Shopify build, audit and growth
Shopify stores built to sell.
We build new Shopify stores and fix the ones you already have. On Shopify since 2018, with a team of 20 where builders sit next to legal, SEO and GEO, and analytics specialists. In 2026 Scripts are ending, checkout tracking moved to pixels and AI assistants read your catalogue, so we audit, build and optimise for the store you need now.
You rent the engine. You own the business.
Shopify is a hosted commerce platform. Shopify runs the servers, security, checkout and payments. You run the brand, the products, the customers and the growth.
One admin for everything you sell
Products, stock, orders and customers in one place, selling on your site, in physical stores, abroad and in AI assistants.
You sell products and want to grow fast
- Consumer brands selling direct (B2C, DTC)
- Wholesale and B2B reorders, from one store
- Selling in Portugal, Spain and beyond
- Online and physical stores sharing one stock
Audit it, build it, make it sell
We build new stores, improve existing ones and connect them to your ERP, analytics and media. Then we keep optimising.
Sources: W3Techs usage statistics (September 2026); Shopify Q2 2026 financial results (B2B GMV); Shopify Help Center, Portugal payment methods. Platform figures, not Wise Pirates figures.
A new store, or a better one.
Most agencies only want the new build. Many stores already exist and simply need to perform better. Same team, same standards, either way.
Launch a store that is ready to grow.
From a first shop to a Plus flagship or a replatform, scoped to your budget and built on the platform setup that fits.
- New stores, on Shopify or Shopify Plus, designed and launched.
- Replatforming from WooCommerce, Magento or PrestaShop.
- B2B and international, with wholesale catalogues and Markets.
- Headless and interactive, from Hydrogen front ends to product finders.
Make the store you have earn more.
No replatform, no big bang. We audit what is there, fix what is broken and improve what is slow, on your current theme and apps.
- 2026 health check: Scripts to Functions, Additional scripts to web pixels, consent wiring.
- Speed: Core Web Vitals, app diet, image and script budgets.
- Tracking you can trust: GA4, Google Ads and Meta events that match your Shopify orders.
- SEO and GEO: structured data, collections, duplicate URLs, llms.txt and AI assistant visibility.
- Conversion work: product pages, cart and checkout customisation, native A/B tests.
- Redesign without replatforming: a theme refresh, accessibility fixes and new sections.
Six builds Shopify does well, when done right.
The builds we are asked for most, and where good engineering changes the result. The wider picture, including WooCommerce and composable, lives on our E-commerce Shops page.
DTC stores
Theme builds on Online Store 2.0 and Horizon-family themes, with sections your team can edit without a developer.
Shopify Plus flagships
Checkout customisation, expansion stores, Functions-based rules and higher API limits for brands at scale.
B2B and wholesale
Company profiles, price lists and volume pricing next to your B2C store. The basics now reach standard plans; full B2B stays on Plus.
Omnichannel with POS
Physical stores and online on one stock, with click-and-collect, returns anywhere and endless aisle.
Custom apps and Functions
Private apps, checkout UI extensions and Shopify Functions for discount, delivery and payment logic.
Launches and interactive
Landing pages for drops and campaigns, product finders, quizzes and gamified launches that feed real data back.
Features are cheap. Use cases pay.
We are a tech enabler: the goal is business results, not installed features. Three situations we see most, six more in short.
Tracking went quiet after the checkout upgrade
- Situation
- Media still spends, but reported purchases dropped when the new Thank you page went live.
- We build
- Web pixels, Consent Mode v2 and server-side events, reconciled against Shopify orders.
Resellers still order by email
- Situation
- Sales reps retype wholesale orders and price lists live in spreadsheets.
- We build
- A B2B portal in the same store: company accounts, price lists, volume pricing, ERP sync.
Invisible in ChatGPT and Gemini
- Situation
- AI assistants recommend competitors because your product data is thin.
- We build
- Enriched attributes, structured data, tuned Agentic Storefronts and custom llms.txt and agents.md.
Island shipping rules
Delivery and payment rules for Madeira and the Azores, rebuilt as Shopify Functions.
Margin protected on every orderOff WooCommerce, Magento or PrestaShop
Data migrated with a full 301 map, planned with our SEO team.
Lower running cost, traffic keptPortugal to Spain and France
One store with Markets: currency, language, subfolders, hreflang and duties.
New markets, no new storesShoppers drop at payment
MB WAY, Multibanco, Shop Pay and Klarna, ordered per market.
Higher checkout completionOne-off buyers, no second order
Shopify events feeding retention flows in Klaviyo: welcome, abandoned cart, replenishment.
Repeat purchase and lifetime valueERP, stores and site out of sync
PHC, Primavera, Sage or SAP synced for stock, price and invoices, plus POS on the same stock.
One version of stock and priceResult types, not promised numbers: in each project we set the baseline with you and measure against it. Growth work after launch runs with our Conversion Rate Optimization and Marketplaces teams.
A Shopify team inside a martech team.
Most Shopify specialists are design and development studios. They build good stores, then leave legal, consent and tracking to someone else, or to nobody.
Big martech players do the reverse: strong on data, but they do not build. In our team of 20, builders sit with digital legal, SEO and GEO, and analytics and consent specialists. On Shopify in 2026, that is exactly where stores break.
Digital legal
- GDPR roles: you are the controller; Shopify and every app are processors
- Terms, withdrawal rights and Portuguese consumer duties, including the electronic complaints book link
- European Accessibility Act: accessibility statement and a WCAG 2.2 AA review of theme and apps
- AI Act transparency where you deploy a shopping assistant or AI chat
SEO and GEO
- Redirect maps for Shopify's fixed /products/ and /collections/ paths on every migration
- Duplicate collection-product URLs, canonicals and faceted filters under control
- Product, offer, shipping and returns structured data that assistants can trust
- Customised llms.txt and agents.md, and a deliberate AI crawler policy in robots.txt
Analytics and Consent Mode
- GA4, Google Ads and Meta events on web pixels, including checkout
- CMP connected to Shopify's Customer Privacy API and Consent Mode v2
- Server-side tagging on Google Cloud for durable, consented signals
- Purchase parity checks: platform numbers against Shopify orders
That is how our audits catch what one discipline misses.
Frameworks behind us. Working stores in front of you.
Strong at all three, run as a loop: every optimisation cycle starts with a fresh look at the data.
Audit
Theme, apps, checkout, tracking, consent, speed, SEO and legal, in one prioritised list.
- Theme and app review
- Pixel and consent test
- CWV at p75
- Legal check
Build
A new store or fixes, in short sprints on a GitHub-connected preview theme.
- Preview themes
- Functions and extensions
- Integrations
- QA and launch
Optimise
A/B tests with Rollouts, conversion work, speed and GEO, measured on revenue and margin.
- A/B tests
- CRO backlog
- Speed budget
- GEO
Shopify since 2018, measured in what changed.
Years only matter if you lived through the shifts. We have rebuilt themes, checkouts and tracking through every major Shopify change since 2018, as part of a company that has served 500+ brands since 2017.
What you get is the best of a great team, frameworks, technology and proprietary data, aimed at your business results.
One catalogue. Every surface.
Shopify's real advantage is not the theme, it is the single admin. The same products, stock and customers feed your store, the Shop app, POS, every market, Google, marketplaces and, since March 2026, AI assistants. Orders flow back into one place.
One weakness spreads everywhere too. When product data is thin, the surfaces that match by attributes simply skip you. Toggle the data quality to see it.
Rich data: GTIN, material, size, shipping and returns filled in. Every surface can read and match the product; AI assistants hand shoppers to your checkout, and orders come back to one admin.
Most 2026 store problems are invisible.
Nothing looks broken. The store loads, orders come in. But a discount rule no longer applies, a purchase pixel stopped firing, or the cookie banner never tells Google what the visitor chose. You only notice when the ROAS report looks wrong.
What changed under the hood
Shopify Scripts (Ruby)→Shopify Functionscheckout.liquid→Checkout UI extensionsAdditional scripts→Web pixels (sandboxed)Banner only→CMP + Customer Privacy APIREST Admin API (legacy)→GraphQL Admin API for new work
Functions and pixels are safer by design, but the old code has to be rebuilt, not copied.
On a new project it is usually the first step: we review what you have before we build or change anything. Theme, apps, checkout, tracking, consent, speed, SEO and legal, across the eight areas shown in the scan.
- Checkout logicDiscount, shipping and payment rulesNot checked yetPending
- TrackingThank you and Order status pagesNot checked yetPending
- ConsentCookie banner and pixelsNot checked yetPending
- MeasurementGA4, Google Ads, Meta CAPINot checked yetPending
- PerformanceCore Web Vitals on real usersNot checked yetPending
- AppsApp stack and permissionsNot checked yetPending
- AccessibilityEuropean Accessibility ActNot checked yetPending
- AI readinessCatalogue, llms.txt, agents.mdNot checked yetPending
What we check before we sign.
Shopify removes engineering, not decisions. First what changed in 2026, then the questions a technical buyer should ask any partner, with our answer in orange.
Eleven checks, one card each. The orange line is our answer.
01 · ArchitectureMulti-tenant SaaS
Hosting, CDN, scaling and PCI DSS Level 1 are Shopify's job. You own the theme, apps, extensions and integrations.
We map what runs where, and what you own versus rent.
02 · ExtensibilityFunctions, extensions, pixels
Shopify Functions (WebAssembly) for discounts, delivery, payment and cart validation. Checkout UI extensions, theme app extensions, sandboxed web pixels, Flow for automation.
We prefer native extension points over app sprawl.
Functions unit-tested, then run on a preview store with real carts and discount combinations.
03 · APIs and integrationsGraphQL first
GraphQL Admin API (REST Admin is legacy but still runs), Storefront API and Customer Account API. Quarterly versions, each supported for at least 12 months. GraphQL uses cost-based rate limits (higher on Plus), and bulk operations handle full catalogue syncs.
ERP, PIM, WMS and invoicing syncs with retries, idempotency and alerts.
04 · PerformanceCore Web Vitals at p75
Stores get slow through app JavaScript, widgets and heavy media. We measure real users: LCP 2.5 s, INP 200 ms, CLS 0.1.
A script and app budget agreed before launch, checked after.
CrUX p75 before and after each release, plus lab runs on key templates.
05 · Security and governanceLeast privilege ISO 27001
Granular staff permissions, SSO and SAML on Plus, protected customer data scopes for apps, and a review of every app as a data processor.
Run under our ISO 27001 information security management.
06 · Privacy and consentCustomer Privacy API
Web pixels read consent but cannot set it, so a CMP writes to setTrackingConsent. Consent Mode v2 goes through Google's app or a custom pixel. No scripts in checkout, pixels only.
We verify consent states in checkout, not just on the homepage.
Tag Assistant for consent states, then the parity dashboard against Shopify orders.
07 · Data model limitsKnow the ceiling
Three options and up to 2,048 variants per product, metafields and metaobjects for custom data, fixed /products/ and /collections/ URL prefixes.
We model the catalogue before design, not after.
08 · HeadlessHydrogen, when it earns it
Hydrogen on Oxygen, with a framework-agnostic core in developer preview. Front-end freedom, but no simple theme editor, and you own caching.
We only go headless where a theme is a proven ceiling.
09 · AI and agentic readinessCatalogue as an API
Agentic Storefronts syndicate your catalogue to ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and AI Mode, on by default. Since in-chat checkout ended, assistants hand shoppers to your checkout, so product data decides.
Also checked: UCP over REST and MCP, /llms.txt and /agents.md Liquid overrides, robots.txt.liquid AI crawler policy.
Catalogue enrichment runs with our Data Science team; guardrails on price and promotions.
10 · CI/CD and exitPortable where it counts
Shopify CLI, GitHub-connected themes, Theme Check and preview themes. Products, customers and orders export via CSV and APIs. Liquid themes, Functions and Shop Pay are Shopify-specific, and checkout cannot be self-hosted.
Code in your repository, accounts in your name, a documented exit path.
11 · MigrationMoving in without losing history
Products, variants and metafields mapped first. Customers imported with account invitations, because passwords are not portable. Order history imported for service and reporting. A redirect map covering every old URL, tested in bulk before DNS moves. GA4 continuity, so year-on-year reports still line up.
A rehearsal migration on a staging store before the real one.
Cloud and AI work around the store runs with our Cloud Services team (see our Google Cloud partnership) and AI Enablement, which rolls out Sidekick and Flow with staff permissions and human review.
When Shopify is not the right fit.
Pick the platform that fits. Not the one that pays us. We build on Shopify, WordPress, Webflow and Lovable with Supabase, so we can tell you honestly when Shopify is the wrong tool.
Content first, commerce second
Editorial sites and brand hubs with a small shop need more content control and URL freedom.
WordPress → Webflow →An app, a SaaS or a complex marketplace
Bespoke data models and multi-vendor rules outgrow a commerce platform.
Lovable and Supabase → Web apps →Full URL and code control at low licence cost
High-volume, low-margin catalogues with an in-house team may prefer WooCommerce: no platform fees, full SEO control, more upkeep.
WordPress and WooCommerce →Checkout you must own
Some regulated products and bespoke payment flows need a checkout you host yourself.
Web apps →Strict data residency
Shopify is a SaaS processor with international transfers. Some public-sector buyers need hosting they control.
Cloud Services →The store is where growth starts.
A store is stronger when the same agency runs what feeds it and what it feeds.
Tell us about your store. We will show you where to start.
Auditing is one of our specialties. On a new project it is usually the first step: we review what you have before we build or change anything. Talk to our specialists to see how this applies to your case.
Planning a new store instead? Meet us →Shopify, answered.
How much does a Shopify store cost in Portugal?
How long does it take to build or migrate a Shopify store?
Shopify or WooCommerce: which should we choose?
When do we need Shopify Plus?
Can Shopify do B2B in 2026?
Our Shopify Scripts stopped working. What do we do now?
Why did our conversion tracking break after Shopify's checkout upgrade?
Is Shopify GDPR compliant, and how do you set up Consent Mode v2?
Is our Shopify theme accessible under the European Accessibility Act?
Does Shopify support MB WAY and Multibanco?
Can our products appear in ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot?
What is UCP, and does Shopify have llms.txt?
Can you migrate our store to Shopify without losing SEO?
Can you take over and improve a Shopify store another agency built?
Do we own the store, and can we leave Shopify later?
New store or better store, let's make it sell.
Bring us the store you have, or the store you want. Auditing is one of our specialties, and on an existing store it is usually the first step, with legal, SEO and analytics in the room from day one. Talk to our specialists to see how this applies to your case.
- Share your store URL and goal
- We scope the work
- You get a written plan
Shopify, Shopify Plus, Shop Pay, Hydrogen and the Shopify logo are trademarks of Shopify Inc. Other names are trademarks of their respective owners. Wise Pirates is an independent agency.