Shopify (headless) · Boutique retail
Frontend rebuild reading from a Shopify catalog
The owner liked Shopify for running the business but the theme felt slow and dated. We left the entire Shopify backend in place and rebuilt just the storefront in Astro on Vercel — same products, same checkout, dramatically faster site.
Before
A capable store stuck behind a slow, dated theme
The Shopify theme was heavy, especially on phones, and the design felt years behind the product. The owner did not want to migrate off Shopify and risk their orders, inventory, and checkout — they just wanted the storefront to feel fast and modern.
- Mobile pages took over four seconds to show their main content.
- The theme shipped a lot of unused script and blocking assets.
- Accessibility was middling — low contrast and missing image descriptions.
- The design looked dated next to the actual products.
- Every theme tweak meant fighting the theme's templating instead of writing clean code.
What we did
A new storefront, the same Shopify behind it
We built a brand-new storefront in Astro, hosted on Vercel, designed for speed and mobile first. It pulls products and collections live from Shopify through its Storefront API, so the catalog stays the single source of truth.
We handed checkout straight back to Shopify's own secure hosted checkout — we did not rebuild payments. The admin, orders, inventory, and fulfillment stayed exactly where the owner already manages them.
Along the way we fixed contrast, image descriptions, and semantics, so the new site is accessible too.
Shopify (backend)
Catalog, inventory, orders, fulfillment, and secure checkout — unchanged.
Astro on Vercel (frontend)
Fast custom storefront, reads the catalog live via the Storefront API.
Customer
Browses the fast new site; checks out on Shopify's hosted checkout.
Timeline + cost
Fixed scope, quoted up front
Timeline
4 weeks
design, build, and launch
Cost
$3,200
fixed scope, quoted up front
For a simpler brochure scope, Lite Site is $449 flat — a 3–5 page site in 7 days, with optional $49/mo maintenance.
What stayed the same
Zero replatform risk
The whole point was zero replatform risk. Everything the owner relies on to run the store stayed on Shopify — we only replaced the layer customers see.
- Shopify admin — same dashboard the owner already knows.
- Catalog and inventory — products and stock still live in Shopify.
- Orders and fulfillment — handled in Shopify exactly as before.
- Checkout and payments — Shopify's secure hosted checkout; PCI stays their problem, not ours.
- Apps and integrations — existing Shopify backend apps kept working.
Outcome
Same store, dramatically faster
4.2s → 0.9s
largest contentful paint
38 → 96
mobile Lighthouse performance
71 → 100
accessibility score
0
replatform risk — backend untouched
"It feels like a different store, but I didn't have to learn anything new. I still run everything from the same Shopify dashboard — it's just fast now."
Want something like this?
Book a free 30-minute call. We'll talk through your site and whether this approach is the right fit — no pitch, no pressure.
This case study describes our standard approach for this engagement type. Business names and specific numbers are illustrative. Real client work and metrics shared with permission once available.