Shopify theme support that keeps your store running
Shopify theme support on a monthly retainer or pay-as-you-go. Bug fixes, new sections, speed work and preparation for your busiest weeks, from a UK Shopify Partner that gets to know your theme.
- Shopify Partner
- Since 2017
- Retainers
- From £550 a month
- Average response
- Under 24 hours
- Themes shipped
- 20+
What Shopify theme support covers
Day-to-day Shopify maintenance and the improvements that keep a store selling. These are the eight requests that come up most often.
Bug fixes
Broken layouts, script errors, pages that display wrongly in Safari or on mobile, and clashes between your theme and apps. We reproduce the problem, find the cause and fix it.New sections and blocks
Online Store 2.0 sections built to your brief, such as featured products, lookbooks, comparison tables and video banners, all editable by your team.Speed
Work towards passing Google's speed checks (Core Web Vitals): better image loading, an audit of third-party scripts, and removing code the store doesn't need.A/B tests and landing pages
Page variants to test against each other, and landing pages for paid traffic, set up so the results can be measured properly.Flexible content
Product specs, FAQs, ingredients and ratings set up as structured content across the theme, so you update them in one place.Peak-season preparation
Getting ready for Black Friday, sale launches and spikes from paid campaigns. Load testing where it matters, and a rollback plan in case something goes wrong.Theme migrations
Move from an older vintage theme to Online Store 2.0, or from Dawn to a custom theme, without losing your edits.App integrations
Klaviyo forms, review widgets, search apps and subscription apps added to the theme without slowing the store down.
Support for Dawn, Impulse, Prestige and custom themes
We support free themes from the Shopify Theme Store, paid themes from Out of the Sandbox, Archetype Themes and Pixel Union, and fully custom Shopify themes. Online Store 2.0 is the best starting point. Older vintage themes are supported too, but we usually recommend moving to Online Store 2.0 first so future work goes further.
- Dawn
- Impulse
- Prestige
- Symmetry
- Stiletto
- Empire
- Ride
- Custom OS 2.0
- Custom-built
What ongoing support looks like on a live store
Both of these stores have worked with us since 2023, and theme support is part of what we do for each. The case studies show what was built and how it’s looked after.
Will's Vegan Store
Four international stores kept in step
Changes shipped to the UK, EU, US and German stores at once through one shared theme, alongside the ERP, Zalando and returns connections behind them.A UK sewing and fabric retailer
A large custom theme, and the back office around it
Over 180 custom sections, fast filtered collection pages, and an app that handles routine jobs such as cancelling fraud-held orders and tagging pre-orders.
How a retainer runs
- 1
Theme audit
Before we startWe go through your theme from top to bottom to find what's fragile, what's out of date and where the quick speed wins are. Free with any retainer. - 2
Shared board
OngoingEvery request goes onto a shared Linear board, so you can see its priority, when it's due and anything holding it up. - 3
Preview and approve
Per requestEach change is made on a copy of your theme, with a preview link for you to approve before it goes live. Every change is recorded in a changelog. - 4
Review
MonthlyAn optional monthly call to go through the speed report, agree next month's priorities and flag any bigger issues in the theme.
Shopify theme support retainers
Four ways to work, from pay-as-you-go to a retainer with on-call cover for your busiest weeks.
Running Shopify Plus? The Plus retainer covers day-to-day work, and bigger changes such as checkout rules or B2B are scoped as Shopify Plus development projects.
- Pay-as-you-go
- £125 an hour
- No retainer, no minimum.
- Billed monthly in 15-minute increments
- Best-effort response (next working day)
- Email only
- Good for one-off bug fixes
- Essentials
- £550 a month
- 5 hours, effectively £110 an hour.
- 48-hour response, weekdays
- Email support
- Unused hours roll over one month
- Cancel any time with 30 days' notice
- Standard
- £1,250 a month
- 12 hours, effectively £104 an hour. Most stores choose this.
- 24-hour response, weekdays
- Shared Slack channel
- Monthly speed report
- Unused hours roll over one month
- Plus
- £2,000 a month
- 22 hours, effectively £100 an hour. For busy stores and Shopify Plus.
- 4-hour response, weekdays
- Slack, plus on-call cover in peak windows
- Quarterly speed and usability review
- Priority on emergency fixes
Frequently asked questions
What does a Shopify theme support retainer actually cover?
Anything that touches your theme: bug fixes, new sections and blocks, speed work, A/B tests, app integrations, structured content, theme migrations, accessibility fixes, and urgent help during sales. Setting up off-the-shelf apps is usually included; building a new app is quoted separately.
How much does Shopify maintenance cost?
Pay-as-you-go is £125 an hour with no minimum. Retainers are a fixed monthly price: Essentials is £550 for 5 hours, Standard is £1,250 for 12 hours and Plus is £2,000 for 22 hours. Unused hours roll over for one month, and you can cancel with 30 days' notice.
Do you support Shopify themes you didn't build?
Yes, and that's most of the work. Every retainer starts with a free theme audit, where we map how the theme is built, flag outdated code and note what's safe to change. After that, the process is the same whether your theme is Dawn, a paid theme like Impulse or Prestige, or fully custom.
How fast do you respond to support requests?
Pay-as-you-go is best-effort (next working day). Essentials is 48 hours, Standard is 24 hours and Plus is 4 hours, all on weekdays. Plus retainers also include on-call cover for agreed peak windows such as Black Friday or product launches.
Do you work with Shopify Plus stores?
Yes. The Plus retainer is sized for busier stores, with faster responses, on-call cover in peak windows and quarterly performance reviews. We also take on Plus-specific work such as checkout changes, custom discount and checkout rules, B2B and wholesale themes, and rollouts across several stores.
What if I use more hours than my plan?
Unused hours roll over for one month. If you go over, extra hours are billed at your tier's effective hourly rate, with no surprise multipliers. If you're regularly going over, we'll suggest moving up a tier.
Do you support vintage themes (pre-OS 2.0)?
Yes, but we'll usually recommend moving to Online Store 2.0. Vintage themes can't use sections on every page, are harder to extend, and Shopify is gradually winding down support for them. We quote the migration as a separate project, then look after the new theme on a retainer.
Can I cancel my retainer?
Yes. 30 days' notice on Essentials, Standard and Plus. No long-term contracts and no exit fees. The code is yours (it's your theme), and we'll hand over the changelog, the Linear board and any documentation.
How do you handle out-of-hours emergencies?
Plus retainers include agreed on-call windows, usually Black Friday and Cyber Monday week plus a few launch days you choose. Outside those windows, urgent issues are handled as quickly as we can and billed against your hours. If you need 24/7 cover all year round, we'll point you to a partner set up for that.
Get your theme looked after
Tell us what’s broken, what’s slow, or what you’ve been putting off. We’ll come back with the right plan for your store, a date for your theme audit and a written list of priorities. We reply within a working day.