Playceholdr works with Auckland ecommerce businesses across Shopify, Shopify Plus and BigCommerce.
We design and develop ecommerce experiences, migrate established stores, connect platforms with wider business systems and help solve the more complicated requirements that appear as ecommerce operations grow.
From a custom Shopify build through to B2B, ERP integration or a broader platform decision, we start with what the business needs rather than assuming the answer before the project begins.
Shopify can support a wide range of ecommerce businesses, but the implementation should reflect how the business actually operates. Our Shopify work includes:
For straightforward requirements, we try to keep the implementation straightforward. For more involved businesses, Shopify can sit at the centre of a much wider ecommerce environment involving ERP, inventory, fulfilment, B2B, international markets and other systems.
Our Shopify Development service covers custom development in more detail. For larger or more involved Shopify requirements, see Shopify Plus Development.
An ecommerce redesign should solve more than an aesthetic problem. The store needs to help customers understand the products, navigate the range, make decisions and complete a purchase without unnecessary friction.
Our ecommerce design process covers UX, UI, information architecture, customer journeys and the visual system behind the experience.
Because design and development sit together at Playceholdr, the website can be designed around what Shopify or BigCommerce can actually support rather than discovering technical limitations at the end of the process.
Our Ecommerce Website Design service covers this work in more depth.
As ecommerce businesses grow, the most difficult requirements often move away from the visible storefront.
Inventory may sit inside an ERP. Wholesale buyers may require different pricing and payment terms. Products may be managed elsewhere. Orders may move through multiple fulfilment locations or external systems.
We work on those requirements as part of the wider ecommerce solution. That can include:
The objective is not to connect systems simply because they can be connected. It is to understand what information each platform should own and how the overall operation should work.
Businesses selling to both trade and retail customers often reach a point where separate systems and manual wholesale processes become difficult to manage.
We build B2B ecommerce across Shopify and BigCommerce, including requirements around company accounts, wholesale pricing, catalogues, payment terms, ordering workflows and ERP integration.
Depending on the business, B2B and DTC can sometimes operate within the same ecommerce environment rather than being maintained as completely separate systems.
Our B2B Ecommerce service covers this in more detail.
A platform migration is more than transferring products into a new Shopify account.
The existing business may depend on customer records, historical orders, product information, URLs, apps, redirects, integrations and operational processes that all need to be considered during the move.
We handle migrations from platforms including Magento, WooCommerce and BigCommerce into Shopify and Shopify Plus.
Our Shopify Migration Services cover the process from migration planning through data, development, integrations, SEO considerations and launch.
AucklandMother Made is an Auckland-based New Zealand wellness brand. Playceholdr worked across discovery and research, ecommerce UX and UI, visual identity and website development to create its new Shopify experience.
The project combined brand, customer experience and ecommerce development rather than treating them as separate problems.
Shopify is a major part of our work, but it is not the only ecommerce platform we develop on. Playceholdr also specialises in BigCommerce Development.
The better choice depends on the business. Catalogue structure, B2B requirements, customer pricing, integrations, internal workflows and what the ecommerce team needs to manage can all influence the answer.
Where platform selection is still open, our Ecommerce Strategy & Consulting work can help establish the right direction before development begins.
Custom Shopify themes, storefronts, functionality and integrations.
More advanced Shopify implementation for businesses with greater operational or technical complexity.
UX, UI and ecommerce design focused on the customer journey and how the store actually needs to work.
Trade and wholesale ecommerce across Shopify and BigCommerce.
Moving established ecommerce businesses onto Shopify while accounting for data, URLs, integrations and the existing operation.
Custom BigCommerce storefronts, APIs, B2B and integrations.
Platform selection, audits, requirements, scoping and ecommerce roadmaps.
Development and continued improvement for existing Shopify and BigCommerce stores.
Different projects need different levels of involvement. We can work across discovery, strategy, design, development, migration, QA and launch as one engagement, or work with an existing internal team or external partners where only part of that capability is required.
What matters is establishing the problem properly before deciding how much needs to be built. Sometimes that leads to a substantial ecommerce project. Sometimes the right answer is much smaller. We would rather establish that early.
Yes. Our Shopify work includes custom development, ecommerce design, migrations, Shopify Plus, B2B and integrations. Mother Made is one example of an Auckland-based Shopify project publicly featured in our work.
No. Shopify and Shopify Plus are major specialisms, but we also develop on BigCommerce. That allows us to assess the platform around the requirements rather than treating every project as a reason to recommend Shopify.
Yes. A project does not need to involve changing platforms. We can redesign and redevelop an existing Shopify store while retaining the parts of the current setup that still work well.
Yes. Our Shopify Migration Services cover migrations from WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce and other platforms, including products, customers, historical order data, URLs, redirects, integrations and redevelopment of the storefront depending on the project.
Yes. We work on Shopify B2B as well as BigCommerce B2B. The right architecture depends on requirements such as company structures, pricing, catalogues, ordering workflows, payment terms and integrations.
Yes. Our Ongoing Ecommerce Support covers existing Shopify, Shopify Plus and BigCommerce stores, including stores originally built by another developer or agency.
It depends on what is being built. A theme-led implementation, bespoke ecommerce redesign and a Shopify Plus project involving migration, ERP or B2B are fundamentally different scopes. We price projects around the requirements rather than forcing them into the same package.
Whether you are rebuilding an existing Shopify store, moving from another platform or trying to solve something more involved across B2B, integrations or ecommerce operations, we can start with the requirements.
You do not need to arrive with the solution already decided.
