Custom Shopify theme or template: how to decide
What changes between adapting an existing theme and building your own, and what to check before choosing for your Shopify store.
Read articleMoving from PrestaShop to Shopify: benefits and limitations
Moving from PrestaShop to Shopify can simplify technical store management, especially when publishing changes depends on several modules and providers. The main benefit is a different division of responsibilities: Shopify manages the platform and hosting, while your team handles the catalogue, shopping experience and connections.
Moving from PrestaShop to Shopify can simplify technical store management, especially when publishing changes depends on several modules and providers. The main benefit is a different division of responsibilities: Shopify manages the platform and hosting, while your team handles the catalogue, shopping experience and connections.
That change needs a specific evaluation. If PrestaShop is well maintained and resolves complex processes, migration can add work without improving the business. The useful question is which problem you will stop having and which new conditions you accept in exchange.
Less infrastructure of your own to maintain
In a PrestaShop installation, someone must own hosting, updates, module compatibility and recoverable backups. That may be your team or a provider. Shopify reduces that operational layer by providing the platform as a service, although apps, customisations and access still require maintenance.
To assess the difference, review recent months' incidents. Separate server issues from those caused by the theme, an integration or catalogue data. Shopify will not automatically fix an ERP sending incorrect stock or a poorly defined fulfilment process.
More autonomy for the store team
A theme prepared with sections and blocks can let marketing change content and build pages without requesting development for every adjustment. This depends on implementation: switching platforms and delivering a rigid theme retains much of the old dependency.
- Define which pages and campaigns the team needs to create independently.
- Check that products, collections and metafields cover actual product pages.
- Assign permissions by role without sharing accounts.
- Include training using store tasks, rather than just an admin tour.
A shared foundation for channels and tools
Shopify can connect email, customer service, analytics and multichannel sales apps. Benefits arrive when these tools share consistent identifiers and rules. Installing more apps does not equal better store integration.
Before migrating, map every PrestaShop module to its function. Some can be replaced by platform or theme features; others need an app or development. Ask for demonstrations of important dependencies: customer prices, bundles, shipping rules, promotions and invoicing.
| What you need | What to check in Shopify |
|---|---|
| B2B prices and catalogue | Plan features, catalogues, permissions and ERP relationships. |
| Multistore and internationalisation | Markets, domains, languages, currencies and whether multiple stores are truly needed. |
| Custom promotions | Compatibility with discounts, bundles, subscriptions and sales channels. |
| Accounting and logistics | Connectors, documents, order statuses, returns and data ownership. |
Performance and security: responsibility changes, not disappears
Managed hosting removes the need to size an ecommerce server as you would for a self-hosted installation. However, a page with heavy images, scripts from several apps and poorly implemented components can still load slowly.
The same applies to security. The platform covers much of the infrastructure, but the store retains responsibility for permissions, devices, installed apps, data and internal processes. Business continuity also needs exports and an appropriate recovery procedure; do not confuse a managed service with an independent copy of all your work.
SEO needs its own project
PrestaShop does not prevent rankings, and Shopify does not guarantee better ones. Results depend on content, architecture, performance, authority and technical execution. During migration, path changes require prepared redirects and a review of existing links.
Inventory categories, product pages and content with traffic before designing the new structure. Preserve the intent of important pages and do not remove a category merely because the new menu looks cleaner. Shopify redirects have rules and limitations that must be tested against real URLs.
When we would not move a store yet
We would postpone switching if nobody knows which system controls stock, an essential feature lacks a demonstrated solution or accessible exports are missing. Also resolve scope when migration, redesign and a complete catalogue review are being combined without clear owners.
Migration works better as an answer to an identified problem than as a generic promise to sell more. A useful next step may be comparing the cost of maintaining PrestaShop, fixing its weak points and moving to Shopify with the same needs covered.
What to request in a migration proposal
- Included data and features, with exclusions.
- A design plan and editable components for the team.
- A URL map and criteria for preserving or reorganising content.
- Tests of payments, shipping, ERP and daily operations.
- A launch plan and subsequent support.
If you want to assess the move with those dependencies on the table, you can evaluate migrating your store to Shopify. Starting with processes that cost you time today is more useful than choosing a plan before understanding the project.
Continue working on your store
- Shopify and PrestaShop comparison
- PrestaShop problems: diagnosis before migration
- Preparing Shopify Plus data and launch
Sources and review
Editorial review: the Migraciones.io team · 30 October 2026. Features, plans and availability are checked against the linked sources.