A Shopify store can be live in days. A store that runs without daily manual work, connects to your ERP and sells in several markets takes a partner who has done it before. These ten questions separate the two. We use them ourselves when clients ask how to compare agencies, including us.
1. What is your tier in the Shopify Partner Directory?
Shopify lists service partners in the Partner Directory and ranks them in tiers based on experience and proven results. Open the profile and read it. It shows the tier, the date the agency joined, the services, the countries and the client ratings. Anyone can call themselves a Shopify expert. The directory is harder to fake.
2. Can you show me live stores?
Ask for links, not screenshots. Open the store on your phone, search for a product, add it to the cart and go to checkout. If the agency says it built a store, ask what exactly it did. A theme install and a full build are very different jobs.
3. Have you worked with my kind of business?
A fashion store with size variants has different problems from a ticket shop or a B2B catalog. Ask for a project close to yours and ask what went wrong on it. A partner with real experience will have a specific answer.
4. How do you handle integrations?
This is where most of the cost and risk sit. Ask which system owns stock, which owns prices and what happens when a sync fails. If you need an ERP connection, read our Shopify ERP integration guide before the meeting.
5. Which payment methods will work in my country?
Shopify Payments is not available everywhere. In many markets, including much of the Western Balkans, card payments run through a local gateway. Cash on delivery can still be a large share of orders. Your partner should know the local options and their limits.
6. Who owns the store and the code?
The Shopify account should be in your name from day one. You should also own the domain, the theme and any custom app code. Put this in the contract.
7. How will you protect our search rankings?
If you are moving from another platform, ask for the redirect plan. A migration without 301 redirects can wipe out years of organic traffic. Our Shopify migration checklist shows what the plan should include.
8. How do you test before launch?
Ask for the test list. It should cover real card payments, tax, shipping rates, order emails, stock changes after a sale and the mobile checkout.
9. What happens after launch?
A store needs constant small changes: new collections, price campaigns, seasonal rotations, fixes. Ask who does that work, how fast, and how it is billed. Sales usually grow in this phase, so plan for it from the start.
10. How do you measure success?
Launch date is a project goal. Revenue, conversion rate and hours of manual work saved are business goals. Agree on two or three numbers before you start.
A short checklist
- Directory profile with a tier and reviews
- Live stores in your industry
- A clear integration plan
- You own the account, domain and code
- A written plan for support after launch
Agilitas is a Shopify Select Partner with offices in Sarajevo and Split. If you want to compare us against this list, see our Shopify services or send us your project.
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