What turnkey means for a Shopify store
A turnkey project covers everything needed to go from an idea, or from an old store, to a live and fully working Shopify store: design, theme development, admin setup, catalog, payments, shipping, basic legal pages, testing, launch and training. At the end, you or your team should be able to run the day to day without depending on anyone.
What it usually does not include, unless agreed, is content only you can produce (product photography, brand copy, pricing decisions) or ongoing marketing after launch. Having those boundaries written into the proposal prevents most misunderstandings.
Phase 1: discovery and proposal
It all starts with understanding the business: what you sell, to whom, how you manage stock, which tools you already use and what is not working in your current store, if you have one. From there the scope is defined: templates to design, integrations, markets, languages, data migration and essential apps.
The deliverable for this phase is a fixed proposal in writing, stating what is included, what is not and the price. If a proposal does not spell out the scope, it is not turnkey; it is an open-ended estimate.
This phase also settles the right Shopify plan and whether third-party apps are needed, or whether native features such as Shopify Flow, Shopify Bundles or Search & Discovery cover what you need. Getting this right avoids monthly fees that add nothing.
Phase 2: store design and architecture
Before any coding, you decide how the store is organized: collection structure, navigation, filters with Search & Discovery, which product data lives in metafields and which reusable content goes into metaobjects. It is the least visible part and the one that most determines whether the store is easy to maintain.
Then the key templates are designed: home, collection, product page, cart, content pages and blog. In a custom project, the design starts from your brand and how your customer buys, not from a generic theme recolored to match.
- Navigation map and collection structure
- Data model: metafields and metaobjects
- Design of the main templates on mobile and desktop
Phase 3: development and setup
The theme is built on Online Store 2.0, with sections and blocks you can edit in the theme editor without touching code. All work happens on a development store or an unpublished theme, so your current store keeps selling as usual in the meantime.
In parallel the admin is configured: Shopify Payments and other payment methods, shipping zones and rates, taxes as your advisor indicates, customer notifications, policies, domains, Shopify Markets if you sell abroad and the agreed apps. If there is a migration, this is when products, customers and orders are imported and the 301 redirects for the old URLs are prepared.
- Custom theme with editable sections
- Payments, shipping, notifications and policies
- Catalog upload or migration of data
- Integrations and apps agreed in the proposal
Phase 4: review, testing and launch
Once the first complete version is ready, you review it. This is the time to ask for design, content or functionality changes before going live. Then comes testing: test orders with different payment methods, shipping calculations by zone, discounts, confirmation emails, forms and browsing on several devices.
The launch is planned so you lose neither sales nor rankings: connecting the domain, checking the redirects, reviewing the sitemap in Search Console and confirming that analytics and pixels record purchase events correctly.
Phase 5: training and support
A turnkey store does not end on launch day. Training should cover what you will do every week: creating and editing products, handling orders and returns, setting up discounts, editing theme sections and reading the basic reports. Ideally recorded, so you can go back to it.
After that, a support period helps answer questions and fix whatever shows up with real orders. At Weblineo, training is included in every quote, we support the store for 30 days after launch and we offer optional maintenance plans from then on.
What to check in a turnkey proposal
Before signing, make sure the proposal answers these questions in writing. If any of them is left open, ask.
- Which templates are custom designed and developed?
- Who uploads the catalog, and who supplies copy and images?
- Does it include data migration and redirects?
- Which apps are installed, and who pays their fees?
- How many review rounds are there before launch?
- Do the theme code and the store stay in your name?
Frequently asked questions
Does a turnkey project include the Shopify subscription?
Usually not. The Shopify subscription and app fees are paid to Shopify and to each app developer in the name of the store, which is yours.
Do I have to provide the photos and copy?
It depends on what is agreed. Typically the brand provides product photography and copy, and the project covers layout and structural copy. It should be written into the proposal.
Can I keep selling while the new store is being built?
Yes. Development happens on a development store or an unpublished theme, so your current store is not touched until launch day.
What if I want changes afterwards?
Changes outside the scope are quoted separately or covered by a maintenance plan. With a well built, section-based theme, you will be able to make many adjustments yourself in the theme editor.