PSD to Shopify conversion builds your store design as a custom Shopify theme, so the shop looks the way your designer intended and your team can still rearrange it from the theme editor. Brainguru works from Photoshop, Figma, XD or Sketch files and codes the templates in Liquid, Shopify's own theme language.
How a Shopify theme is put together
Knowing the structure helps you brief the work and judge a quote. Shopify's theme documentation describes three main parts:
- Liquid files: These generate the HTML for each page of the store, from product pages to the cart.
- Templates and sections: JSON templates act as a wrapper for sections, and sections hold the actual layout code. Merchants add, remove and reorder sections in the theme editor.
- Assets and settings: Stylesheets, scripts, fonts, translations and the theme settings your team can change, such as colours and logos.
A good conversion turns each part of your design into a well-named section with sensible settings. That way a new campaign banner or a reordered home page does not need a developer.
Why choose Shopify for your online store?
Shopify is a hosted platform: it runs the servers, security patches, checkout and payments, and you focus on products and marketing. That suits brands that want to launch quickly and avoid managing hosting.
It is also one of the largest e-commerce ecosystems. W3Techs reported on 5 November 2026 that Shopify runs 5.3% of all websites and 32.4% of the e-commerce systems it detects. Merchants on the platform processed US$119.1 billion of gross merchandise volume in the third quarter of 2026, up 29% on a year earlier, according to Shopify's results of 3 November 2026. A large ecosystem means more apps, more themes to learn from and more developers who know the platform.
Shopify is less suited to stores that need deep changes to checkout logic, very unusual catalogue rules or full control of the server. For those, compare our PSD to Magento and PSD to PrestaShop options.
Our PSD to Shopify conversion process
- Design review: We list the store templates in the design and the states that are missing, such as sold-out variants, empty collections and cart errors.
- Section plan: We break each page into sections and agree which settings your team should control.
- Theme build: Templates and sections are coded in Liquid, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, starting from a clean base rather than a heavily modified purchased theme.
- Apps and features: Reviews, subscriptions, filters, wishlists or loyalty features are added with apps where they suit, or with custom code where an app would be heavy.
- Store set-up: We load sample products, collections, navigation, shipping and taxes so the theme is tested with real data.
- Testing: Phones, tablets, desktops, browsers and page speed are checked, along with keyboard use and a complete test order.
- Launch: We publish the theme, set up redirects if you are moving from another platform, and show your team the theme editor.
Speed: where Shopify themes win and lose
Shopify starts from a strong base. In the HTTP Archive Web Almanac 2025, 76% of Shopify sites had good Core Web Vitals on mobile, the highest rate among the platforms in its table, and Shopify ran 25.3% of the e-commerce sites detected on mobile.
The risk is in what gets added. The Almanac's CMS chapter found a median of 1,615 KB of JavaScript on Shopify mobile pages, among the heaviest of the platforms measured. Every app can add its own scripts, so a store with fifteen apps can feel slow even on a well-built theme. We keep the app list short, load scripts only on pages that use them, and size images for the screens they appear on.
Accessibility and search
Online stores have many forms, filters and pop-ups, which is where accessibility problems collect. The WebAIM Million 2026 study found Shopify home pages averaged 75.1 detected errors, 33.9% above the average for all home pages, although WebAIM notes the platform is not always the cause. Our themes use labelled form fields, visible focus states, real buttons and good contrast. Our accessibility testing service can run a full WCAG audit of the live store.
For search, the theme outputs one clear heading per page, descriptive image text, structured product data and clean collection pages. Content, collections and links still decide most rankings; our e-commerce SEO services cover that side.
What affects the cost of a Shopify conversion?
- Number of templates and sections: More unique layouts mean more sections to build and test.
- Theme editor flexibility: Settings for every colour, block and layout option take longer than a fixed design.
- Apps versus custom code: Custom features cost more to build but can save monthly app fees and page weight.
- Catalogue and markets: Many variants, several languages or currencies add set-up and testing.
- Migration: Moving products, customers, orders and old addresses from another platform.
There is no fixed price list. Send the designs and your app list, and we will estimate in a free consultation.
Questions to ask a Shopify developer
- Starting point: Will the theme be built from a clean base, or by editing a purchased theme you would then have to maintain?
- Apps: Which apps are planned, what does each one add to page weight, and which monthly fees come with them?
- Editor settings: Which parts can your team change without code, and which are fixed?
- Theme updates: How will changes be tested in an unpublished theme before they go live?
- Ownership: Will the theme code be yours, stored in your own store and repository?