Shopify / Magento / WooCommerce Development

Out-of-the-box stores handle many businesses well. You need development when the standard theme, plugins or apps cannot express your pricing, catalog, checkout or integrations, or when you are moving from one platform to another. That is the territory of e-commerce platform development.

• Theme development: a storefront design that matches your brand and loads quickly.
• Extension, app or plugin development: features the platform lacks.
• Integrations: ERP, warehouse, marketing and accounting connections.
• Performance and security work: tuning, hardening and update management.
• Migration: moving catalog, customers and orders between platforms.

For the wider design of a commerce system, read our guide to e-commerce development services; this page concentrates on the three platforms.

The table describes general characteristics. Vendors change plans and features, so confirm current details with their documentation.

The authoritative references are Shopify’s developer documentation (opens in a new tab), the Adobe Commerce developer documentation (opens in a new tab) and the WooCommerce documentation (opens in a new tab). Read the relevant one before agreeing a technical plan.

The same principle applies to all three: use the platform’s supported extension points, and add custom code only when configuration or an existing extension cannot meet the need.

• Shopify: theme customization, apps built on its APIs, and checkout extensions where supported. Apps that act for merchants use OAuth 2.0 (opens in a new tab) for authorization. A custom app suits private business logic or integrations that a store listing app cannot cover.
• Magento: modules should extend behavior through documented mechanisms instead of editing core files, so upgrades stay manageable.
• WooCommerce: build features as plugins or child themes, not edits to the parent theme or plugin files, and watch for conflicts between plugins.
• All three: version control, a staging store, and a written list of every custom change.

A migration moves the shop’s history and its search visibility, not only its products. Plan it as a project with its own checklist.

1. Audit the current store: catalog, customers, orders, content, redirects, integrations and apps in use.
2. Decide what moves: archive old records and clean the catalog before migrating.
3. Map the data: product options, variants, customer accounts, order history and discount rules rarely match one-to-one.
4. Rebuild or replace features that depended on old plugins or apps.
5. Protect search visibility: map every old URL to its new address with permanent redirects, and carry over page titles and metadata.
6. Trial migration and testing: run orders, payments, taxes and emails on a staging store.
7. Cutover and watch: freeze changes, run a final data sync, switch over and monitor errors.

Customers with accounts need a clear message about passwords, since hashed passwords often cannot be moved between systems. When the old store is large, a phased migration in the spirit of the Strangler Fig pattern (opens in a new tab) can reduce risk.

Responsibility for security differs by platform, so be clear about which parts are yours.

• Hosted platform: the vendor manages the core infrastructure, but you remain responsible for staff accounts, apps and theme code.
• Self-hosted platforms: you also own server patching, firewalls, backups and monitoring.
• Card data: use the payment provider’s hosted fields so card numbers never reach your server, and consult the PCI Security Standards Council library (opens in a new tab) for the requirements that apply to you.
• Provider integration: the Stripe documentation (opens in a new tab) is one example of a payment provider’s technical guide.
• Staff access: multi-factor authentication and least-privilege roles in the admin.

Our payment gateway integration team can help select and connect payment providers, and the third-party API integration team can link shipping and marketing tools.

The platform is only useful if the merchandising, marketing and support teams can operate it. After migration or a major redesign, teach people the new admin tools through short sessions on their daily tasks.

Write down routines such as launching a campaign, handling refunds and adding a product, and name an owner for each. Agree who approves new apps or plugins, so extensions do not accumulate without review.

• Direct-to-consumer brands: a fast hosted store with a custom bundle builder and subscription logic.
• Industrial supplies: a Magento store with large catalogs, customer-specific pricing and quote requests.
• Publishers and creators: a WooCommerce shop added to an existing content site to sell products and memberships.
• Multi-region retailers: separate storefronts per country with local currency and tax rules.

These are illustrative examples, not Kramate client results.

Platform choice interacts with local tax, privacy and payment rules. Confirm details with legal counsel.

• USA: state sales tax tools, state privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, and website accessibility expectations.
• UK: VAT, consumer rights, UK GDPR and cookie consent rules for tracking and marketing tools.
• Australia: GST, Australian Consumer Law and the Privacy Act 1988.
• Singapore: GST and the Personal Data Protection Act, with local payment methods often expected.

Check that the tax, shipping and payment apps or plugins you select support each market. Agree developer support hours covering the markets where you sell.

Costs split between one-time development and recurring platform costs.

• Platform fees: subscriptions, app fees, hosting or licenses, paid to vendors and providers.
• Theme and design work: depth of customization and number of templates.
• Custom features: apps, modules or plugins and their testing.
• Integrations with ERP, shipping and marketing tools.
• Migration scope: product, customer and order volumes and data cleanliness.
• Maintenance: updates, security patches and monitoring, especially on self-hosted setups.

Compare options by total cost over several years, not launch price. Fixed-price suits a defined build or migration, a dedicated team suits continuing improvement, and hourly work suits fixes and audits.

1. Honest platform advice, including when your needs fit a simpler option.
2. Current, specific skills in the platform you use, shown through work you can examine.
3. Supported-extension discipline instead of editing core files.
4. Migration method that covers redirects, data mapping and rehearsals.
5. Security responsibilities stated clearly for hosted versus self-hosted setups.
6. Maintenance offering with response times for updates and incidents.
7. Ownership: you own the theme, code and documentation.

Your team gets a dedicated project manager, daily Slack or Teams updates and a demo at the end of each two-week round. An NDA is signed before detailed discussions, and all intellectual property is transferred to you. Fixed-price, dedicated-team and hourly options are available; see how a project runs.

• Shopify Developer Documentation (opens in a new tab)Shopify
• Adobe Commerce Developer Documentation (opens in a new tab)Adobe
• WooCommerce Documentation (opens in a new tab)WooCommerce
• OAuth 2.0 (opens in a new tab)OAuth
• Strangler Fig Application (opens in a new tab)Martin Fowler
• PCI Security Standards Council Document Library (opens in a new tab)PCI SSC
• Stripe Documentation (opens in a new tab)Stripe