A theme your team runs
Configurable sections with settings written for merchandisers, not developers.
NEW STORES, THEMES AND DESIGN-TO-SHOPIFY BUILDS
Build a Shopify store worth the traffic you send it
A custom Shopify storefront built from your brand and your buyer data — not a retrofitted template. We design, build and launch the whole thing, then keep improving it.
IN SHORT
- A new Shopify store build typically runs 10 to 16 weeks from discovery to launch.
- A custom build is worth it when your merchandising, catalogue structure or buying journey does not fit a template — otherwise customising an existing theme is cheaper.
- Everything is built as Online Store 2.0 sections, so merchandisers compose pages without a developer.
- Performance budgets and QA on real devices happen before launch, not after.
- Lucent Commerce has built or rebuilt stores for Julia B, SWAK Designs, Mighty Jaxx and Grays.
- We build for
- Mid-market DTC and B2B
- Revenue range
- $2M–$50M
- Platform
- Shopify and Shopify Plus
- Engineers in
- US · UK · AUS
- Partner since
- 2013
Which of these do you need?
Four ways we build. The right one is usually obvious once the question is phrased as a situation rather than a service.
New Store Design & Development
Brand, information architecture, templates, theme code and launch. The whole thing, built around your catalogue rather than retrofitted from a template.
Figma to Shopify
Send the files. We build them into an Online Store 2.0 theme section by section, quote it fixed, and design the states the file did not cover.
Theme Customization
Extend what you have with maintainable sections, built to theme convention so the next Shopify update costs hours rather than days.
Brand & Content Systems
A finite set of sections your merchandisers compose pages from, so the fiftieth landing page costs what the first one did.
Most brands need two of these
They are listed separately because they are quoted separately, not because they happen separately. The common shapes:
- A new build almost always ships with a section library — otherwise the store launches beautifully and then nobody can add a page to it.
- A Figma handoff usually becomes theme customization within a quarter, once the first thing the design did not anticipate comes up.
- Theme customization plus a section library is the standard answer for a store that works but is slow to publish on.
- Any of them can be followed by a retainer, which is how most of these relationships actually continue.
- Most common pair
- Build + section library
- Fastest to start
- Figma handoff
- Cheapest route
- Theme customization
- Quoted
- Per scope, in writing
- Phased
- Wherever it helps
When a custom build is the right answer
Not every brand needs one. A well-chosen Theme Store theme, customised properly, gets a lot of stores further than agencies like to admit — and it launches in weeks rather than months.
A custom build earns its cost when the template starts fighting the business. That usually looks like one of four things: variant logic a theme was never designed for, a configurator or personalisation flow that has to produce a fulfillable order, a content-heavy merchandising model where the catalogue is the story, or B2B and wholesale rules sitting alongside DTC.
If none of those are true, we will tell you so on the call. Customising your existing theme is often the honest recommendation — see theme customization.
Template against custom build
| Theme Store theme | Custom build | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to launch | Weeks | 10 to 16 weeks |
| Upfront cost | Low | Higher, quoted to scope |
| Fit to your catalogue | Good if conventional | Built to it |
| Unusual variant logic | Fights you | Designed in |
| Configurators | App or not at all | Native to the theme |
| Performance ceiling | Set by the theme author | Yours to set |
| Editing after launch | Theme settings | A section library built for your team |
| Best for | Getting to market | A store you will run for years |
How a build runs
Six stages. The first two decide most of what the last four cost.
- 01
Discovery
Two weeks inside your analytics, support tickets and merchandising. We agree the numbers we are moving before anything is designed, which is what stops a build becoming a redesign with no thesis.
- 02
Architecture
Catalogue structure, navigation, collection logic and template inventory. Decided before design, because information architecture is the thing most expensive to change later.
- 03
Design
Templates designed against your real products and real copy, reviewed as a working prototype rather than static mockups — so you judge the thing, not a picture of it.
- 04
Theme build
Built section by section as Online Store 2.0 sections and blocks, with schema settings your team controls. Two-week increments, staging links throughout.
- 05
Integrations and QA
Apps, tracking, ERP and fulfilment wired in, then tested on real devices against a performance budget rather than a lab score.
- 06
Launch and watch
Redirects, analytics and app configuration checked before DNS. Then two weeks watching checkout, Core Web Vitals and error logs, when problems actually surface.
What we mean by a custom theme
Sections, not pages
A custom theme is not a set of hand-coded pages. It is a library of Online Store 2.0 sections — each one configurable through schema settings — that your team composes into pages in the Shopify editor.
The difference matters six months in. A hardcoded page needs a developer every time the campaign changes. A section library means marketing ships a landing page on Tuesday without opening a ticket. It is also why we build the library as a deliverable rather than a side effect: see section libraries.
What you get
Performance budgets
Agreed before the build, measured on real devices, enforced before launch rather than audited after it.
Accessibility basics
Keyboard navigation, focus states, contrast and semantics handled as part of the build.
Documentation
How the theme is structured and how to extend it, so you are never locked to one developer.
Brands we have built for
Julia B
SWAK Designs
Mighty Jaxx
Grays
Julia B sells luxury artisan linens across bedding, table linen, towels and outdoor — a catalogue where the merchandising is the product story. Grays we migrated and relaunched entirely. Mighty Jaxx and SWAK Designs we build and run day to day.
Build questions
The ones that come up before a scoping call. Anything specific to your catalogue is what the free audit is for.
How long does a new Shopify store take to build?
Most builds run 10 to 16 weeks from discovery to launch. Catalogue size, the number of integrations and how many storefronts you need are what move that number.
Should we build custom or buy a Shopify theme?
Buy a theme when your merchandising fits a conventional structure and speed to launch matters most. Build custom when your catalogue, buying journey or brand needs something a template fights — a configurator, unusual variant logic, or a content-heavy merchandising model.
Do you build on Shopify or Shopify Plus?
Both. Plus earns its cost when you need checkout customisation, multiple storefronts, B2B or higher API limits; otherwise standard Shopify is usually enough at launch and you upgrade when one of those becomes true.
Can our team edit the site after launch?
Yes — that is the point of building on sections. Pages are composed from configurable sections with schema settings, so merchandisers change layout, copy and imagery without a developer.
What does a Shopify store build cost?
It is quoted after a scoping call rather than from a price list, because cost follows catalogue size, integrations and template count. You get a fixed-scope quote in writing before any contract.
If this is not quite it
Already on another platform? Start with migration. Have designs ready? See Figma to Shopify. After launch, most brands move onto optimization and a development retainer.
NEXT STEP
Free store audit
A senior Shopify engineer reviews your storefront, theme performance and checkout, then sends a prioritised list of fixes.