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For businesses hoping to really make a splash within their industry, there’s simply no better eCommerce platform than Shopify. While it’s easy enough to select this service, choosing a theme is significantly more complicated.As you wade through the many free and paid pre-built themes, you might begin to feel that none of them quite align with your business’ particular goals, aesthetic, or needs. If that’s the case, there’s still one more Shopify frontier to explore: custom-built themes.What Are Custom-Built Shopify Themes?A custom Shopify theme is one that has been designed with your precise vision in mind, rather than one which has simply been modified with your branding and information. Think of custom-built themes as meals that are made-to-order from a personal chef—you have control over every ingredient and flavor profile involved in the dish; then, think of choosing pre-built themes as purchasing meals off of a restaurant’s existing menu—you can still exclude certain things, or add others, but the basic framework must remain the same.Essentially, a custom-built theme is a wholly unique environment whose design will be unlike anything else that shoppers have seen.What Are The Benefits of Custom-Built Themes?Like most highly-personalized items, the perks of custom-built Shopify themes are relatively plain to see, but if you’re having trouble understanding why exactly it’s worth it to invest in a custom theme, these are some of the most resounding benefits.

• Memorable Branding — The simple reality is that no matter which niche you want to dominate, eCommerce is a crowded space; you may have an incredible logo and stand-out assets, but if you’re using the same Shopify theme as all of your competitors, everything that makes you unique will simply melt into the background.

When you opt for a custom-built theme, customers won’t be distracted by the mundanity of the same interface they’ve seen a million times before—they’ll be engaged by the unique experience you’re offering, which will make your branding stand out in the forefront rather than fade from the spotlight.

• Tailored to Your Needs — Whatever specific features you’re hoping to accomplish in terms of functionality and integration, a custom-built Shopify theme will be able to help you achieve them seamlessly whereas a pre-built theme is likely to fall short in some measure. Perhaps your products are customizable, or customers need to be able to utilize some other form of advanced tool in order to get the most possible out of your brand; in cases such as these, a custom Shopify theme is a no-brainer.

Even if your business doesn’t have specific rigors that make a pre-built theme a clunky choice, your brand can likely benefit from a custom-built theme all the same. After all, when have you ever had a poor experience because a solution was more personalized to your unique needs?

• Scalable — Many pre-built themes are designed to be manipulated by users who aren’t especially tech-savvy, so there are quite a few limitations in terms of their growth potential and functionality. Custom-built themes are designed by developers with the assumption that anyone manipulating the code in the future will have a similar technical understanding, so they spare no feature for the sake of ease.

As a business owner, your hope is obviously that your needs will grow over time as your success soars. A custom-built theme will make it easy to implement updates and changes as your business evolves without having to completely shut down and revamp your platform; this will provide a greater sense of stability for you and your customers in the long run.

• Consistent Design Elements — A custom-built theme allows you to utilize consistently branded elements, even when it comes to things like Shopify apps and other necessary aspects of your eCommerce platform. This is particularly necessary for brands with high aesthetic value, like those in the fashion industry.

Regardless of your niche, consistency in your branding indicates to customers that you take your brand seriously; a sense of unity and cohesion within your theme will provide a more seamless user experience, making the sales funnel far smoother.

• Higher Brand Equity — Contemporary customers value character and individuality; your products and your brand might be highly unique, but if your Shopify theme feels hackneyed and played out, then you’ll immediately be lumped in with every other tired brand. By investing in a custom-built theme, you build brand equity by not only asserting your individuality as a company, but also by showing that you’re interested in creating a unique and intuitive environment for shoppers.

When customers value your brand more highly, they will be willing to spend more money on your products, and may even refer more leads to your site.A custom-built theme certainly comes with a couple of considerations that give some business owners pause, namely custom Shopify themes require a larger investment and they generally take longer to launch due to the fact that significantly more work must be poured into them, but these varied benefits are impossible to ignore.Who Should Use A Custom-Built Shopify Theme?Any business looking to create a wholly unique, scalable, and highly functional eCommerce platform should consider investing in a custom-built theme. If you value solutions that are carried out to your precise specifications, and that can flawlessly meet your future needs with minimal growing pains, then a custom-built Shopify theme is sure to meet your standards.Once you’ve decided that it’s in your best interest to go custom with your Shopify theme, it’s important to find an expert or highly qualified agency like Designpax to carry out the project for you so you can rest assured that the end result will be a truly personalized work of art. It can feel difficult to make the decision about which type of Shopify theme to choose, but for many eCommerce businesses, the benefits of custom-built themes are simply too glittering to ignore.