"How long will it take?" is usually the second question after "how much will it cost?" — and both get the same frustrating answer from most developers: it depends.
This guide gives you concrete timelines for every common type of Shopify build, explains what the main variables are, and tells you exactly what you can do to make yours faster.
Shopify build timelines by project type
Basic setup using a paid theme: 1–3 days. Installing a pre-built theme like Impulse or Prestige, configuring it with your branding, uploading products, and setting up payments and shipping. If you have everything ready — logo, product images, copy — this can go live in a working day. This isn't custom development; it's configuration.
Theme customisation: 3–10 days. Taking a paid theme and modifying it — changing layouts, adding custom sections, adjusting mobile behaviour, building out the product page. Scope determines the range: a few changes are a few days; a substantial visual overhaul of an existing theme is closer to two weeks.
Custom Shopify store (Figma to Liquid): 3–5 weeks. A store built from a Figma design to a custom Shopify theme. This includes the design handover review, building each section and template in Liquid, product setup, integration configuration, and QA. Three weeks for a clean, focused build with provided content. Five weeks if the design is complex, the catalogue is large, or there are integrations to configure.
Shopify Plus store: 4–8 weeks. Enterprise builds with custom checkout, Shopify Functions, B2B configuration, multi-market setup, or headless components add time. The more custom the requirements, the longer the timeline.
Platform migration (WooCommerce, Shopify, Bluepark): 3–6 weeks. A full migration — products, customers, order history, 301 redirects, theme build — takes 3 weeks for a clean catalogue under 500 products. Larger catalogues, complex data structures, or multiple platform sources take longer. The timeline includes a full QA pass before go-live.
Landing page: 1–2 weeks. A single conversion-focused page — hero, features, testimonials, CTA — designed and built. One week for a single page with provided content; two weeks if design is included.
What makes Shopify builds take longer
In over a decade of Shopify projects, the same things slow down builds repeatedly. None of them are technical.
Content not ready. The number one cause of delayed launches. A developer can build your store structure without product copy or images, but they can't finish it, QA it, or launch it. Every day your content is delayed is a day added to the timeline. Have product images, copy, and brand assets ready before development starts.
Approval cycles. A Figma design reviewed and approved before build starts produces a clean timeline. A design that changes mid-build produces a messy one. Approve the design fully — including on mobile — before the developer writes a line of code.
Scope additions mid-project. "Can we also add a loyalty programme?" two weeks into a build doesn't just add the loyalty programme — it adds the discovery, planning, and integration time on top of a project that's already in progress. New requirements mid-build always cost more and take longer than they would have upfront.
Integration complexity. A store with Klaviyo, a reviews app, a returns portal, Recharge subscriptions, and a custom loyalty programme takes meaningfully longer to integrate and QA than a store with Shopify's native tools. Each integration needs testing. Budget time for it.
Client availability. Developers need feedback and sign-off to move forward. If review cycles take four days instead of one, two weeks of review become eight weeks of project time. The fastest projects have a client who reviews and responds quickly.
How to get your Shopify store built faster
- Have your content ready before the build starts. Product images, copy, logo, brand guidelines. Not "mostly ready" — actually ready.
- Choose a design approach before the project starts. Adapting an existing paid theme is faster than custom Figma-to-Liquid. If you need custom, approve the Figma completely before development.
- Respond to reviews within 24 hours. A developer waiting three days for feedback on a section loses momentum and calendar time.
- Scope the project fully upfront. Additions mid-build cost more than they would have at the start. Know what you want before the project begins.
- Don't launch before it's right. Rushing the QA phase to hit an arbitrary launch date creates post-launch problems that cost more to fix than taking the extra week would have.
What a realistic timeline looks like end-to-end
For a typical mid-size DTC brand building a new Shopify store with a custom theme:
- Week 0: brief, proposal, deposit, access
- Week 1–2: design (if custom) or theme selection and configuration
- Week 2–4: build — templates, sections, integrations
- Week 4: content upload, QA, revision pass
- Week 5: client review, sign-off, DNS switch
Five weeks from brief to launch for a clean custom Shopify store. Three weeks if you're adapting an existing theme with most content ready. Longer if any of the variables above are unresolved going in.
The best way to get an accurate timeline for your specific project is to send a brief — scope drives schedule more than any other factor.
