Choosing a Shopify Plus partner in the Netherlands: what to look for
By Joey van Vliet, founderUpdated 5 min read
The short answer
A good Shopify Plus partner starts with your commercial goals and your processes, not with a theme or an app. Look for experience with migrations and with integrations to your ERP, inventory and customer service, an honest trade-off between a theme and headless, and who looks after the store after go-live. If an agency calls itself an official Shopify partner, check that status with Shopify itself.
About this guide: written by Your Tech Club, with no ranking and no names of other agencies. How we do it ourselves is set out separately under How Your Tech Club works.
What to look for in a Shopify Plus partner
An online store on Shopify Plus is rarely just a store. Orders, inventory, returns and marketing all depend on it. These eight points help you choose a partner that sees the whole picture.
The partner starts with your commercial goals
An online store needs to sell, and behind it orders, inventory and returns need to be right. A good partner first asks about your goals and your processes: which markets, which channels, which exceptions.
Only then about the design.
Ask in the meetingWhat do you want to know about our orders, inventory and returns before you make a proposal?Integrations with your systems get the attention they need
In a larger online store, a big part of the work is in the integrations: ERP, inventory, fulfilment, accounting, customer service and marketing.
Ask which integrations the partner has built before, and how a fault in an integration is spotted before a customer notices it.
Ask in the meetingHow do we find out an integration isn't working, and who fixes it?An honest trade-off between theme and headless
With a Shopify theme you go live sooner and management is simpler. Headless, with your own front end, gives more freedom in design and content, but then you are running two systems.
A good partner sets both options against your situation, and doesn't recommend headless because it's more interesting to build.
Ask in the meetingWhy do you recommend a theme or headless for us, and what does that mean for running the store?A migration without losses
A move from another platform affects products, customers, orders, URLs and search rankings. Ask how the partner migrates data, how old URLs are redirected and how testing is done before the new store goes live.
Ask in the meetingHow do you make sure we lose no data and no search visibility in the move?Apps in moderation
The app store makes a lot possible, but every app is an extra dependency, with its own costs, updates and impact on your store's speed.
Ask which apps the partner proposes, why, and when something is better built in-house.
Ask in the meetingWhich apps do you propose, and what would you rather build yourselves?Checkout and selling in other countries are well thought through
Checkout customisation and selling in multiple countries are reasons to consider Shopify Plus. Ask how the partner sets up payments, shipping, taxes and languages per market, and what of that is available as standard.
Ask in the meetingHow do you set up the checkout and selling in other countries?You check the partner status at the source
If an agency calls itself a Shopify partner, ask exactly which status that is and check it with Shopify itself.
After that, look mainly at online stores the partner has built, and ask whether you can talk to one of those clients.
Ask in the meetingWhich online stores have you built that we can look at live?Support and further development after go-live
After launch, the improving starts: conversion, new features, handling busy periods. Ask how the partner supports you after go-live, and how you reach them if something goes wrong during a peak.
Ask in the meetingWhat do you do after launch, and how do we reach you during a peak?
Questions to ask in the first meeting
Take this list to your first meetings. A partner that suits you gives a concrete answer to every question, even if that answer is that something can't be done.
- What do you want to know about our processes before you propose anything?
- Which integrations with ERP, inventory or fulfilment have you built?
- How do we find out an integration isn't working?
- Theme or headless: what do you recommend for us, and why?
- How do you prevent loss of data and search rankings in the migration?
- Which apps do you propose, and what do they cost per month?
- How do you set up the checkout and selling in other countries?
- What partner status do you have with Shopify, if any?
- Which of your online stores can we look at live?
- How do we reach you if something goes wrong during a peak?
Shopify theme or headless: a quick comparison
Choose a theme if you want to go live quickly, your product range and content fit within what Shopify offers and your team wants to manage the store themselves.
Choose headless if you combine a lot of your own content and brand experience with your store, if your front end needs to work with other systems, or if you have requirements a theme can't meet. Bear in mind that you'll then be maintaining two systems.
How Your Tech Club works with Shopify Plus
This part is about us. The points above apply to any partner, including us: feel free to hold us to them.
We build online stores on Shopify Plus, such as the online store for Kosso Nutrition. We start with your commercial goals and your processes, and then choose between a theme and headless.
Strategy, design and development sit in one team, and we also build the integrations with your own systems. After go-live we handle support and further development if you want us to. The code is yours.
- ISO 9001 and ISO 27001, certified by Kiwa
- 500 projects delivered
- 4.8 from 127 reviews
- 90% returning clients
- Office on Duivendrechtsekade in Amsterdam
- Founded by Joey van Vliet and Yassine Seghrouchni
Frequently asked questions
What is a Shopify Plus partner?
An agency that builds online stores on Shopify Plus, Shopify's plan for larger brands. Shopify also has its own partner programme. If an agency calls itself an official partner, ask which status that is and check it with Shopify.
When does Shopify Plus make sense?
When your online store needs more than a standard plan offers, for example because of order volume, multiple stores or markets, checkout customisation or B2B selling. Have a partner work out whether those extra capabilities outweigh the higher costs.
What does it cost to have a Shopify Plus store built?
That depends on the integrations, the migration and the choice between a theme and headless. Besides the build, also factor in the Shopify subscription, the cost of apps and support after go-live.
Can you move to Shopify Plus without losing search rankings?
You can keep that risk small: by redirecting all old URLs to the new ones, carrying over metadata and checking after launch that search engines pick up the pages properly. Agree who does that.
What is headless commerce?
In headless commerce, the store's front end is separate from the commerce platform. Shopify handles products, inventory and checkout, while your own front end, for example in Next.js, handles what the visitor sees. That gives freedom, but also means more to manage.
Can Shopify Plus integrate with our ERP?
Through Shopify's APIs you can integrate with ERP, inventory and fulfilment systems. Whether a standard integration exists or custom work is needed depends on your system. Have the partner look into that up front.
Who manages the online store after go-live?
That's something you agree. A common split: your own team manages products and content, the partner takes care of updates, integrations, speed and improvements. Also agree how you reach the partner if something goes wrong during a peak.
