Service · Websites and web apps

Shopify and other platforms

Not everything belongs on WordPress. A shop with an ordinary buying journey often runs better on a subscription platform, where hosting, patches and security sit with the vendor. Other projects demand full command of the code instead. Take a cosmetics brand selling into France and Belgium: its needs bear little resemblance to a manufacturer carrying two thousand lines and negotiated prices. We say plainly where each option is comfortable, and the point at which it starts holding you back.

Subscription
servers and patches sit with the vendor
5 platforms
compared against your catalogue
Account in your name
never in the agency name
Ceilings
known before anything is signed

Where this service reaches

The platform is chosen once, and that single decision governs the budget, the schedule and how far the shop can grow before it has to move house. So we spend time on it before building anything.

Put your scope to an engineer

Costed comparison

We start from what the shop must handle eighteen months out, not from whatever is fashionable. You receive a short note covering subscription, commission, paid apps and the ceilings of each option, totalled across three years.

Shopify

A sound fit for selling into several European countries. We set up languages, VAT rates, card payments, Colissimo and Mondial Relay delivery, instalments through Alma and an invoicing app producing the Factur-X format.

PrestaShop

A well-established French option, installed on a server of yours, with a broad module catalogue and flexible pricing rules. More freedom also brings more duties: patches, security and module compatibility stay with you or with us.

Magento and Sylius

For intricate catalogues, cross-border selling and firms that must encode their own trading rules. These foundations assume a technical team after launch, which we say beforehand rather than midway.

Headless and bespoke

A Next.js front end split from the content system, fed by Shopify or by an API of your own. Very fast pages and complete design freedom, though a developer stays in the picture for good.

Team training

Whoever runs the shop is coached over video on your own records: orders, returns, discounts, building a product page. They work unaided from the first week.

The way an engagement runs

A subscription shop usually opens sooner than a headless build, where far more is written by hand. Dates are fixed once the requirements are on paper.

01

Requirements

Features expected, traffic forecast, number of lines, links required, then that list held up against the ceilings of each platform.

02

Design

A bespoke look, or a commercial theme carefully reworked when the budget is tight.

03

Configuration

Products, apps, payment methods, carriers, audience measurement and test orders end to end.

04

Opening

Domain attached, certificate issued, redirects from the old shop, consent-aware measurement and training.

The shop account has to be opened in your company name, never in the agency one. On Shopify as anywhere else, we work through a dedicated user with narrow rights that you can revoke whenever you choose. A shop sitting inside a supplier account cannot simply be reclaimed: the domain may be yours, the shop is not, and that conversation rarely ends in your favour.

Questions and answers

Shopify spares you every worry about hosting and patching, in exchange for a monthly fee and commission. PrestaShop is cheaper to run, tolerates unusual pricing rules and keeps your records with a French provider, but demands regular upkeep. We cost both routes against your order volume.

Subscription platforms have the lowest entry price, then bill every month, sometimes a slice of sales and almost always extra apps. A shop installed on your own infrastructure costs more up front plus an upkeep budget, yet carries few recurring fees. The crossing point often falls somewhere in the second year.

Products, customers and order history do transfer, but something always has to be rebuilt: the theme, the apps, the product addresses. Better, then, to choose with two or three years of headroom than to move house after twelve months.

With heavy traffic, several sales channels, or a journey no standard theme can carry. For fifty product lines it is money thrown away. The choice assumes an ongoing development budget, and that has to sit in the decision from the outset.

Let us pick the platform for your shop

Describe your catalogue, your volumes and where you expect to be in eighteen months. We answer with a reasoned recommendation and a budget range.

When we are around
Weekdays, 8:00 to 18:00 CET; answers land inside one working day
Talking it through
A call on Teams or Google Meet, whenever writing is not enough

We set strictly necessary cookies only: they keep the site running and remember the city you chose. Nothing here is used for advertising or tracking. More in our privacy policy.