What is a Shopify Partner and when should I hire one?

Shopify has official partners who provide support in various ways, from construction to store operations.

Each official partner is a company or individual that has formed a partnership with Shopify, and partnerships take various forms, including building Shopify sites, developing apps, and developing themes.

Whether you already have a Shopify store or not, have you ever wondered how to consult or request services from an authorized Shopify partner company?

In this article, we'll explain what Shopify Partners, Shopify Experts, and Shopify Plus Partners are, and discuss when you should consult with a Shopify-certified Partner.

About Shopify Certified Partners

Shopify has certified partner programs, including Shopify Partners, Shopify Experts, and Shopify Plus Partners.
First, let's explain the differences between each of our certified partners.

Shopify Partner

A Shopify Partner is a company or individual that participates in Shopify's official partner program.
Shopify Partners offer partnerships in a variety of forms, including site building, app development, theme development, and consulting.
Shopify Partners have access to the latest information and resources from Shopify, and they bring their expertise and experience to deliver services in their areas of expertise.

Shopify Experts

Shopify Expert is a partnership level given to companies or individuals among Shopify Partners who have deeper knowledge and extensive experience with Shopify and who have passed rigorous screening criteria.

As mentioned earlier, Shopify Partner is a partnership that almost anyone can become if they apply, but Shopify Expert is a Shopify expert who has been recognized for having a certain level of achievement, and is proof of having a high level of expertise and achievements.

Shopify Plus Partner

Shopify Plus Partner is the highest level of partnership awarded only to partners who have extensive knowledge and a proven track record of support in building Shopify Plus, Shopify's highest-level plan, and who pass rigorous screening criteria that include technical capabilities and construction track record.

Shopify Plus is a plan aimed at large businesses and e-commerce sites with high transaction volume. When building large-scale sites using Shopify Plus, Shopify Plus Partners will demonstrate their high level of expertise and skills to drive the project forward.

When should you request/consult with a Shopify authorized partner company?

Next, we will list some cases in which you should request/consult with a Shopify-certified Partner.
Please use this as a reference when you are unsure whether or not you should ask your partner for help.

I want to focus on design

Shopify has over 100 themes and allows you to edit to a certain extent without coding, but if you want to be particular about the design you want, we recommend that you contact an authorized Shopify partner.

Building a store requires knowledge of coding, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as the ability to use specialized languages ​​used on Shopify sites such as Liquid. Without expertise, you may not be able to create the design you want.

If you want to build a store with a unique design, but don't have any in-house engineers or can't spare your own resources, we recommend consulting with an authorized Shopify partner.

I want to select/implement app functions

Shopify's strength is that you can quickly add the functionality you need to your store by installing apps.
However, with so many apps offering similar functions, it can be hard to know which one to choose, and apps can interfere with each other, causing functions to not work properly.

Shopify-certified Partners are familiar with commonly used apps and the features of each app, so if you're unsure about which app to choose or how to implement it, we recommend consulting an app provider partner or a trusted development partner.

[Reference] Shopify Recommended App List 20 Selections 2023 Latest Edition

I want to create a custom app

If existing apps don't meet your store's functionality needs, or if there is an app you want to use but it interferes with other apps, you can build a custom app to meet your needs.


You might also need to build a custom app if you want to connect your Shopify store to an external core system.

Custom apps use APIs to connect data, but depending on the content of the connection and your Shopify plan, API connection may or may not be possible. If you need it, be sure to consult with an authorized partner about this point as well.

I need marketing and consulting support

If you want to implement customer acquisition measures, upselling/cross-selling measures, CRM measures, etc., one way to take more effective action is to consult with an authorized partner.

In addition to the measures mentioned above, you can also consult with an authorized partner who specializes in consulting about how to generate numbers by taking advantage of the Shopify platform, such as SEO measures, integration with various Google analysis tools including Google Analytics 4 (GA4), advertising management and analysis, and analysis of traffic sources, in order to improve your issues.

In addition to the above, finding a partner who has knowledge of the back-end work specific to e-commerce, such as operations and logistics delivery, can help you improve your e-commerce business as a whole.

【reference】

How to Set Up GA4 (Google Analytics 4) on Shopify

Data marketing made possible with KARTE and Shopify

LOGILESS is recommended for inventory and order integration with Shopify and multi-store management

I want to expand my store internationally

Shopify is a shopping cart that makes it easy to sell internationally, but to do so you will need to deal with a variety of items, such as setting the language and currency, setting the shipping method, and setting taxes for each country.

In addition, in order to attract customers through cross-border e-commerce, it is necessary to implement web marketing and SEO measures that are appropriate for each country, and it is also necessary to create content that does not look strange to local people.

In addition, before even building a store, you need to thoroughly research whether there is a market demand for the products you want to sell.

There are many other items to consider besides those mentioned above, but when selling e-commerce products overseas, it is expected that there will be many aspects that cannot be covered by your own company's resources alone, so we recommend consulting with a partner at an early stage.

I want to launch a large-scale e-commerce site.

When building a large-scale e-commerce site with a high volume of transactions, specialized knowledge is also required in invisible back-end areas, such as creating an order flow that can process orders smoothly even when access is concentrated, and integrating member data with the system.

Additionally, if you anticipate a large amount of purchasing access in a short period of time or want to implement social login using SNS, you will need to build your site using Shopify Plus.

For these reasons, if you are building a large-scale e-commerce site where you expect a large number of traffic and orders, we recommend that you consult with a Shopify Plus Partner about the configuration you should have and what kind of development will be required.

[Reference] Building a Shopify Plus store

summary

In this article, we have explained Shopify Partners and the cases in which you should request assistance from a partner company.

Summary of this article

• There are three types of Shopify partners, each with different levels of expertise and track record.
• For areas that are difficult to cover with your own resources, we recommend requesting/consulting with an authorized partner company.

We hope you can take at least one useful piece of information from the information we have introduced today and accelerate your business.

If you are considering building a Shopify site or providing operational/consulting support, please feel free to contact us.
For consultation, please click here

*This article is current as of May 2023. The content of this article may become outdated due to future changes in Shopify.