01. Discovery
We sit down, in person or over a call, and work through your goals, your sticking points, and what a good outcome looks like.
I build ecommerce sites that turn visitors into customers. Whether you're selling beers, beans or bras, I know how to get people over the line. A good store isn't only about looking the part. It's about giving people enough confidence to buy from you, and making the buying itself effortless and enjoyable.
Most of my ecommerce work comes through agencies who've won a client that needs a proper store and don't have a developer to build it, and through brands who'd rather deal directly with the person doing the work. Either way, you want someone who'll get the commercial side, not just the design, and who you can trust in front of a client.
I start with questions, not code. Before anything gets built I want to understand what you're selling, who's buying it, and where the current setup is letting you down. That tends to reshape the brief for the better, and it means the store I build is the one you actually needed. I'm happy to talk it all through with you or your client in plain English, and I keep you in the loop the whole way, no disappearing for three weeks and resurfacing with a surprise.
Most of my ecommerce builds are on Shopify, which I rate as the best platform out there for selling online. Whatever stage you're at, there's a sensible setup for you, whether that's something close to off-the-shelf or a custom build drawing on the thousands of apps in the Shopify ecosystem. If WooCommerce or something more bespoke suits you better, I'll tell you, rather than pushing you down the route that happens to suit me.
Of course every build is different, and I can adjust to your requirements - but this is the rough approach I'll take for every project.
We sit down, in person or over a call, and work through your goals, your sticking points, and what a good outcome looks like.
Once we're agreed on the goals, the structure comes first, the navigation and how the site's organised, then the visual design on top. I build in flexible content blocks rather than rigid templates, so your content fits the site rather than the other way round.
Where I get into my stride. I bring the designs to life across every device, browser and screen size, with everything made properly editable so you're not back to me for every small change. You can preview it live as it comes together. Accessibility, speed and SEO are baked in as I go, not bolted on at the end.
Testing runs throughout, but this is your dedicated window to live with the site, check it on your own devices, and make sure you're genuinely happy with how it looks and works.
More a moment than a phase, and one I've done hundreds of times, so downtime stays at the absolute minimum. Also a fair excuse for a small celebration.
However much or little you want. Some people take it from here themselves, some want me on hand for updates and maintenance. Whatever suits.
Bespoke Shopify site selling clothes, shoes, accessories and a fitness lifestyle. Picked up at short notice when the previous developer fell through, and built to stand up to a launch-day rush, including a recommendation engine that suggests what goes with what.
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"Alex is the reason you should use a human rather than a bot to build your website."
Got an ecommerce project coming up?
Leave me a message and tell me what you're working on, and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right fit.
