Hall Web Design vs Shopify
Verdictvs Shopify
Shopify wins on speed-to-launch and payments for a standard catalogue. A custom Next.js build wins when you've got fewer than 50 SKUs, a brand that needs to lead, or non-standard pricing (rental, quote-based, subscription) that doesn't fit Shopify's default model.
Shopify is genuinely good at what it's built for: getting a product catalogue online in a weekend, handling tax and shipping zones correctly, and taking payment without you having to think about PCI compliance. For a lot of small e-commerce businesses that's the right answer. This page is for the businesses where it isn't.
Launch speed for a standard catalogue
Two to four weeks for a custom build with CMS. A weekend, including payments. Hard to beat. Monthly cost
Vercel hosting £0-£20/mo. Payment processor fees only on the gateway you choose. No app subscriptions. £25-£299/mo base + typical £50-£150/mo in app subscriptions + 2% transaction fee on non-Shopify-Payments gateways. Performance (Lighthouse)
95+ out of the box. Static rendering for catalogue pages, edge-cached images, sub-2s LCP. Theme-dependent. Typical modern theme sits at 50-70 mobile. Can be tuned upward but fights the platform. Brand and design flexibility
Any design you can draw. No theme framework constraining layout. Good-looking defaults. Heavy custom design fights Liquid template conventions; editors who don't code hit walls fast. Payment + tax + shipping
Stripe integration in ~2 days. Tax and shipping logic written to fit your business. More upfront effort; more control. Native, managed, automatic. Tax is calculated correctly in ~140 countries out of the box. Hard to beat if standard rules fit. App and plugin ecosystem
Whatever integration you want, written to spec. No app marketplace. Huge app store. Inventory sync, email flows, loyalty, upsell widgets - mostly drop-in. Cost adds up quickly but the options exist. Non-standard pricing (rental, subscription, quote-based)
Bespoke pricing engine per product type. See Castleford Hire Centre in the portfolio for a live example. Fights the model. Rental requires paid apps; B2B tiered pricing is a separate plan (£299/mo); quote-based workflows don't fit. Catalogue scale (1000+ SKUs, multi-warehouse, multi-channel)
Possible but you'll build inventory UX that Shopify gives you for free. Usually the wrong call at scale. Exactly what the platform is built for. Multi-channel (Amazon, TikTok, POS) just works. When Shopify is actually the right call
Standard product catalogue with 50+ SKUs. Shoes, homewares, skincare, anywhere the model is "customer browses, adds to cart, pays, gets shipped." Shopify was designed around this flow and fighting it costs you more than you'd save on subscription fees.
You want to be live next week. Shopify's weekend-to-launch speed is real. If the business case is "get trading, iterate the site later", you can have a workable Shopify store before I've finished scoping a custom build.
Multi-channel selling matters. Shopify's native integrations with Amazon, TikTok Shop, POS hardware, and Meta catalogues are hours-of-work to set up. Rebuilding those from scratch is a substantial project on top of the site itself.
Your team isn't technical and won't be. Shopify's admin UI is polished and familiar. Training a non-technical client on a custom CMS adds weeks to onboarding; Shopify's admin is something they've probably used before.
Where I come in
For the businesses where Shopify's defaults start costing more than they save.
Small catalogue, brand-led sites. Under 50 SKUs, design-first, content is a real part of the sale (editorial product pages, lookbooks, founder story). Shopify themes can do this but they fight you; a custom build puts the brand first and treats commerce as a supporting feature.
Non-standard product models. Tool hire, equipment rental, booking-based services, quote-based B2B, subscription models with custom logic. These either don't fit Shopify at all or require £100+/mo in apps to approximate. Castleford Hire Centre in the portfolio is exactly this case - live HireHop API integration, custom pricing engine, admin dashboard all written to spec.
You've outgrown Shopify's ceiling and want to leave. Complex custom checkout flow, custom fulfilment logic, needs a CMS better than Shopify's content model. Headless Shopify (Shopify as the back end, Next.js as the front end) is a legitimate third option here - you keep Shopify's payment and inventory strengths, but own the presentation layer.
Performance is a ranking or conversion lever. If you're losing customers to slow page loads, or Core Web Vitals are demonstrably hurting search rankings, a custom build's 30-40 point Lighthouse advantage translates to real commercial difference.
Common questions
Can I migrate from Shopify to a custom site?+
Yes, though it's rarely an all-at-once cutover. The usual path is headless Shopify first - keep Shopify handling payments, inventory, and orders, but rebuild the storefront on Next.js. You keep the commerce engine that works and own the presentation. Full migration off Shopify to a custom cart is possible but the integration cost is substantial; most businesses don't need it.
Will a custom build be cheaper long-term than Shopify?+
Depends on your revenue. Under ~£30k/yr in sales Shopify's £25-£99/mo plan is hard to beat on pure cost. Over ~£200k/yr with transaction fees on non-Shopify-Payments gateways and app subscriptions stacking up, custom can pay for itself within 12-18 months. The break-even also shifts if your current site loses sales to poor performance.
Can you use Shopify headless with Next.js?+
Yes, and it's often the pragmatic middle ground. Shopify's Storefront API returns products, variants, cart state, and checkout sessions over GraphQL. Next.js renders the shop; Shopify handles payments and fulfilment. You get Shopify's reliability for the commerce engine and full control over the storefront. Not cheaper than pure Shopify, but much better if the storefront is where you're losing sales.
How many products before Shopify clearly wins?+
Rough rule: around 50 SKUs of standard products, you're fighting a custom build's inventory UI. Around 200 you're almost certainly better off with Shopify or a dedicated commerce platform. Under 50 with a clear brand angle, custom is often the right call - especially if you want the site to read as editorial rather than catalogue.
What about Shopify's free themes? Aren't they good enough?+
For a standard catalogue, yes - Shopify's own themes (Dawn, Studio, Sense) are well-built and fast. Paid themes from trusted developers are usually fine. Where it breaks down is bespoke design and non-standard layouts: you end up in Liquid templates fighting Shopify's sectioning model, and performance degrades as you add apps. If your design constraint is 'looks like a good Shopify store', Shopify wins; if it's 'looks like your brand', custom wins.
Is Shopify's SEO as good as a custom build?+
Close enough that SEO alone isn't a reason to leave Shopify. The gap is in Core Web Vitals (which Google does rank on), custom URL structures (Shopify forces /products/ and /collections/ prefixes you can't change), and page speed under heavy app load. All solvable, but they stack into a real difference on competitive queries. If you're not competing on hard-fought keywords, Shopify's SEO is fine.
Done with Shopify?
Tell me what your current site is costing you - in page-load time, plugin headaches, or conversions - and I'll tell you whether a rebuild is worth it.