A couple of years ago I wrote a post about recommended Magento partners, which gets referred back to a lot and I get a lot of good feedback around the reasons for recommending those partners. Recently, I’ve been working a lot with Shopify Plus so I thought I’d create the equivalent based on my experience (and that of my clients) of working with the different partners.
I’ve now worked on lots of Shopify Plus projects with a number of different agencies, so here are the ones I’d generally recommend based on these experiences and also references from other clients we work with.
WeMakeWebsites
WeMakeWebsites are the partner that I’ve worked with the most and we have four active mutual clients. I’d say that based on my experience so far, WeMakeWebsites are an excellent partner and they are a good mix between an enterprise partner (in terms of processes and how they approach tasks) and a small agency (in terms of build costs and levels of service).
WeMakeWebsites have worked on a number of the larger Shopify Plus builds in the UK, with clients including Skinny Dip, The Simply Group, Emma Bridgewater, Finnisterre, Penguin, The Economist and lots of others. We’ve worked on around 10 projects with WeMakeWebsites, including some pretty big ones.
Location: London, UK & New York, US
Size: Large
Market-fit: Mid-level / enterprise
Other platforms supported: None, Shopify only.
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: https://wemakewebsites.com
Fostr
Like WeMakeWebsites, Fostr are one of the veterans of Shopify in the UK and Ryan Foster (the MD) is a big name within the community (he also apparently installed one of the first 50 Shopify stores). Fostr work on some of the biggest stores on the Shopify platform, with Gymshark being their real poster child project. Other well-known brands that Fostr work with include Pact Coffee, Clarks, Triangl, Victoria Beckham, Bohemia and Faction Skis.
Fostr have a team of around ~35 and they’re definitely considered to be one of the top Shopify Plus partners – they also take on the full scope of a project, including integrations, custom apps and back-end focused work.
Fostr also recently released their first headless Shopify Plus project (using Contentful as a headless CMS) for Victoria Beckham’s beauty business.
Location: Newcastle, UK
Size: Medium
Market-fit: Mid-level / enterprise
Other platforms supported: None, Shopify only.
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: http://www.ryanfosterdesign.com
Statement
Statement are a rapidly-growing Shopify agency based in Leeds & London. In 2018 they were acquired by the IDHL Group (who also own a number of other digital agencies). Statement have won some really nice projects over the last few years and they’re a real challenger to the larger eCommerce agencies. Some of their recent wins include Hotel Chocolat, Slendertone, and Neom Organics.
Statement have a team of around 20 and have experience of working on complex back-end integration work and also large international projects.
Location: Leeds & London, UK
Size: Medium
Market-fit: Mid-level / Enterprise
Other platforms supported: None, Shopify only.
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: https://www.
Blubolt
blubolt are an eCommerce agency based in Bath, UK, who have recently transitioned from operating their own in-house eCommerce platform, bluCommerce to working with Shopify Plus (whilst still supporting the existing platform). blubolt have a very impressive client list, which includes Hush, Seasalt of Cornwall, Skatehut, Route One and lots of others.
blubolt are now primarily focused on building eCommerce websites on Shopify Plus, with teapigs being their flagship Shopify Plus project. blubolt have a lot of experience of working on large-scale eCommerce projects and have strong process around project management, discovery etc.
Location: Bath, UK
Size: Medium / Large
Market-fit: Mid-level / Enterprise
Other platforms supported: None, Shopify only.
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: https://www.blubolt.com
By Association Only
By Association Only (BAO) are a relatively new agency to me and they’re not the best known in the Shopify Plus space – however, they do excellent work. By Association are originally from a creative background, but they’re also very strong technically.
We recently referred a project to BAO and they did a really good job. They’re now starting to become more known and they work on some really nice brands and projects, including Cambridge Satchel Company, Sophie Allport, Sous Chef, Tchibo and Shopskin.
Location: Cambridge, UK
Size: Small / Medium
Market-fit: Mid-level
Other platforms supported: None, Shopify only.
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: https://byassociationonly.com/
Corra
Corra are more commonly known for their Magento offering – which is the platform they work mostly with as a business. However, over the last ~18 months Corra have competed for a number of the biggest deals in the Shopify Plus space and they have some good Shopify Plus brands on their client roster.
Corra are currently in-build for one of the biggest brands that will be using Shopify Plus, who are moving over from Salesforce Commerce Cloud and they also work with brands like 7ForAllMankind, Eileen Fisher, Sugafina and Beyond Yoga.
Corra are very much positioned at the enterprise-level of the market and they’re unlikely to work on a website build for under £150k as a business. Corra have a small, local team in London, UK, with the majority of their team based in East Coast US and India.
Location: London, UK, New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, US
Size: Large
Market-fit: Enterprise
Other platforms supported: Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, SAP CX
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: https://www.corra.com
Strawberry
Strawberry are another Shopify Plus agency in the North (based in Hull) that have grown a lot recently – with recent client launches including Deliveroo and Roland Mouret.
I’ve only worked on one RfP project where Strawberry were included, but they came across very well and their work definitely spoke for itself. Since that project, I’ve recommended Strawberry for a number of small or mid-level Shopify Plus build projects and the feedback from retailers has always been really positive.
Location: Hull, UK
Size: Small / medium
Market-fit: SME / Mid-level
Other platforms supported: None, Shopify only.
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: https://strawberry.co.uk/
Eastside Co
I’ve not worked with Eastside Co directly, but they’re considered to be in the same bracket as WeMakeWebsites and Ryan Foster by many and I’ve heard good things about them from some of the technology partners in the eco-system.
Eastside Co have some good brands in their portfolio, such as Nike, Nissan, Rains, Lazy Oaf etc.
Location: Birmingham, UK
Size: Medium
Market-fit: Mid-level
Other platforms supported: None, Shopify only.
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: https://eastsideco.com/
ELS Media
ELS Media are a small but very competent Shopify and Shopify Plus agency who have worked with a number of nice B2C brands. ELS previously worked with Magento and WordPress also, but they moved to being a Shopify-only agency recently.
ELS are relatively small, but they tend to get in a lot of pitches for larger brands and have recently developed stores for Misfits, Basic Rights and
Location: Harrogate, UK
Size: Small
Market-fit: SME / Mid-level
Other platforms supported: None, Shopify only.
Partner Status: Plus Partner
Website: https://www.elsmedia.co.uk
Selecting a Shopify Plus Partner
The above recommendations are all good agencies, but they have different strengths and weaknesses and different levels of experience in different areas. Here are some of the things I’d recommend considering when selecting a Shopify Plus partner:
- Do they have a solution for complex integrations?
- Do they have experience / a solution for international setups?
- Have they worked on complex Shopify Plus projects in the past?
- How good is their design / front-end offering?
- Can they support current or future back-end development requirements?
- How do they approach project discovery?
- Do they have strong Project Managers?
- How much experience do they have with Shopify Plus?
- Do they have Solutions Specialists?
- How do they structure their pricing?