A Shopify website proposal needs four things a generic web design proposal often skips: the theme decision (stock theme, paid theme, or custom build), the app list with who pays the monthly fees, what content and product data the client must migrate versus what you'll migrate, and where Shopify's own limits end and custom development begins. Leaving any of these out is the most common source of scope creep on Shopify projects, because clients assume "building the store" includes app configuration and data entry unless the proposal says otherwise.
The short answer: theme, apps, migration, and platform limits
These four items belong in every Shopify proposal, regardless of store size:
- Theme — which one, and who owns the license.
- Apps — named, with monthly cost and who's billed.
- Migration — who moves the products, images, and copy into Shopify.
- Platform limits — what Shopify can do out of the box versus what needs custom code (and costs more).
For the general sections every web design proposal needs before you get Shopify-specific, see what should a web design proposal include? — this post picks up where that one leaves a Shopify build under-specified.
Theme: stock, paid, or custom — and why the proposal must say which
Shopify projects fall into three theme categories, and each changes the price and timeline:
- Stock theme (Dawn or another free theme) — fastest, cheapest, limited customization.
- Paid theme ($150–$350 one-time from the Shopify Theme Store) — more built-in features, still limited to what the theme supports.
- Custom theme — built or heavily modified from a base theme, most expensive, no ceiling on customization.
If the proposal just says "Shopify store design" without naming which of these three it is, the client may assume custom-level flexibility at stock-theme pricing. Say it plainly:
Theme: We'll build on the Dawn theme (free, Shopify-owned), customized with your brand colors, fonts, and homepage layout. This keeps cost down and load times fast. A fully custom theme is available as a separate quote if you want layout options Dawn doesn't support.
Apps: list them by name and who pays the subscription
Every app has a monthly cost, and most clients don't know that until the first bill arrives. List apps by name in the proposal, with the price and who's billed:
Apps included in setup:
- Klaviyo (email marketing) — $20/mo, billed to client's Shopify account
- Judge.me (reviews) — free plan
- Order printer, or similar fulfillment app — free plan
App subscriptions are billed directly to your Shopify account, not to us. We'll configure each app during setup; ongoing management (new campaigns, review moderation) is not included unless added as a maintenance retainer.
Naming the apps and stating who pays removes the most common billing surprise on Shopify projects — a client who expected the app cost to be part of your flat fee.
For how to price app-dependent scope like this into your overall quote, our post on how to price a website redesign proposal covers the same phase-based pricing logic, which applies whether the redesign is on WordPress or Shopify.
Content and product migration: whose job is data entry
This is the single biggest source of scope creep on Shopify projects. "Migrate the store" can mean anything from moving 20 products to moving 2,000 products with variants, images, and SEO metadata. State it as a number and a responsibility split:
Migration: Client provides final product data (title, description, price, images) in the spreadsheet template we send, for up to 50 products. We import and set up variants, collections, and SEO fields. Product counts above 50, or data not provided in the template format, are billed at $2 per product for data entry.
Writing scope language this specific — a number, a format, a responsibility, a rate for overage — is the same discipline covered in how to write a scope of work for a website project. Migration is where that discipline matters most, because "migrate the content" sounds like one task to a client and can be twenty hours of data entry to you.
Where Shopify's limits end and custom code begins
Shopify handles most storefront needs out of the box, but some requests always need custom development: non-standard checkout flows, complex product configurators, multi-currency logic beyond Shopify Markets, or integrations with a client's existing inventory system. Name these limits before the client asks for them as if they were included:
Included in this scope: standard Shopify checkout, up to 3 product collections, standard variant options (size/color), and Shopify's built-in discount codes.
Not included, quoted separately if needed: custom checkout modifications, product bundling logic beyond Shopify's native options, ERP or inventory system integrations, and subscription billing beyond what Shopify Subscriptions supports natively.
That second list is doing the real work. It tells the client exactly what triggers a change order instead of a scope argument later.
A short example line for each section
Put together, a Shopify proposal's scope section can be four short paragraphs:
Theme: Dawn (free), customized to brand. Apps: Klaviyo ($20/mo) and Judge.me (free), billed to client's Shopify account, configured but not managed ongoing. Migration: Client supplies data for up to 50 products via our template; overage billed at $2/product. Platform limits: Standard checkout and variants included; custom checkout, bundling logic, and ERP integrations quoted separately.
Four sentences, no ambiguity, and every likely scope-creep point named before the project starts.
Checklist: writing a Shopify proposal
- Named the theme (stock, paid, or custom) and who owns the license
- Listed every app by name, with monthly cost and who's billed
- Stated a product count for migration, with a rate for anything above it
- Specified the data format the client must provide
- Listed what's explicitly not included: custom checkout, bundling, integrations
- Ended with one next step for the client to approve
Once the proposal is sent, the next step is knowing when and how to follow up if the client goes quiet — see how to follow up on a web design proposal with no reply.
If you'd rather start from a Shopify-ready scope section instead of writing one from scratch, The Web Design Proposal Kit ($29) includes a scope template built to catch exactly these gaps.