Your craft brewery ships to three countries and a Shopify theme can't price a mixed pallet
Custom Shopify development for a Wellington craft-food or merch brand runs NZD 30,000 to 180,000 over 2 to 7 months. Build custom (theme, apps, or headless) when your product logic outgrows what a template store can express: mixed cases, age-restricted alcohol shipping, NZ Post and overseas freight rules, and stock tied to small-batch production. Themes and template stores are perfect to launch. They break when a brewery sells a build-your-own twelve-pack across three countries.
You run a Wellington craft brewery, a roastery, or a brand selling merch off a hit screen production, and a Shopify theme got you live fast. Then the edges showed up: a customer wants a mixed twelve-pack priced by what's in it, alcohol shipping has age-verification and courier rules, NZ Post domestic and overseas freight need real-time rates, and your stock is gated by a small-batch brew that hasn't been kegged yet. A premium theme and a stack of apps duct-tape some of it and conflict on the rest.
Every app you add to patch a gap slows the store and fights the next app. The checkout that should convert a fan of a Wellington-made show or a craft beer hesitates while three plugins argue, and you lose the sale you paid marketing to win.
Where the off-the-shelf tools fall short
- Mixed cases and build-your-own packs can't be priced or stock-checked by a standard theme
- Alcohol shipping needs age verification and courier rules a template store doesn't enforce
- NZ Post domestic plus overseas freight need real-time rates apps handle clumsily
- Stock tied to small-batch production isn't modelled, so you oversell a brew that isn't ready
Custom shopify: what Wellington teams actually get
Custom Shopify work (a tailored theme, a private app, or a headless front end) encodes your real product logic: mixed-case pricing, alcohol compliance, accurate NZ and overseas freight, and stock gated by production batches. You stop stacking conflicting apps, the checkout gets fast and trustworthy, and the store finally sells the way your craft-food or merch business actually works.
- Your products are configurable (mixed cases, bundles) and a theme can't price them
- You sell age-restricted or freight-complex goods like craft alcohol
- Stock depends on small-batch production a theme can't model
- App conflicts are slowing your store and costing conversions
- You sell simple, fixed SKUs with standard shipping
- A premium theme plus one or two apps genuinely covers your needs
- You're early and need to launch fast and cheap to test demand
- You can't fund maintenance of custom apps or a headless front end
- Mixed-case and build-your-own pricing that computes correctly and checks real stock
- Alcohol-compliant checkout with age verification and courier rules built in, not bolted on
- Accurate NZ Post and overseas freight rates so margins survive shipping
- Stock gated by production batch, so you never oversell a brew or roast that isn't ready
- A fast, app-light store that converts the fans your marketing earned
- A custom theme or headless build costs far more than buying a premium template
- Headless Shopify needs ongoing front-end maintenance a theme didn't
- Custom apps must be maintained against Shopify's API changes every release cycle
- For a simple single-SKU shop, custom is money a good theme would have saved
Feature priorities for Wellington teams
Wellington shopify: the full scope
Everything a shopify build here can cover: custom Shopify themes, Shopify app development, headless Shopify, Shopify migration, Shopify checkout customization, Liquid development and ecommerce development.
The honest cost picture for Wellington
| Project scope | Typical cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Custom theme with product logic | $30k to $70k | 2 to 3 months |
| Private app for pricing and compliance | $70k to $120k | 3 to 5 months |
| Headless build with integrations | $120k to $180k | 5 to 7 months |
Timeline: what happens, and when
Exactly what you get
A store that finally sells your actual product, mixed cases priced correctly, alcohol shipped compliantly, freight rated accurately, and stock gated by what's actually brewed. The app pile-up that slowed your checkout is gone, and the store connects to your inventory management software and accounting software so the margins on the screen are real. Fans of your beer or your show buy without the page stalling.
How to choose a developer in Wellington
Pick a developer who has shipped Shopify with real compliance and freight logic, not just reskinned themes. Wellington's craft-food and merch brands run on details, so ask them to walk through how they'd price a mixed twelve-pack and ship it compliantly to Australia. If they reach for another app instead of explaining a clean approach, keep looking.
- !They install five apps to solve what should be one custom feature. Ask why a private app wouldn't be cleaner.
- !No experience with alcohol or freight compliance. Ask for a prior age-verified shipping build.
- !They ignore your production-batch stock reality. Ask how they'd stop overselling an unready brew.
- !They push headless without justifying it. Ask what a custom theme can't do for you.
- !No plan for Shopify API maintenance. Ask how custom apps stay alive through Shopify's update cycles.
Most Wellington teams pricing shopify end up comparing notes on wordpress, pos, project management too; the systems share one data spine.
Rohan advises mid-market and enterprise teams on ERP, CRM and custom software, and has led delivery on dozens of business-software builds.
Writes for Digital Heroes, shipping business software for 2,000+ brands across 55+ countries since 2017.
Frequently asked questions
When does a Shopify theme stop being enough?
When your products are configurable (mixed cases, build-your-own packs), you sell freight- or age-complex goods like craft alcohol, or your stock depends on small-batch production. A Wellington brewery hits all three, which a template store and an app pile can't handle cleanly.
Do we need headless Shopify?
Not always. Many Wellington brands are well served by a custom theme plus a private app for pricing and compliance. Headless adds speed and design freedom but also ongoing front-end maintenance, so only go headless when the experience demands it.
How is alcohol shipping handled?
A custom build enforces age verification at checkout and applies the courier and regional rules for shipping alcohol, including overseas, instead of relying on an app that may not honour NZ requirements. This protects you legally and keeps the checkout trustworthy.
What does custom Shopify work cost in Wellington?
NZD 30,000 to 180,000 depending on whether you need a custom theme, a private app, or a full headless build with integrations to inventory and accounting.