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Shopify is one of the most powerful platforms for selling online. Part of its appeal is the huge range of themes that let you set up a store quickly and start selling without months of development. But sooner or later, most businesses want to make changes. You might want a different homepage layout, an extra feature in your product pages, or a sharper look that better matches your brand.
This is where the question comes up: how far can you customise a Shopify theme? And where are the limits?
In this guide, we’ll walk through what you can and can’t do with Shopify theme customisation, how to make changes that help your customers (and not just your design team), and why every update should make your store easier to use.
Key Tip: The best customisations don’t just make your site look different, they make it easier to shop. If an update feels flashy but slows people down, it’s not worth it.
What You Can Customise in a Shopify Theme
Shopify themes are flexible, especially the newer Online Store 2.0 themes. Here’s what you can confidently change without heavy development:
Layout and sections
You can add, remove, and rearrange sections on most pages. For example:
- Reordering homepage content blocks
- Adding a featured collection carousel
- Adjusting the product page to highlight reviews
These changes are built into Shopify’s theme editor, so they’re safe, easy, and reversible. Always check how the new layout works on mobile screens and whether it’s still simple to navigate.
Fonts and colours
Most themes let you set global styles for fonts, colours, and buttons. This is where usability counts:
- Stick with fonts that are readable across devices
- Make sure there’s enough colour contrast for text and buttons
- Don’t rely on colour alone to show meaning (for example, mark sale items with text as well as a red tag)
Imagery and content
You can update banners, product photos, and promotional graphics without touching the theme structure. Keep in mind:
- Alt text helps both search engines and customers using screen readers
- Lighter images keep your site loading quickly
- Consistent styling makes your store feel professional
Navigation and menus
Shopify lets you edit your navigation structure easily. You can add dropdowns, link to collections, or adjust menus to better match your product offering. Keep menus straightforward and test them with someone unfamiliar with your site.
Apps and integrations
Shopify’s app ecosystem is a major strength. You can add reviews, subscriptions, loyalty programmes, and more. Just be cautious. Too many apps slow your site and some aren’t designed with accessibility in mind. Look for well-supported, highly rated apps that keep things simple for your customers.
What You Can Customise With Some Limitations
Checkout
Shopify keeps checkout fairly locked down to maintain security and trust. You can add your logo, change colours, and tweak text, but you can’t rebuild the flow. This is a good thing. Shopify’s default checkout is tested at scale and is one of the highest-converting in the industry.
Product page structure
You can usually adjust product pages, but there are limits without custom development. Want reviews above the description or an “Add to Cart” button that sticks as you scroll? Often possible, but depends on your theme. Always test how the page flows on mobile and whether customers can still find what they need quickly.
Third-party apps in key flows
Apps can add powerful features, but sometimes at the cost of clarity. A pop-up widget might look clever but slow down the page or distract customers at checkout. Evaluate apps based on whether they genuinely help customers complete their purchase, not just whether they add a shiny feature.
What You Can’t (or Shouldn’t) Customise
Overhauling checkout flow
As mentioned, Shopify’s checkout is locked down for good reason. Work with the options available, rather than trying to bypass them.
Heavy custom coding
Yes, you technically can dive into theme code. But in practice, it often creates more problems than it solves:
- Updates from Shopify can break your customisations
- Apps may no longer integrate properly
- Maintenance costs increase
At Skyrocket, we avoid heavy coding in Shopify builds. It’s rarely needed and usually adds complexity without real benefit.
Forcing a theme to be something it’s not
If you’ve picked a theme designed for a small catalogue, don’t expect it to handle hundreds of products with complex filtering. Likewise, a minimal theme isn’t meant to be packed with heavy animations and multiple page templates. Choose a theme that suits your needs, then customise within its strengths.
How to Approach Customisation the Smart Way
When planning changes, think in terms of customer experience, not just design. Ask:
- Will this make the store easier to shop?
- Does it work well on mobile?
- Is the text easy to read?
- Are buttons big enough to tap?
- Does it load quickly?
These are simple, practical checks that prevent you from creating a site that looks impressive but frustrates buyers.
What to Do Now: Your Shopify Theme Customisation Checklist
- Review what you want to change and why
- Explore built-in theme editor options first
- Choose fonts and colours that are easy to read
- Keep checkout simple and trust Shopify’s flow
- Limit apps to those that genuinely improve the customer journey
- Avoid heavy custom coding unless there’s no other option
- Test updates for speed, mobile usability, and clarity
- Monitor behaviour after updates to see what works
The Bottom Line
Shopify theme customisation gives you a lot of freedom, but the most valuable changes aren’t the flashiest. The goal is a store that feels effortless to shop, not one that looks complicated. Keep things simple, focus on usability, and resist the urge to over-customise.
At Skyrocket, we help businesses customise Shopify themes the smart way, without bloated code or unnecessary complexity. If you’d like help making your store more usable and effective, we’d love to chat.
