When it comes to building a new store on Shopify, finding the perfect theme can be a daunting task!

Currently there are 75 themes on the Shopify theme store so browsing through the themes to find the perfect theme can be quite the process.

To help you get your store dialed in, here is the exact process you can use to find the perfect theme for your new Shopify store.

Find themes that you like the look/feel of

To start, visit the Shopify Theme Store and browse “All Themes.” Shopify gives you the ability to filter themes by industries, but when we are looking for the perfect theme, we browse all of the paid themes.

Although Shopify does offer some free themes, they are very basic and are not suitable for brands that want to create a great customer experience. If you are serious about your brand, spend the money to get a high-quality theme. You’ll thank yourself later.

Now it’s time to narrow down your options.

Browse the themes and look at the thumbnails to see which ones jump off the screen.

Typically, we recommend opening 6-9 different themes that seem like a good fit to analyze more in-depth.

Look at the home page and product page for the unique features that you like best

Now that you have quite a few different options open, it’s time to narrow your options down even more.

Most of the paid themes on Shopify have 2-4 different style variants so the first step is find the theme style that you like best. Click on each style to cycle through the options, then preview the one that you like best.

Keep in mind that these styles are just starting points and can always be changed later. 

Now that you know which theme style that you like, it’s time to open a preview in a new tab so you can go through each theme’s elements to find the one that will work best for your brand.

First things first, you’ll want to look through the home page. 

Look at each element in the theme and find the elements that you like best. Every brand is unique so look for the specific elements that will fit your brand best. Keep in mind that most themes have similar basic elements like newsletter sign-ups, hero sections, product features, etc… so look for other elements that you like.

Now it’s time to look at the product page.

Most of the product pages on Shopify are fairly similar, however, some of the themes have some awesome options for more customization. 

As you look at the product pages, think about what information your customers are looking for when they look at your products.

Do they need sizing? Product swatches? Reviews?

Although you can always add additional apps to add functionality, if you can find a theme that already has everything ready to go you’ll have a faster, more streamlined site.

Browse the reviews and documentation

Now that you’ve probably narrowed your selection down to 2-3 themes, the last thing you’ll want to do is read the theme reviews and do some basic research on the developer.

As you build your new store, you will most likely need to reach out to the developers at some point to get some help. Most developers on the Shopify theme stores offer pretty good support, but it’s always important to read the reviews and see what other people are saying about the theme.

In addition to reviews, looking through the theme documentation can also give you more insight into support as well as theme features you may not have noticed or thought about. 

Add the theme to your store, but DO NOT buy it right away. 

One of the best parts about using themes on Shopify is that you can build out most of your new store before actually spending money on the theme. Although most of the themes on Shopify work pretty well, there are some themes that may not work quite as well for what you need.

For example, not all themes have a native feature for adding overlays to background images and not all themes give you the ability to have specific images for desktop and mobile.

Without getting your hands dirty and starting the build, you probably won’t know about those little issues.

To make sure that your new theme will work well, make you play around with it for a while and only purchase it when you’re completely satisfied.

If you need any help with finding the perfect theme for your new Shopify store, get in touch with 253 Media’s Shopify experts and we will help you out as much as we can!