Ecommerce development, starting with the platform

What an online store project includes

An ecommerce project covers the buying path and the work staff do afterwards: products, variants, collections, search, cart, checkout, delivery and order notifications. The scope identifies gateway, inventory and accounting connections explicitly, so a new storefront does not hide an unfinished order process.

The build runs on Shopify, WooCommerce in WordPress, or Webflow, Squarespace, or Wix when the catalog and shipping suit those editors. A path a theme cannot hold is a storefront in Next.js, React, and TypeScript.

How to choose an ecommerce platform

To choose an ecommerce platform, write one order down before a theme demo: who adds a product, whether a trade buyer sees another price, which currency is shown, charged, and deposited, where you ship, and whether English and French both reach the receipt.

Shopify fits when hosting, checkout, and the admin are one system. WooCommerce fits an existing WordPress site, or a host you control and someone will keep updated. Webflow, Squarespace, and Wix fit a modest catalog and simple shipping. If you need prices that differ by customer, or a warehouse that stays in sync, we will say so before you buy a plan.

For B2B ecommerce, list the company accounts, catalogues, pricing rules, minimum quantities and payment terms the business needs. Shopify offers B2B capabilities on several plans, with limits that vary by plan. WooCommerce uses extensions or custom logic for the agreed wholesale workflow. We check the current platform features against a sample trade order before quoting.

Jobs that arrive in the inbox

A new store is the domain, gateway, shipping zones for Canada and the United States, a product import, and a theme staff can edit later. We connect Shopify Payments, PayPal, Shop Pay, Stripe, or your current gateway. GST, HST, PST, and US state tax are entered from rates your accountant supplies. We do not decide where you must register, and we do not certify compliance.

From WooCommerce, Magento, Squarespace, Wix, a custom cart, or a spreadsheet we move products, variants, customers, pages, and redirects. Past orders come only if the new platform accepts the file. Otherwise they stay in the old admin, and the quote says so. Later work is a second country, subscriptions, a discount no app will apply, or a repair on a store we did not build.

From the first email to handoff

Send what you sell, the URL if a store exists, the platform you prefer, and a real date: a show, a season, or a wholesale cutoff.

A bug we can reproduce is quoted in hours. A new store, a platform change, or a migration is a fixed quote once the product rules are clear. Unclear rules start as paid discovery: a platform note, the templates, the apps or plugins worth paying for, and a scope you keep if you stop. You own the account. We build on an unpublished theme or staging copy and go live only after a Canadian test order, a US test order, and one refund. Few jobs run at once.

Shopify, WooCommerce, and custom storefronts

Shopify work uses the admin, theme editor, Liquid, metafields and Git. Checkout extension availability depends on the plan and the page being extended: information, shipping and payment-step UI extensions require Plus, while other extension points have different eligibility. A custom app is scoped only when supported theme and app features leave a real gap.

WooCommerce is WordPress on a named host, with staging and backups of the database and the files. Custom code lives in a plugin you own. We do not edit inside a plugin someone else updates. A headless storefront, when a theme cannot do the job, is Next.js, React, and TypeScript, with the card on the gateway's checkout. On templates we change, we follow WCAG and do not certify compliance.

Who should hire an ecommerce developer

This suits an owner, marketer, or agency lead who can describe an order, or a team that wants one piece beside its developer. Studios can send a sub-project, white-label or credited. We do not promise revenue or a search ranking. Tax and legal calls stay with your adviser. Several people working in parallel for months is the wrong size. hehe.software is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, works remotely across Canada and the United States, and has no other office.

Our portfolio consists of products we own, including nine App Store apps and this website. StoreKit work in those apps demonstrates in-app purchases; it does not establish a storefront or payment-gateway case study. An ecommerce scope therefore includes reviewable storefront work, sample orders and a handoff for the staff operating your store.