How We Built a Custom Shopify Store for an Indian D2C Brand

A behind-the-scenes look at how we built a custom Shopify store for an Indian D2C skincare brand — the decisions we made, the problems we solved, and the results.

The Brief

Client: Skincare D2C brand targeting urban Indian women, 25–40 Products: 18 SKUs at launch, with subscriptions planned Pain points with previous WooCommerce site: Slow load times, high cart abandonment, complex subscription setup, poor mobile experience Key requirements: Sub-2-second load times, Razorpay integration, subscription functionality, quiz-based product recommendation, loyalty points

Platform Decision: Why Shopify

We evaluated WooCommerce (their existing platform), Shopify, and Medusa (headless). We chose Shopify 2.0 with a custom theme because:

• Checkout reliability is unmatched (they'd had payment failures on WooCommerce)
• Shopify's subscription APIs are better supported than WooCommerce
• Time to launch was 6 weeks, vs 10+ for a full headless build
• Their team could manage content without us after launch

The Design Approach

We built on a custom Shopify 2.0 theme (not a pre-built template) because their brand aesthetic — muted tones, editorial imagery, minimalist layout — couldn't be achieved with existing themes without breaking everything that made Shopify fast.

Key design decisions:

• Product pages lead with skin concern, not ingredients ("For dry skin" before "Contains hyaluronic acid")
• Sticky add-to-cart bar on mobile (reduced friction for the primary conversion action)
• Subscription toggle on every product page (increased subscription uptake from 0 to 23% of orders)
• "Complete your routine" upsell section (lifted AOV by 18%)

Technical Integrations

• Razorpay: Native Shopify Payments wasn't available for their business model; we integrated Razorpay via Shopify's custom payment provider API
• Recharge: For subscription management (Shopify's native subscriptions weren't sufficient for their bundle requirements)
• Gorgias: Customer support with order context
• Klaviyo: Email/SMS flows (abandoned cart, post-purchase, win-back)
• Skio: Loyalty and referral program

Performance Results

Before (WooCommerce on shared hosting):

• Mobile PageSpeed: 24
• Load time: 6.8 seconds
• Cart abandonment: 78%
• Conversion rate: 0.9%

After (Shopify custom, 6 weeks post-launch):

• Mobile PageSpeed: 79
• Load time: 1.4 seconds
• Cart abandonment: 61%
• Conversion rate: 2.1%

Revenue impact: 2.3x in the first 90 days (combination of better conversion rate + increased traffic from SEO improvements).

What We'd Do Differently

• Start with fewer integrations. We launched with 7 third-party apps. Three of them added load time with minimal conversion impact. We'd now do a phased launch: core features first, analytics-justified additions later.
• Earlier mobile testing. A few design elements looked great on desktop but required rework for mobile. More mobile-first reviews earlier would have saved time.

The Takeaway

Custom Shopify (not headless, not template) hits the right balance for most Indian D2C brands in the ₹1–5 crore revenue range. You get Shopify's checkout reliability, the Razorpay ecosystem, and a storefront that actually reflects your brand.

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Need expert help? Innovatrix Infotech is a professional Shopify development agency serving D2C brands across India. Get a free consultation.