ranking drops post-launch.
Shopify handles large catalogues well when the product taxonomy and metafield architecture are designed correctly from the start. For Chicago brands with 10,000 to 100,000-plus SKUs, our approach is straightforward: build the product data model before the theme, define the metafield structure that’ll power your product specifications and filters, implement Shopify’s native search and filter capabilities or integrate Searchanise/Boost Commerce for advanced filtering, and design a category architecture that makes large catalogues navigable without performance problems.
For Chicago industrial and wholesale brands with highly technical product specifications, we build the faceted search and attribute filtering architecture that lets buyers find products by dimension, material, specification, compatibility, or any other technical attribute. The same functionality your paper catalogue delivered now online, searchable, and tied to live inventory.
Yes. Shopify Plus supports running both a consumer-facing DTC store and a B2B trade portal from the same back-end, using separate storefronts (each with their own URL, design, and pricing) or a single storefront with customer-group-based access control that shows trade pricing to logged-in B2B accounts and retail pricing to everyone else.
We assess which architecture is right for your Chicago business based on the overlap between your B2C and B2B product ranges, the differences in the purchasing experience each customer type needs, and the operational simplicity of managing one back-end versus two. For most Chicago brands running both channels, a single Shopify Plus store with a dedicated B2B storefront is the cleanest and most maintainable approach.
Cost depends on scope: the size of the product catalogue, the complexity of the B2B requirements, the number of integrations, and whether a full redesign is included alongside a migration.
A focused Shopify DTC build or redesign for a growing Chicago brand typically starts from $5,000–$12,000. A full B2B Shopify Plus build with trade portal, pricing tiers, and basic ERP integration typically ranges from $15,000–$35,000. A complex Magento migration with full redesign, ERP integration, and B2B configuration typically starts from $25,000–$60,000+ depending on catalogue size and integration complexity.
We provide a detailed, itemised quote after a discovery call. Every line item is named, every assumption is stated, and the price is fixed not an estimate with a potential overrun.
Yes. For Chicago brands with B2B configurations, ERP integrations, and large-catalogue setups, ongoing support is particularly important. These stores have more moving parts than standard DTC builds and they benefit from having a partner who already understands the full architecture. We’re not starting from scratch each time you raise an issue.
Our monthly retainer plans for Chicago brands cover proactive integration monitoring (catching data sync failures before they affect orders), catalogue management support (new product onboarding, pricing tier updates), B2B account management (new company configuration, payment term adjustments), and any development work on new features or system changes. We’re available in Central Time and most support issues are resolved same-day.
"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 about your brand, your operations, and your goals. We'll put together a clear, detailed Shopify strategy built around the complexity your Chicago business actually has not a generic agency proposal.
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