Why It’s So Hard to Find the Right Shopify Experts
If you’re looking for a high-quality Shopify expert, developer, or designer, you know that it’s not always an easy task. While the demand for these experts is skyrocketing, this increase in demand also leads to a surge in so-called experts emerging from the woodwork.
So while there are some truly amazing Shopify experts out there, especially if you use a platform like Shopform to get connected with top talent, there are also plenty of subpar options, too. As a result, it’s oftentimes a gamble to hire Shopify experts unless you go about it the right way.
But in an effort to help you out and ensure you find the right expert for your needs, this guide is going to go over everything you’ll ever need to know about finding the right experts, the type of experts available, and so much more.
What Is a Shopify Expert?
A Shopify expert is someone deeply familiar and experienced with the Shopify ecosystem, and can help you set up, develop, optimize, or operate your online store. The term is very widespread and covers a wide range of skillsets.
Some may excel at being a Shopify developer, helping you ensure your site operates well, while others may be an expert Shopify designer and help you make Shopify website look incredible.
Shopify experts may also offer advice, help with the type of content you can post, and more. Working with an expert Shopify developer or designer simply helps improve your store, and takes a lot of work off your plate so you can focus on running the business.
The Types of Shopify Experts You Can Hire
Depending on your needs, there are a variety of different types of Shopify experts you’re able to hire.
Shopify Developers / Ecommerce Developers
A Shopify developer, also often called an ecommerce developer, is an expert web developer who specializes in building and customizing ecommerce stores.
They’re responsible for Shopify development services like creating and customizing themes, ensuring that your store functions how you want, and making sure the site includes all the features you want. These experts should also generally be familiar with Shopify’s templating language, Liquid.
When you hire Shopify developer or Shopify development partner, they’ll also normally be responsible for troubleshooting issues on the site, offering technical support, and optimizing the overall functionality of the store.
Shopify Designers / Ecommerce Website Designers
A Shopify designer, or Shopify website designer, is an expert responsible for ensuring your store looks professional, is user-friendly, and is simple to navigate. A good ecommerce website design is crucial for keeping people on the store and making it as streamlined as possible to make a purchase.
Without a good Shopify website design, people may get frustrated or be left confused about how to navigate it. When working with a Shopify web designer, they’ll often handle tasks like UX/UI, designing your product pages, and integrating your brand and/or company colors throughout the site.
Shopify Ecommerce Managers
A Shopify ecommerce manager, or just an ecommerce manager in general, is an expert who handles the day-to-day operations of your store. This includes updating product listings, working on strategy, helping create promos or campaigns, and more.
These experts may also be called an ecommerce website manager, as they can help with analytics, managing inventory, and performing regular site audits to ensure it continues to perform well.
Shopify Merchandisers
A Shopify merchandiser, or ecommerce merchandiser in general, is the expert in charge of your products. Having a product merchandiser helps ensure that your products are organized, marketed, and presented in a way that makes sense and is visually appealing for potential customers.
They often handle setting up your product pages, ensuring everything is in the proper collection or category, tagging items, making sure the metadata is accurate, helping with pricing strategies, managing product images and videos, and more.
CRO & Performance Experts
Working with an ecommcerce conversion rate expert can help ensure the performance of your site is always up to par. They’ll help with site speed optimization, keep tabs on important analytics, and perform tests to confirm the site loads quickly and runs well.
They often also work to understand visitor behavior, and oversee the implementation of any changes to your site or store to ensure they improve the customer experience, not hurt it.
Shopify Plus Experts & Enterprise Architects
A Shopify Plus expert is an individual with skill, experience, and knowledge when it comes to working with large and high-volume Shopify stores. Shopify Plus offers advanced features over the other plans, and you need to ensure the individual you hire is experienced and capable enough to take advantage of these features.
Similarly, a Shopify enterprise developer is a specialized and experienced professional who’s capable of building, managing, and optimizing large-scale ecommerce stores. These individuals often have a deep knowledge of all things Shopify and can handle the deep needs that larger stores often have.
There are also agencies, such as a Shopify Plus development agency or a Shopify Plus ecommerce agency, if you prefer to work with a company rather than an individual.
How to Choose the Right Shopify Expert
If you’re wondering how to choose the right expert and constantly ask yourself, “How do I hire a Shopify expert?”, there are a few things you should focus on:
Store complexity: Your store complexity plays a huge role in determining the expert you can choose. Complex and large-scale stores often require experts with very specific and high-level skills when it comes to integrations and performance optimization. On the other hand, a basic store may only need an expert who is able to ensure the site looks good and offers a solid user experience.
Required skillset: Of course, the actual work you want the Shopify expert to do determines who you should choose, as well. For example, if you want them to build features, customize themes, and ensure the site operates correctly, they’ll need to be proficient at coding. Similarly, if you’re bringing someone on to help you boost your marketing, they should have experience with SEO, social media advertising, PPC, conversion rate optimization, and other digital marketing strategies.
Hard skills vs. soft skills: You also need to think about both the hard and soft skills the expert has. While hard skills are crucial to ensure the expert has the technical knowledge to get the job done right, soft skills are also crucial for collaboration, problem-solving, and communication. Generally, you want to find an expert with a solid blend of both types of skills, rather than simply focusing on one.
In addition to using these guidelines to help you choose the right one, you also want to ensure you avoid hiring the wrong person or agency. To avoid hiring the wrong expert, you should:
Clearly define the scope, requirements, and expectations of the project to ensure you get the right people to show interest in the position.
Look at the experience and portfolio of the expert to ensure their work is up to your expectations. Also, consider vetting them by getting references from past clients or viewing testimonials.
Hold technical interviews or tests with the expert to ensure they can actually do the work they say they can.
However, rather than having to go through the talent manually by yourself, consider using Shopform, as it evaluates hundreds of applicants for you, using a 50-point scoring framework. As a result, the platform drastically simplifies how to choose a Shopify developer.
How Shopform.io Rates Talent (Why Our Experts Are the Top 2%)
So why trust Shopform.io as your Shopify experts marketplace? Well, the company rigorously tests experts on a variety of things to ensure they’re top-notch. It tests on:
Liquid and theme architecture
Shopify functions and backend
UX/UI and CRO understanding
Speed and performance ability and capabilities
Communication and documentation
Delivery and reliability history
As a result, you can feel confident in the skills and abilities of the experts on the Shopform platform. Also, because only 2% of applicants pass the Shopform evaluation, Shopform talent outperforms typical freelancers and agencies.
What Does “Top 2% Shopify Talent” Actually Mean?
At the end of the last section, you’ll see that Shopform only passes 2% of experts. But what does this actually mean, and what sorts of experts can you expect on Shopform?
Whether you’re looking for the best Shopify developer, trying to build a team of the best Shopify ecommerce developers, or want to see if a Shopify premium developer is worth it for you, you’ll be happy to know that Shopform experts have the following characteristics:
Five to 10+ years of experience
Have worked on major direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands
Write scalable and clean code
Efficient problem solvers
Avoid technical debt
Are knowledgeable about CRO, UX, and performance
Won’t disappear on you or stall on any of your projects
As a result, Shopform continues to be a great choice for companies looking for top Shopify experts.
Cost of Hiring a Top Shopify Expert
Of course, while skills and experience are important, you also need to consider the Shopify developer cost, or Shopify agency cost, if you decide to go that route. When looking to hire a top Shopify expert, here’s a breakdown of the typical ranges you should expect to pay:
Shopify Developer: $80-$180/hour
Shopify Designer: $60-$150/hour
CRO Expert: $120-$250/hour
Shopify Plus Architect: $150-$300/hour:
For agencies, expect to pay around $10k-$200k per project. The type of agency may also influence the price, as working with a Shopify Plus design agency may come with a higher cost than working with a basic agency. As you can see, the Shopify website development cost can be quite high, which is why it’s important to choose the right expert or Shopify development company
Thankfully, with Shopform, you only pay for what you need, and nothing more.
How to Afford a Senior-Level Shopify Expert (Even as a Small Business)
If you operate a small business, some of these costs might seem too high for your budget. But thankfully, there’s a way to hire an affordable Shopify developer without worrying about their work being subpar, and it’s called fractional hiring.
A fractional Shopify developer is essentially a developer you only pay for when you need them. There are no long-term contracts, no full-time salaries, and you only pay them for the hours you need them to work. Also, this method gives you access to elite talent without having to pay an agency markup.
As a result, if you’re looking to hire Shopify expert cheap, consider bringing on a part-time Shopify developer to get all the benefits, with a lower overall cost.
How Shopform.io Works (Why It’s Better Than Agencies or Freelancers)
If you’re looking for a Shopify agency alternative, there are many reasons to consider using Shopform. First, Shopform only places pre-vetted experts, and gives you instant access to the specialist you need.
You’re also guaranteed top-tier work, and there’s no guesswork in the process to hire Shopify developer. Also, you won’t have to spend weeks on the recruitment process. Working with Shopform also ensures you end up with a solid Shopify expert hire, as opposed to an unreliable and/or inexperienced freelancer.
Similarly, you won’t have to worry about signing on to work with a large agency, only to have them hand off your work to a new hire. As a result, when you go with Shopform, you can ensure you end up with a high-quality ecommerce website developer, and not simply a junior dev.
How Long It Takes to Get a Top-Level Shopify Expert
The exact time it takes to get in touch with and hire an expert varies. You may be able to search “Shopify experts near me” and hire a Shopify developer fast, but in many cases, this is a long process. Here’s a table that outlines how much time it takes to hire an expert, depending on the method and strategy you use:
Freelancer platforms
2-14 days vetting
Agencies
3-6 weeks
Full-time hiring
1-3 months
Shopform
Matches you with an expert in 24 hours
Where to Find the Best Shopify Experts in 2025 (Ranked)
Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the best options to find Shopify experts in 2025.
1. Shopform.io — Best for Top 2% Vetted Talent
As mentioned, Shopform is a wonderful choice as it helps match you with high-quality talent. It does much of the legwork for you, and ensures you end up with an expert who meets your needs. The platform is also very easy to use, and takes a lot of work off your plate when it comes to not only finding an expert, but also managing your working relationship with them.
2. Shopify Experts Marketplace — Best for Basic Tasks
The Shopify Experts Marketplace is another option, but it is generally best used for basic and simple tasks. Also, you’ll need to put in some work to vet the various options and spend some time to find an expert who’s the right fit for your needs and project.
3. Upwork — Best for Budget Freelancers
Upwork is a marketplace that connects businesses to freelancers, and it's best if you’re searching for freelancers on a budget. While this is often an affordable option, the quality of the developers is hit or miss. You can certainly find some experts, but there are also plenty of freelancers there who may not deliver the quality of work you’re searching for.
4. Toptal — Highest Cost Elite Talent
If you’re looking for elite talent, a platform like Toptal may make sense. You get access to many experienced and skilled experts, and the quality is certainly a step up from what you can generally find on Upwork. Unfortunately, the cost is also incredibly high and may be out of the price range for many companies.
5. Agencies — Full-Service But Expensive
Going with an agency offers you full-service and access to a diverse range of skillsets and expertise, and may be helpful if you have a large and diverse project. However, this service is often paired with a high cost. Whether it’s a basic agency or if you’re looking for a Shopify Plus agency, this cost may be too high for some businesses.
Hire a Top 2% Shopify Expert Today
Whether you’re looking for Shopify expert developers, Shopify Plus developers, or anyone else with the right kind of Shopify expertise, Shopform helps match you with top-level talent quickly.