Build vs. Buy on Shopify
Build, buy, customize, or wait — decided with numbers. Capability-by-capability verdicts with honest 3-year cost math.
Custom wins on 3-year cost or fit — with maintenance counted honestly.
The app wins your scenario — we say so plainly.
Buy the app, build the glue: very often the honest mid-market answer.
Shopify is shipping this natively. Don't spend yet; we'll tell you when it flips.
Latest Decisions
Should You Build or Buy Your Bundle Builder Page on Shopify?
BUILDThe bundle builder page goes custom once bundles pass roughly 15% of revenue: the stock widget's template ceiling is a conversion ceiling.
Bundles & Kits
Should You Build or Buy Duties & Import Taxes on Shopify?
DEPENDSDuties and import taxes are a true DEPENDS: pay the merchant-of-record fee while lean, own the flow as international scales, never build the landed-cost engine.
International & Localization
Should You Build or Buy Exchange-First Return Flows on Shopify?
BUYExchange-first flows are a buy once refund volume matters: steering optimization is the vendors' product, not a feature you rebuild.
Returns & Exchanges
Should You Build or Buy Your NetSuite Integration on Shopify?
DEPENDSNetSuite integration is the honest DEPENDS: buy a connector for standard flows, build middleware when the flows are the business.
ERP, Accounting & Integrations
Should You Build or Buy Payment Method Gating on Shopify?
BUILDPayment method gating is a build for any Shopify store with dev capacity: one small Function, about a day of work.
Checkout & Conversion
Build or Buy Performance Monitoring & App Audits on Shopify?
BUILDMeasurement is free on Shopify; storefront speed comes from an audit-and-remediation program, not a speed app.
Platform & Architecture
Should You Build or Buy a PIM on Shopify?
DEPENDSPIM on Shopify is a scale decision: metafields cover most catalogs, PIM apps win at multi-channel breadth, custom pipelines at ERP-grade complexity.
Product Data, Catalog & Merch Ops
Should You Build or Buy a Points Program on Shopify?
BUYBuying a points program wins for Shopify brands under roughly $50M in revenue; the liability math and vendor ecosystems beat building.
Loyalty, Referrals & Retention
Should You Build or Buy Product Subscriptions on Shopify?
DEPENDSProduct subscriptions are a genuine three-way call: native for simple replenishment, buy for retention depth, build the portal at scale.
Subscriptions & Memberships
Should You Build or Buy a Returns Portal on Shopify?
DEPENDSA returns portal splits by return economics: WAIT on native for simple flows, BUY exchange-first in the mid-market, BUILD at 3PL scale.
Returns & Exchanges