Ketan Mistry \\ Freelance Web Designer Melbourne

Building successful ecommerce websites

I'm a professional freelance web designer living in Melbourne, Australia. I've worked in the website design industry since 1998 and have owned and operated two design agencies in Greater Manchester, UK.

Ability Superstore

I've been working with Ability Superstore since they started almost ten years ago and have built every version of their ecommerce website since then.

The latest version is fully responsive to boost online sales and has many features that enhance the online shopping experience.

Ecommerce website design
Shopify theme development
Mobile optimisation
Built-in VAT exemption features

Read case study

I've been designing and building ecommerce websites since the start of my 20+ year career using all types of ecommerce platforms.

For the last few years, I've been using Shopify more and more for ecommerce web design projects and consider myself to be an expert.

Taking Care

I was approached by Taking Care to build their new ecommerce website.

Taking Care required a way of selling customised packages and services,VAT exemption features, Direct Debit options and complete control over their website content via the cms.

Ecommerce website design
Shopify theme development
Custom website features
Built-in VAT exemption features
Content personalisation

Read case study

Coming from a design and front-end development background, I like to focus on a good user experience that includes frequently evaluating and optimising store page speed.

I follow Baymard Institutes UX best practices and refer to their research data on every ecommerce web design project. And I also use tools like UsabilityHub and HotJar to back up my design ideas.

Hearing Dogs

Hearing Dogs hired me to design and build their ecommerce website.

A few of their requirements needed custom coding; a cart-based donation feature, product cross-sells, and product-level VAT exemption.

Ecommerce website design
Shopify theme development
Custom website features
Built-in VAT exemption features
Accessible design

Read blog post

Designing for the web, not only involves creating a useful website but is about creating an experience that helps to engage the target audience and increase sales and conversion.

Every element of the website is analysed for performance:- whether it's in the correct location and if the user understands how it works or where to find it and whether it makes sense.

Printway

I've worked with Printway for a few years, building and improving their online presence.

The online store has custom features made especially for wholesale services; customer approval process, wholesale pricing, tiered pricing and live stock updates.

Responsive website design
Bespoke ecommerce platform
Secure payment system

Ecommerce web design built with Shopify

Shopify is an ecommerce platform that provides the tools and technology for merchants to set up an online store and sell products and services on their website, at physical retail locations, marketplaces and more.

It has a large, supportive and worldwide community.

The benefits of Shopify

Straightforward & fast front-end development

Stores can be as straightforward or as complex as required. Themes are built-in structured way which allows for complete flexibility. Stores can have as many CMS pages as needed and unlimited blogs.

Compared to other ecommerce platforms, Shopify allows for faster design and development turnaround times. And its integration with Github allows for quick deployments and keeping a record of all theme updates.

"We were really lucky to have found Ketan and his web development experience has been vital in the success of Taking.Care. Unlike many other Shopify web designers, Ketan has great technical development experience as well as really strong design skills."
John Swaffield, Taking Care

Out-of-the-box checkout

The checkout is the most complicated part of any online store, and so it's reassuring to know that Shopify's checkout is stable and working. Although Shopify provides its own payment system, they also integrate with third-party payment providers such as Worldpay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Braintree and SagePay.

Design & content customisation

Shopify's Online Store 2.0 opened up massive opportunities for developers to build themes and apps for Shopify merchants. They rebuilt the entire online store experience by allowing sections on every page, app-powered blocks, flexible data storage, metafields, and robust developer tools.

Taking Care's features include product customisations, content personalisation and a selection of alternate liquid page templates.

Ability Superstore integrates products with guides/ advice sections, blogs and independent living tips.

Taking Care's features include product customisations, content personalisation and a selection of alternate liquid page templates.

Version 1 of the customise package page.

All the technicals covered

The platform takes care of all the technicals and security, like SSL certificates, web hosting, CDNs and website caching. With 99.98% uptime and the ability to handle one million page hits per minute, there's nothing for you to worry about.

Manage everything from a single dashboard

Use a single dashboard to manage orders, inventory, shipping, and payments from your desktop computer or smartphone. Shopify provides flexible shipping rates enabling fixed-price, tiered pricing, weight-based, and location-based rates.

Storefront and admin APIs

Shopify provides plenty of powerful storefront and admin APIs that allow you to add additional functionality to any Shopify store. You can also integrate with popular services such as Zapier.

Examples of custom functionality I've built

I've implemented all types of custom functionality into my client's stores without third-party apps. Some of the features I have added include:

VAT relief

Product level VAT relief for selling mobility and disability goods.

Shop the look

Allows a whole fashion look to be purchased via a single product page, i.e. individual apparel.

Customise your package options on the Taking Care Shopify website.

Customise package

Customise and buy product pages to allow packages to be built comprising different products and added to the cart.

The frequently bought together options on the Ability Superstore website.

Frequently purchased together

Options to purchase multiple related items in one click from the main product page.

See more of my ecommerce website design work, including case studies.

Read my Shopify case studies

Shopify specialisms

Shopify design & setup

I build all bespoke Shopify themes from scratch using my own code as it allows me to keep things simple and light.

All themes are responsive, with minimal to no third-party scripts.

I focus on page speed, and user experience (I adhere to the guidelines set by the Baymard Institute) and ensure the theme remains flexible for future enhancements.

Unlike standard pre-built themes, I limit the amount of customizability through the Shopify admin to what is absolutely essential, i.e. managing content. The more settings that are added, the more Shopify has to work in the background, so it makes sense to not go crazy and maintain a fast loading website.

"Ketan was a joy to work with. The wireframing process, design and build was very quick, he has great systems in place for feedback, and is always happy to jump on a call if anything needs discussion. He also makes suggestions to improve CRO on top of the brief - which is incredibly valuable. Ketan really knows Shopify and was able to customise our basket to highlight free shipping thresholds and capture additional data we needed to record with each transaction."
Steve Heyes, Hearing Dogs

Shopify VAT relief

If you offer products or services adapted for disability, you are aware of the VAT relief available to disabled people.

Out of the box, Shopify does not offer a VAT relief system capable of applying VAT "switching" at a customer, product or cart level.

Over the last couple of years, I've been integrating and fine-tuning this feature for a few of my UK based Shopify clients. It's by no means a simple integration, which is why there are no proper Shopify apps for it, but my version aims to make it simple and easy for the customer.

"Ketan quickly understood our requirements and was able to overcome all the challenges associated with a VAT-exempt subscription product. We were initially concerned that the Shopify platform would be too restrictive but Ketan's ecommerce experience meant the checkout could be customised beyond what we expected."
John Swaffield, Taking Care

If you require VAT relief functionality for your Shopify store, get in touch to discuss your options.