Shopify Online Store 2.0 Upgrade | Custom Themes

When your theme is holding the store back

Vintage themes pre-date Online Store 2.0. Every layout change becomes a developer ticket, and your marketing team waits in the queue.

01

Every change is a dev ticket

Product and landing pages are hard-coded. Marketing can't add a section or reorder content without touching Liquid.

02

No sections on product or collection pages

Vintage themes only allow sections on the homepage, so the pages that convert are the hardest to edit.

03

Metafields aren't wired in

Rich product data, specs, care guides, ingredients, has nowhere structured to live and nowhere to display.

04

App blocks won't install cleanly

Modern apps expect 2.0 app blocks. On a vintage theme they need manual code and often break on the next update.

05

Slow, patched-over templates

Years of edits and leftover Liquid drag down Core Web Vitals, which hurts both ranking and conversion.

06

You're locked out of new features

Shopify ships new capability to 2.0 themes first. On a vintage theme you're increasingly on the outside.

What's in scope

A focused upgrade, not a redesign. Here's where the line sits.

We handle	Your side	Out of scope
2.0 architecture	JSON templates, sections, metafields, app blocks	Sign-off on section structure	New brand or visual identity
Design	Rebuild current look with parity	Provide brand assets and fonts	Full redesign or new UX
Content	Migrate existing content and settings	Review and approve migrated pages	New copywriting or photography
Apps	Re-install and test existing apps on 2.0	App plan access and credentials	Sourcing or building new apps

Is this the right upgrade for you?

A good fit if

You're on a vintage (pre-2.0) theme and want merchant-editable pages
You like your current design and want to keep it, not redesign
Your team is blocked waiting on developers for simple content changes
You want metafields and app blocks working properly
You need it done cleanly without breaking existing apps or SEO

Not a fit if

You want a full visual redesign, see our Store Redesign service
You're already on a 2.0 theme and just need new features built
You need Shopify Plus scripts, B2B or checkout extensibility first
You want a headless or Hydrogen build for maximum performance

What the upgrade includes

A clean migration to Online Store 2.0 architecture, keeping your look and your data intact.

What's included

Migration from vintage theme to a 2.0 architecture
JSON templates for every page type
Sections everywhere, product, collection, blog, pages
Merchant-editable blocks so your team owns content
Design parity, your current look, rebuilt cleanly
Full QA across mobile, tablet and desktop

Technical deliverables

JSON templates and reusable section schema
Metafields defined and surfaced on the storefront
App blocks migrated to native 2.0 app-block slots
Redirect and SEO parity check on every URL
Core Web Vitals pass targeting 90+ Lighthouse
Clean, documented, version-controlled theme code

Data & integrations

Metaobjects for structured content where they fit
Existing apps re-checked and re-installed on 2.0 slots
Analytics, pixels and tag manager carried across
Content and settings migrated, not rebuilt from scratch
Handover docs so editors know how to use the sections

How the upgrade runs

A staged migration on a development theme, so your live store is never at risk.

01

Audit

We review your vintage theme, apps, metafields and templates, and map exactly what migrates.

02

Plan

We agree section structure, metafield schema and the parity spec, then scope the work.

03

Build architecture

We build JSON templates and sections on a dev theme, matching your current design.

04

Migrate data & apps

Metafields, content, settings and existing apps move across into native 2.0 slots.

05

QA & performance

Cross-device QA, WCAG 2.1 AA checks and Core Web Vitals tuning to a 90+ Lighthouse target.

06

Launch

We publish with URL and SEO parity verified, redirects checked and analytics confirmed live.

07

Handover

Editor training and docs so your team can build and reorder pages without us.

Quality controls on every upgrade

The checks we run before anything goes live.

WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility pass
90+ Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals green
URL, redirect and SEO parity verified against the old theme
Every existing app re-tested on 2.0 app blocks
Metafields and metaobjects rendering correctly on the storefront
Cross-browser and mobile QA before publish
Version-controlled code with a documented rollback path

Investment

Typical AUD bands, scoped after a short discovery. Price depends on the factors below.

Number of template types and unique page layoutsHow many metafields and metaobjects need defining and surfacingNumber and complexity of apps to migrateDegree of design parity vs. light cleanupVolume of content and settings to carry across

Focused upgrade

$6,000–$12,000

Standard catalogue, core templates, design parity, a handful of apps.

Full upgrade

$12,000–$22,000

Many template types, rich metafields and metaobjects, several apps.

Online Store 2.0 upgrade FAQs

No. This is an architecture upgrade, not a redesign. We rebuild your current look with parity so the store feels the same to shoppers.

Yes. We audit every app up front, then re-install and test them on native 2.0 app blocks so they survive future theme updates.

Typically 3–6 weeks depending on how many template types, metafields and apps are involved. We confirm after discovery.

Yes. You own the theme, the code and all metafield definitions outright. We hand over clean, documented, version-controlled files.

No. We verify URL, redirect and SEO parity against the old theme before launch, so rankings and links are preserved.

Metafields store structured product data, specs, care guides, ingredients, that your team can edit and we display on the storefront without code.

We train your team and provide docs so editors can build and reorder pages. We're available for support and further work if you want it.

No. All work happens on a development theme. We only publish once QA, performance and parity checks pass.

We keep the upgrade focused to protect timeline and cost, but new sections or features can be scoped as a follow-on once you're on 2.0.

Related services

Ready to move off your vintage theme?

Book a short discovery call. We'll audit your current theme, map what migrates and give you a scoped upgrade plan and timeline.

Book a call

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