Benny Wu.
Developer Introduction
My Shopify Services
Store Setup & Migrations
The backend setup includes basic store details, enhanced ecommerce analytics, payment, checkout, shipping, and tax settings. Migration from previous ecommerce platforms will be more involved depending on the platform. Afterwards we can test your store with your desired theme and even your products in a basic frontend demo. This stage of the setup will pull in your assets from onboarding but we can draft any missing content if necessary. A great store setup will make it easy for you to start focusing on other areas of your business that promote your brand and I’ll be happy to get you started.
Theme Design & Development
A smooth UX/UI in e-commerce makes it enjoyable and easy for customers to add more items into their cart. Creating a brand that stands out means selecting the right theme or customizing it to have features the store needs. There’s a handful of free themes available but premium themes often include a suite of UX/UI features that would cost more for someone to develop. Even so, many premium themes still do not offer the specific features that fit your store requirements. Whether you need theme suggestions or custom theme development I’ll make sure to guide you in the right direction with clear expectations.
Shopify 2.0 Upgrade
Shopify introduced their new 2.0 theme architecture in July 2021. Store owners can add customized sections to every page, install apps without any code, add dynamic content with metafields, and add collection filtering for customers. This upgrade is why many store owners saw more interest and turned to Shopify. Developers also have more flexible solutions to customize your store while maintaining cleaner codebases in a way that reads well for future development. Once you experience the ease of changing content with custom section blocks you won't want to go back. Don’t wait on it! Upgrade to 2.0 today.
App & Custom Integrations
Theme development can only go so far after you establish most of the base theme features. Sometimes you’ll need to install an app or have a developer create custom functions to enhance your store experience and niche. For example you may need to add more product variants than your Shopify account can hold or you may need a function on the frontend that themes cannot achieve. Perhaps you want more than changes in theme sections but actual custom components. Whatever the case may be, my consultation will be fair and I can make an analysis on what works best to fit your ideas.
Speed & Conversion Rate Optimizations
A slow store experience may lose a potential customer. Load and interaction speed are affected by many factors such as installed applications, inefficient code, large file sizes, and so on. Speed audits give a guide on what you can optimize but those steps are not always clear. I can follow up on those steps to improve your speed scores. We can also focus on developing product pages that entice your store visitors to follow through on a purchase. Heatmaps, marketing analytics, and A/B split testing are some powerful data-driven tools that achieves that goal. Ultimately, optimizing your store means optimizing your revenue.
Shopify Training
It can be daunting to learn everything there is to know about Shopify on your own. This is especially true if you’re used to the procedures of your previous e-commerce platform. Let’s lighten the learning pains. If you’re new to Shopify I’ll provide training to guide you, formatted into a workflow that works best for your business. You’ll be able to schedule training sessions with me to improve your Shopify know-how. If you already have experience with Shopify then great! Let’s enjoy our discussions about the platform while building a great store experience together.
My Skill Set
2014 | Self-taught Web Development + Ruby on Rails App Building
2018 | Hack Reactor Bootcamp for Fullstack Javascript development
2020 | Freemote Bootcamp for Shopify + Freelancing
Recent Shopify Stores
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ChicNova Boutique
A fashion and lifestyle brand with plenty of stylish products and variants. Scaling a store with complex inventory can be intimidating. Feel the value of premium themes for your store. Increase AOV, ATC value, conversions, and brand recognition while looking smooth and polished as some other top brands.
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Galaxy Box
A one product store requiring Debut, a free vintage theme. Selling items at checkout is not the only way to profit from having an e-commerce store. Custom code can promote your sales through other channels. See what small convenient changes in code can do for your store no matter the theme or sales tactic.
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Home Press Coffee
This coffee store is very up-to-date not just in looks but also in architecture. With Shopify 2.0 store owners can easily add section blocks on every page. There's even a subscription service for coffee using an app without code. Experience 2.0; it's only been around since July 2021. Best of all, this Dawn 2.0 theme is free!
A Little More About Me
I taught myself how to code and build apps with web development and Ruby on Rails in 2014. I spent months during Hack Reactor building even more apps with Javascript frameworks in 2018. I thought I wanted a job at a tech company but I burnt out on app building and complex algorithms. I missed the creativity and functionality you can code with just HTML, CSS, and Javascript without trying to build the next big app.
Having worked customer service during most of my learning, I did not want to pursue non-customer facing positions in corporate. Instead, I was attracted to freelancing because I could help clients directly. In 2020 I learned Shopify Development in Freemote. Since then I’ve become a Shopify Developer using the fundamentals of what I’ve learned to build awesome store experiences. Helping people develop stores has been a perfect way to gain meaning and challenge in my work.
In my free time I am an avid rock climber, climbing mostly indoors through the work week. When there’s time to travel I take efforts to climb outside too. These challenging problem-solving aspects of development and climbing are just some things I get really stoked on. Let’s get stoked together building your store!
Get in Touch
Chic Nova Boutique is a fashion store that has a wide range of products and is also a lifestyle brand. The client is newer to the Shopify platform and e-commerce overall but has recently acquired the business and inventory. They have the budget to rebrand and launch a premium store but desire more guidance and preparation before their launch.
Client Needs and Challenges
- Store Setup + Training
- With so many products the store needed a way for shoppers to browse without feeling overwhelmed.
- How can the store highlight certain products or categories and guide the shoppers experience to add more items to their cart?
- Needs product feedback system
My Solutions
- Product migration
- Custom logo design
- Prestige 2.0 theme selection
- Free Shipping Announcement Bar
- Mega Menu Product Display
- Interactive Shop the Look
- Collections filtering
- Custom color swatches and categories
- Install product review app
- Schedule training sessions
Preview Development Store
Galaxy Box is a one product store and it is the only item shoppers can add to their cart and buy at checkout. It’s a cool device that projects stars and lights indoors. The client does not only generate revenue from selling the Galaxy Box but also affiliate products on other sites however. They have a sales flow through Instagram but would like an additional channel through their Shopify store. A requirement of theirs is to use the Vintage Debut theme because it has enough features to highlight the main product and they are familiar with it in the in-browser customizer. This client was also more hands on with Shopify CMS but not custom code to fulfill their store needs.
Client Needs and Challenges
- Requires free theme: Debut Vintage
- Prefers workflow through Shopify CMS
- Needs to list affiliate products in collections
- Affliate products need custom badges and links instead of price and 'add to cart'
- Custom FAQ Template matching theme colors
My Solutions
- Create, document, and teach affiliate product upload workflow through Shopify CMS using tags
- Integrate badged affiliate products in collections page with Shopify Liquid
- Create custom button to link to affiliate product site on affiliate product page with Shopify Liquid
- Code custom FAQ template in CMS code editor that matches their theme colors
Preview Development Store
Home Press Coffee desired to express its coffee and brand culture in a comfy and minimal way. The client had already browsed themes on their own and selected Dawn. Dawn is a Shopify 2.0 theme that established the classic look they were looking for. In addition, the client also enjoyed editing 2.0 themes over vintage ones in the customizer during their theme search. First they also needed to rebrand with a new logo and select some new colors. They requested I perform an initial theme design with their branding culture in mind. The next step was to integrate a testimonial slider, coffee profile tab, and a coffee subscription service that didn’t require the client to mess with any code to manage.
Client Needs and Challenges
- Requires free theme: Dawn 2.0
- Prefers workflow through Shopify CMS and Customizer
- Initial theme setup with for their landing, about, product, and coffee club pages
- Global and customizable testimonial slider
- Struggles to easily show different shipping speeds depending on coffee product
- Easily show and manage coffee flavor profiles for coffee products
- Needs to enable subscription service but unsure how
My Solutions
- Initial theme setup with client assets including photos, videos, etc...
- Custom Logo Design
- Create a custom testimonial slider component as a section block that client can manually insert on any page and also edit within the theme customizer. This was done with Shopify Liquid and 2.0 section templates.
- Added shipping and coffee profiles as metafield values to products that the client can edit in Shopify CMS. The metafield values can be dynamically sourced into 2.0 section blocks.
- Create custom coffee profile component with client provided graphics and Shopify Liquid. It fetches values from the coffee product metafields.
- Install Recharge to enable subscription service for their Coffee Club.
- Provide training for metafield specific tasks, section blocks, and Recharge.