Shopify theme and feature development
The code side of a Shopify store: the theme, the features your theme doesn't have, and the clean-up when years of changes have slowed everything down.
Custom theme development
Shopify's Online Store 2.0 gave themes a much better structure: JSON templates, sections you can add to any page, and blocks inside those sections. A well-built theme uses all of it. Content lives in the theme editor, product data lives in metafields and metaobjects, and nothing is hardcoded that someone on your team might want to change next month.
We build new sections and templates for an existing theme, extend themes from the Shopify theme store, and refactor older themes that were built before 2.0 and never brought forward. Typical work includes:
- Product templates with spec tables, size guides or ingredient lists pulled from metaobjects
- Landing page sections your marketing team can rearrange in the editor
- Alternate templates for product types that need a different layout
- Collection pages with merchandising rules your theme can't handle on its own
- Moving hardcoded content into metafields so it can be edited without code
Need a section, not a project?
If what you need is a common section like a comparison table, a before-and-after slider or a countdown, it may already exist. We sell 100+ ready-made sections through the Abra Sections app, which is cheaper than custom code for standard pieces.
Custom features
The things that make your store yours, and that no theme ships with.
Product configurators
Step-by-step builders for products with options that depend on each other: pick a size, then only show the materials available in that size, then show the price as it changes. Built on Shopify variants and line item properties so orders arrive with everything your team needs to fulfill them.
Bundles and kits
Build-your-own bundles, sets with a fixed discount, and kits that need to reduce inventory on each item inside them. Some of this can be done in the theme, some needs an app or Shopify's bundle features, and we'll tell you which approach fits your catalog.
Custom product quizzes
A few short questions that lead shoppers to the right product: skin type, room size, skill level, whatever matters in your catalog. Answers map to the tags and metafields already on your products, so results stay current as products change, and shoppers can add their match to the cart straight from the results.
Pricing displays
Tiered pricing, quantity breaks, wholesale prices for tagged customers, price per unit. The display is theme work; the discount logic behind it depends on your plan and setup, and we check that before promising anything.
Product page upgrades
Color swatches that link sibling products, size guides and comparison tables pulled from metafields, a sticky add-to-cart bar, and media galleries that switch with the selected variant. The details that help shoppers decide, built into your existing product template.
Cart and cart drawer
Free shipping progress bars, gift wrap and gift notes, add-on products, and a cart drawer that matches your store instead of the theme's default. All built into the theme, without another app loading on every page.
Performance and refactors
Making a slow theme fast again
Most slow Shopify stores have the same handful of problems. Apps that were uninstalled but left their scripts in the theme. Several libraries doing the same job. Hero images uploaded at full camera size. JavaScript that blocks the page from showing until it loads.
We start with measurements, using Lighthouse and the Core Web Vitals data in Google Search Console, then work through the theme file by file. You get a list of what we found and what we changed, and the numbers from before and after.
Sometimes the honest answer is that the theme isn't worth patching. Then we'll lay out what a refactor or a move to a current theme would involve, so you can decide with real information.
A speed audit usually covers
- Every script and app embed on the page, and what it does
- Image sizes and how they're served
- Fonts, CSS and render-blocking files
- Liquid loops that slow down collection pages
Who does the work
Abra is a small studio in Los Angeles, run by Ronen Hirsch. Ronen has been designing and coding for the web for over 20 years, across PHP, JavaScript, Laravel, WordPress and Shopify, and he works directly on client stores. You can see past projects on Abra's work page.
If you're still deciding whether Shopify is the right platform, or you need a full redesign rather than development, Abra's Shopify page covers the bigger picture.
Have a feature in mind?
Tell us what it should do and which theme you're on. We'll come back with questions and an honest read on the best way to build it.