Shopify Website Development Company: 10-Item Hiring Checklist

Hiring a Shopify® website development company without a structured evaluation process gives the vendor control over what "done" looks like. These 10 checklist items put that control back with the merchant.

Each item is a concrete question or evidence request, not a general preference. Run this list before signing any contract.

The 10-item checklist

1. Portfolio: live stores, not demos

Request links to 3 stores the company has built that are live and in production. Check them yourself: visit on mobile, run them through Google PageSpeed Insights, observe image loading behavior on a slow connection.

Demos built for pitches use clean data, no third-party scripts, and no real user traffic. Live stores are different. A company that cannot point to live stores — or hedges with "the client requested confidentiality" for all of them — has a portfolio problem.

2. Performance results

Ask: "What Core Web Vitals scores do your stores typically achieve at launch, and how do you maintain them?" The answer should reference Largest Contentful Paint (LCP under 2.5s), Interaction to Next Paint (INP under 200ms), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS under 0.1).

If the answer is "we run Lighthouse before launch," that is not a performance process. A real process involves image optimization strategy, third-party script governance, lazy-loading of below-fold sections, and monitoring after go-live.

3. Plus capability (if applicable)

If your project involves Shopify Plus, this is the most important item on the list. Ask specifically: "How many Plus stores have you shipped in the last 18 months? Can you walk me through a checkout extension you built?"

Plus work involves capabilities standard Shopify does not: Checkout UI Extensions, Shopify Functions in Rust or AssemblyScript, B2B Company model, multi-market setup, and Shopify Flow automation at scale. A company with 40 standard stores and 0 Plus stores is not a Plus company.

4. Checkout customization knowledge

Even on standard stores, ask how the company approaches checkout customization. For Plus stores, the required answer involves Checkout UI Extensions (React-based) and Shopify Functions (server-side logic). Any mention of checkout.liquid as a current solution for a Plus store is a red flag — that API was deprecated in 2024.

This item catches companies that are technically 1-2 years behind without knowing it.

5. Hydrogen and headless judgment

Ask: "For a merchant in our situation, what would make you recommend Hydrogen vs an Online Store 2.0 theme?"

You are not looking for a specific answer. You are looking for judgment. A company that always recommends Hydrogen (because they are more comfortable in React than Liquid, or because it means a larger contract) is not acting in your interest. A company that walks through the actual decision criteria — performance ceiling of OS2.0, content management needs, multi-channel frontend strategy — is demonstrating genuine technical thinking.

6. Integration examples

Most Shopify projects involve at least 1 significant integration: ERP, OMS, PIM, loyalty, 3PL, or accounting. Ask for a specific integration the company has shipped, the architecture they chose, and what broke in production and how they handled it.

Real integration experience surfaces in edge cases: how they handle 429 rate limits from Shopify's API, how they manage data conflicts when both systems update the same record, how they monitor webhook delivery failures.

7. References from comparable projects

Ask for 2-3 client references from projects similar to yours in scope and complexity. Call them. The most useful question: "What went wrong on the project and how did the vendor handle it?" Every real project has something that went wrong. A reference that says nothing went wrong is not useful. A reference that describes a specific problem and a specific resolution tells you something real.

If the project is a Plus migration, the references should be from Plus migrations. Standard Shopify project references do not validate Plus capability.

8. Contract terms: scope and billing

Before signing, understand exactly what is included in scope and what triggers a change order. Ask:

• What is the change order process and what typically triggers one?
• Is the engagement fixed-bid, time-and-materials, or milestone-based?
• What happens if the project takes longer than estimated?

Fixed-bid works when scope is genuinely fixed and you have the technical ability to verify it is complete. Most Shopify projects — especially migrations — do not have genuinely fixed scope. Understand the billing model before you commit.

9. Post-launch support model

Shopify pushes platform updates. Checkout UI changes. Apps conflict. Themes break on specific device and browser combinations. Ask: "What does the engagement look like after go-live?" The answer should include a retainer option, a response time commitment for production issues, and clarity on what is covered.

A vendor with no answer to this question has never been responsible for a live store after handoff.

10. Exit terms: code access and wind-down clause

Ask before signing: "If we end the engagement early, what happens to the code?" The answer should include:

• IP ownership transfers to you on payment
• Code is delivered in a deployable state at any point, not only at project close
• A project wind-down clause if the engagement is terminated mid-build

Vague or hostile answers to this question are a pre-signature preview of how disputes go post-signature. A vendor confident in their work welcomes clean exit terms.

Common mistakes merchants make when hiring

Selecting on price alone. A company quoting $8,000 for a Plus migration is either excluding major scope (data migration, integrations, testing) or planning to cut corners during delivery. Use the checklist above to identify what is excluded before comparing prices.

Treating the proposal as the contract. Proposals describe desired outcomes. Contracts define scope, billing model, change order process, and exit terms. Always review the contract independently of the proposal. The two frequently diverge on the details that matter most.

Skipping the pilot. A 2-week paid trial on a real piece of work is the highest-signal evaluation you can run. Most merchants skip it because it feels like an extra step. It is not — it is the step that prevents a $60,000 mistake. A company that refuses a paid pilot on reasonable terms is a red flag in itself.

Hiring for technology fit instead of problem fit. A company that leads every conversation with Hydrogen, headless, or a full rebuild is selling you their capability stack. The right company leads with questions: what is your current performance baseline, what does your team have the capacity to maintain, what is the constraint you are actually trying to solve?

Not reading the IP clause. Some development contracts include clauses that give the agency rights to the code until full payment is received, or include ambiguous language about custom components developed during the engagement. Have a lawyer review any clause that touches IP ownership before you sign.

How Sapota answers this checklist

When merchants evaluate the Sapota team against this list:

1. Portfolio: live stores available on request
2. Performance: LCP and INP targets set at discovery, monitored post-launch
3. Plus capability: active Plus work including checkout extensions and Shopify Functions
4. Checkout knowledge: UI Extensions and Functions, not checkout.liquid
5. Headless judgment: Hydrogen recommended when specific criteria are met, not by default
6. Integration examples: production ERP and OMS integrations with webhook monitoring
7. References: provided from comparable engagements, with client contact details
8. Contract terms: milestone-based or monthly retainer, no surprise change orders
9. Post-launch support: retainer option available from day 1
10. Exit terms: IP transfers on payment, code deployable at any point, clean exit clause included

The 2-week paid trial gives merchants the evidence they need beyond the proposal stage. Reach out to discuss your project.