Shopify Developer: Critical Roles & Responsibilities

From the invention of the Printing Press, the first big break, to the invention of the Internet, the golden age, Sales and Marketing have come a long way. With the stores moving online, you have a constant environment where you can observe, adjust and improve your business in such a way that the needs of your customers are met accordingly.

Shopify is a Cloud-Based E-Commerce Platform that allows businesses to set up an Online Store with little to no hassle. Suitable for businesses of all sizes, Shopify makes it easy for you to sell goods online. You can go to the website and build your ECommerce Store, and Shopify will host it for you. Although working with the store is easy, the development of the store is not. That is where a Shopify Developer saves the day for you.

So, if this is your first time setting up a store on Shopify, you need to hire an experienced Shopify Developer. In this Shopify tutorial, you’ll be taken through the Roles & Responsibilities of Shopify Developers, their Demand in the industry, and the Skills you need to become one.

Table of Contents

• What is Shopify?
  • Key Features of Shopify
• Who is a Shopify Developer?
• Why Do You Need a Shopify Developer?
• Key Responsibilities of a Shopify Developer
• Skills You Need to be a Shopify Developer
• How to differentiate between good and average Shopify Developers?
• Conclusion

What is Shopify?

Shopify is an E-Commerce Platform that allows you to set up your own Online Store with just the click of a button. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of building your own website, setting up a Shopify Store is the best thing you can do for your business.

It hosts your business and helps it to grow by allowing you to customize your website as per your liking. Its easy-to-use Design Templates let you customize your website without writing any code in real-time. Shopify is giving you an online platform to market your products and conduct secure transactions.

Worried about your website crashing during peak hours or hackers breaking into your network? Shopify has got you covered. It offers reliable and secure hosting of your website including Secure Payment Gateways. You can literally sell anything on Shopify, as long as it’s legal of course, from Handcrafted Artifacts to Online Classes, it offers great versatility.

It also gives you the ability to study and analyze customer behavior to get valuable insights into your business. With the in-built Analytics and Reports functionalities, you can learn about your Sales and Customers in great detail. It also allows integrations with plenty of third-party services to help your business grow.

Key Features of Shopify

Shopify is an all-in-one ECommerce solution for millions of users worldwide. The following features are responsible for its immense popularity:

• Security and Reliability: It ensures secure hosting of your website with Secure Payment Gateways and SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates to encrypt data.
• App Integrations: It also allows integrations with plenty of third-party services to enhance users’ Sales, Marketing, and Workflow.
• Analytics and Reporting: The Shopify App store allows access to a wide variety of Marketing Tools, including Email Marketing, Analytics, and Reporting functionalities. You can have an in-depth look at your customer’s behavior and optimize your Return of Investment (ROI) in the best possible way.
• Shopify Templates: It comes with visually stunning and well-designed themes and templates. You can easily customize your website and make it user-friendly with features such as Product Filters, Live Search, and Drop-Down Menus.
• 24/7 Customer Support: It has an exceptional Customer Support system that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can reach Shopify’s Customer Support via Phone, Email, or Webchat. A multitude of Community Forums and Documentation in the Shopify Help Centre also come in handy.

Who is a Shopify Developer?

Shopify Developers are professional developers who exclusively specialize in the Web Development of Shopify Websites. They have full cognizance of how Shopify works, and have extensive knowledge of Payment Gateways, Inventory Management, Navigation, and Checkout Operations. Shopify Website Developers expertise in building Online Stores for Shopify ECommerce platform.

This includes proficiency in Frontend Development, Web Design, and User Interface (UI). They also work with the Shopify Apps and Integrations meant for Inventory Systems, Payments, and other functionalities needed for delivering your store.

Simply put, they have unique insights, development experience, and extensive knowledge about necessarily everything that is required to specialize in Shopify Projects.

Why Do You Need a Shopify Developer?

Even after setting up your Online Store on Shopify, there are plenty of things that are equally as important as setting up the shop in the first place. You need to get the product-market fit right to Optimize Conversion Rates which is essentially how to make your Shopify Website convert into Sales.

In addition to that, you also need to take care of sourcing Products, managing Inventory Systems, and creating informed Marketing Decisions.

• Getting your Online Store designed by the experts would ensure you have a competitive edge in the market. Shopify Developers know all the best practices in terms of Web Development, Design, and User Experience ensuring your website works flawlessly on any device and gets in front of prospective customers.

• Once you are able to deliver your Shopify Store, Shopify Website Developers can further help you to add Shopify Apps. Shopify Apps are essentially extensions that you can add to your stores for added functionalities. It’s essentially like a mini SaaS that you’re building inside of the Shopify platform.

• Getting Shopify Website Developers to customize your website based on your requirements can help your store sustain and attract more customers. Since they are specialized in Shopify Projects, they are aware of the technical know-how and the best practices followed while setting up an Online Store.

• Shopify Developers can help you implement any feature you need to manage and grow your business with minimal supervision. Once the store is up and running, they can also help you with Website Maintenance. You’ll also need the expertise of a Shopify Developer for Long-Term Site Maintenance.

Hence, Shopify Web Developers are better suited than Web Developers who have not designed an ECommerce site/store before.

So, if you’re still not convinced and are on the fence about deciding whether you need a Shopify Developer or not, read further to know about the Roles and Responsibilities of a Shopify Developer.

Key Responsibilities of a Shopify Developer

The responsibilities of a Shopify Developer vary from place to place and depend on a variety of factors. But a majority of Shopify Web Developers will have to implement Web Development techniques to create rich and interactive front-end solutions that fulfill a client’s ECommerce requirements. Given below are some of the Key Responsibilities of a Shopify Developer.

• A Shopify Developer’s primary role is to develop an interactive and competent Online Shopify Store for driving Sales and Revenue. 
• The most important responsibility of a Shopify Developer is to generate custom Shopify Themes and modify pre-existing templates based on defined brand benchmarks.
• Being a Shopify Expert, a Shopify Developer is expected to specialize in all facets of the ECommerce platform.
• They are expected to collaborate with the UX and UI Design Teams to develop exclusive, robust, and innovative front-end user experiences.
• Shopify Web Developers are required to ensure a seamless connection with Marketing Tools, Platform APIs, and Shopify Apps to optimize the store for sheer performance and needed functionalities.
• They specialize in frequent Testing and Debugging of websites for better performance. They often provide Technical Support and Coordination based on their findings, safeguarding businesses from failures.
• The Shopify Website Developers are also responsible for optimizing your website for increased conversion rates.

These Key Responsibilities of a Shopify Developer make them a valuable asset for anyone looking to launch an Online Store.

Skills You Need to be a Shopify Developer

Let’s talk about the skills and resources that can help you to become a Shopify Developer. A passionate Shopify Web Developer is a Web Engineer who specializes in the popular ECommerce platform.

With unmatched expertise in Web Development, an ideal Shopify Developer is expected to have the following skills.

• Complete know-how of Shopify’s Admin System is mandatory.
• Expertise in diverse programming languages and Full-Stack Web Applications will come in handy.
• Strong programming knowledge of “Liquid” for Shopify Stores and Shopify Themes is a must-have. You also need to know HTML5 and CSS3.
• To build Shopify Apps, the framework easiest to start with is “Ruby on Rails”. However, knowledge of PHP scripting language will also do the work. Basically, anything that uses JSON REST API with Auth will work.
• Knowledge of Google Analytics for Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is also desirable. Furthermore, expertise in Google Content Experiments is required for Testing purposes.
• Knowledge of other popular ECommerce Platforms like Magento, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce is a big plus.
• Strong interpersonal skills to interact with stakeholders from multiple teams. A Shopify Developer should be self-motivated, confident, and ready to work in all team environments.
• They should have the right Interpersonal Skills to interact with stakeholders from multiple teams.

How to differentiate between good and average Shopify Developers?

• Professional Website: Instead of seeming like a collection of pre-made themes and random graphics, the website should look unique. A portfolio of past projects must also be included on the website.
• Free Bugs and Minor Updates: Minor updates are vital for you, the customer because they allow you to make minor modifications to your project without having to pay anything. It’s possible that updates have nothing to do with the quality of the work. Sometimes all you need to do is change the call-to-action language on a button.
• Shopify APIs Knowledge: A Shopify developer will not be able to provide you with the value you want unless they have extensive understanding and experience with these APIs. Here is where you must complete your homework.
• Extended Support and Maintenance: This feature of Shopify’s development service clearly separates “hit-and-run” freelancers from legitimate businesses. After a project has been constructed and launched, the latter does not forsake its clientele.
• Adapting Shopify Stores for Mobile Devices: It’s critical to learn about the developer’s familiarity with mobile devices. Inquire about how they test the final product and what platforms and devices they utilize to provide their customers with the best mobile experience possible.
• Transparent Communication: Your project will be assigned to a dedicated PM by a Shopify development company. He or she will swiftly and clearly respond to all of your queries on the project’s business and technical aspects.

Conclusion

With quick and easy ways to set up your own Shopify Online Store, it’s no wonder that Shopify is the world’s Top Rated E-commerce Platform. However, businesses are constantly on the lookout for skilled Shopify Developers who can ramp up their Sales and Productivity. Shopify Web Developers can strengthen the ability of businesses to launch and sustain Online Stores.

This article introduced you to Shopify and provided a detailed overview of the Roles and Responsibilities of a Shopify Website Developer. The article concluded with a peek into the skills required to become a Shopify Developer.

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If you’re not yet convinced and looking to discuss more how a Shopify Developer can be helpful, drop your queries in the comments section below.