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Solomedia Shopify Development
DTC POD
Solomedia Shopify Development
BB
Speaker
Blaine Bolus
JS
Speaker
Johnathan Solorzano
03:09 Start a Shopify store with no code, buy a theme, get product designed, focus on sales & marketing. 05:19 Automate fulfillment process with Three PL (third party logistics).
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Highlights
“Learning from the Best as You Build": "Our goal is to help you learn from the best as you built.”
“If I were to start a Shopify store tomorrow with my own brand, I wouldn't even code. I'd buy a theme for $300, throw that theme up, and then worry about marketing. Everything out of the box is in Shopify.”
“We don't want to put all our stuff there. But we do feel like if somebody is searching our brand on Amazon, we have no presence.”
“ No, I think that's a really good point in terms of how these stores start. Some are maybe Shopify native, some are Amazon native. Others want to use Amazon as almost an acquisition channel, put a couple of Hero products over there, drive traffic back to their DTC instance. And those sort of decisions ultimately come up to you as a brand owner understanding what your unit costs are, where it makes most sense for you to set up your mix of sales.”
“Sometimes it's like, no, we need to do this custom. And at that point, you need to create sort of like a private app using Shopify's API to do exactly what they want.”
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Full transcript
Ten for 10% off your next content purchase. What's up, DTC Pod? Today we're joined by Jonathan Solorzano, who is the founder of Solo Media Group. So, Jonathan, I'll let you kick us off. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background in shopify development and a little bit about some of the brands and projects that you've worked on.
Yeah, okay. So I guess I'll give you the start of Solo Media Group and how we ended up here. We started Solo Media Group as sort of a way to do remote work. I moved to Columbia, hired my first developer over there, Richardson, and then from there we were white labeling for larger agencies here in the United States. So the idea was some of these larger agencies might have a contract with a company like Oatley, and then they'd outsource it to us, and we do the work behind the scenes and they'd pass it off as their own. Get the nice case study. After doing that for a little while, we got so good at shopify that we say we should just go directly to the customers. We have a good enough experience.
So we're not like most agencies where we do a lot of things. We just do straight development and we do it just in the shopify ecosystem because it's where all the brands that we want to work with are.
No.
Absolutely.
And so one of the things that we're really excited to talk about on this show is just kind of what goes into building a shopify site, right? Like the core pillar of DTC is your ecommerce storefront. So that's going to be a really important component to get right. So what I'd love to do in this episode is first, let's talk a little bit about shopify, the platform, what you need to know if you're starting up a brand. So call it from once you've come up with an idea, you have a product you want to sell and you're going to create a shopify storefront, kind of what's that experience? What can you expect? How do you get started? And then after that, we'll get into where you come in for brands that are going north of $500,000 in revenue towards, like, ten mil and bringing on developers and looking for a bunch more customization. So why don't we start with what a brand needs to consider and how getting started on Shopify works?
Yeah, I think when you speak to other agency owners, people go around talking about design. We need to get a good design in. I think that there's a lot of overthinking. If you were to ask somebody that quote unquote, makes websites, but really, Shopify has everything it needs for you if you know no code to just start. So if I were to start a Shopify store tomorrow with my own brand, what would I do? I wouldn't even code, and that's that. I know how to do it. I'd buy a theme for $300. I'd throw that theme up.
If you don't have a product design, get a product designed on fiverr, and then from there worry about marketing it. Because that's the one thing that I've seen so many people that start stores do, is they spend all this time with brand and design, and then they go down the hole and there's no sales. Right. They spend all this time idating, and they didn't worry about the first thing. It's sales. So, yeah, everything out of the box is in Shopify. How to fulfill orders. You can generate your labels there at tracking numbers, putting the tracking number in their order so that the customer gets it.
It already has the email flow set up, setting up shopify payments that's already set up. Literally, you just plug and play. So if I was to start tomorrow, I would put a product up and start marketing.
Yeah, and I think that's such an important point because the Shopify site that you build is important, but really what they're providing is the back end for you to set up a commerce operation. Right. Like to be able to have a site stood up that can take orders that you can check out, collect a customer's credit card, get their information, make sure they get the email, make sure that they're getting their order, and that you can go ahead and fulfill what it is that they want to buy. What comes next. Right. What are some of the next components or building blocks that when you're building out a store that you're going to want to consider.
Yeah. So I think if we're looking at and we're looking at this from a strictly bootstrap perspective, right. I imagine somebody that might have funding might look at this completely different. But let's say you have inventory and you're fulfilling this out of your house. At some point you're going to want to figure out, how do I automate this fulfillment process? Right. And how do you do that? Probably with the three PL. So you go out looking for a three PL. Now this three PL, third party logistics is a warehouse that's going to take your inventory, store it for you, and then if an order comes in from Shopify, you want that Three PL to be able to receive that order, and then once it ships, it send that tracking number back to Shopify.
Right. So what I've noticed is and that's usually when they start looking for developers, like, hey, we're looking for a Three PL. This Three PL might not connect as easy, or we don't want to go with one of the big ones like Shippo because it's too expensive. Can you guys help us connect this Three PL so that everything works seamlessly? I think that's what I've seen is once you start making money in a lot of orders, I think that's the first thing people want to offload, like fulfillment.
No, that's such an important point because it seems like the Three PL, they have a job of fulfilling orders, storing your orders, and there's like that whole operational component. But as far as the tech is concerned, if you're a founder, you need to make sure that information is hooked up to your central nervous system and what you're doing. Right. So obviously, one part of it is getting the order to the right person. And that's crucial, because if that doesn't happen, no one gets product. But as an owner and operator, you need to make sure that data is syncing up with your workflows.
Right, exactly. And then it starts getting a little more complex when you start going through I think that the tech term is Omnichannel. Right now we're looking at Amazon. Okay. Where's the inventory for Amazon? Where's the inventory for Walmart? Are you selling on ebay? Now, once you start creating those different sales channels, how do you keep track of all this inventory? Right? Now, there's a now you have an ERP system, and then this ERP system connects to the Three PL that then also connects to Shopify. Right. So once you start adding these complexities is when you start that's where, you know, me and my team come in. Once we understand the the kind of ecosystem that you have in Shopify, we we help kind of maintain that.
Why don't we talk about that a little bit? Because I think what we're starting to see is brands first were Omnichannel brands that found out about Ecommerce and could start selling their Omnichannel product online as a new channel. And then Shopify also gave rise to a whole bunch of brands that could start digitally native. And then as they grew up, they started to look for different distribution channels in retail, et cetera. Right. So if you're a brand today, you're starting, you've got some online interest, and now you're looking at other marketplaces and opportunities to sell like you mentioned. Maybe you want to set up an Amazon storefront. Maybe you have a Whole Foods or something who wants to take you on. What are you looking at from a Shopify perspective? Where is your customer data living? How are you setting that up? What is the set up of that system look like?
Yeah, that's a good question. I've seen two types of brands right there's brands that are native to Amazon that then are like, we need to start working on our own brand because they're taking so much margin from us. And then I've seen brands that started on, for example, Shopify with their own brand and they're like, well, we're missing out on a sales channel or at least some sort of traffic if we're not on Amazon, right? So I think I'll talk first about the brands that started without Amazon. We have this customer, JJwinks, over in California and they sell sort of like lounge wear for women. And they're a really strong brand with their own they have their own list. They've been working through Shopify and they never had anything on Amazon. But now they're planning on putting a couple of things on Amazon just because they're saying, well, we don't want Amazon to take our whole business. But we do feel like if somebody is searching our brand on Amazon, we have no presence.
Right? So what I've noticed is a lot of these brands are putting a couple of SKUs so that Amazon doesn't cannibalize their business. But they do recognize there is that fear, right? We don't want to put all our stuff there. And then on the other end, we've seen brands we have a company called Mother Love. Mother Love that we work with. Mother Love. They sell like nutrition for birthing mothers postpartum and during during pregnancy. I could be saying that wrong, but their 90% of their business was on Amazon. So when they, when we got in contact with them, they started really trying to invest in their Shopify store.
They were worried about, they still are, what's going to happen with Amazon, right? So they've invested a lot in their shopify store and automating that I don't know if that answered your question. I might have veered off a little.
No, I think that's a really good point in terms of how these stores start. Some are maybe Shopify native, some are Amazon native. Others want to use Amazon as almost an acquisition channel, put a couple of Hero products over there, drive traffic back to their DTC instance. And those sort of decisions ultimately come up to you as a brand owner understanding what your unit costs are, where it makes most sense for you to set up your mix of sales. Right? Because if you are a CPG brand where it's really heavy to ship and you need a bunch of eyeballs that people are already searching for this one particular thing, maybe you have one sort of product line that you sell on Amazon that's easier for them to fulfill. And then on the other hand, for your really good customers who want these really specific things from you, they can come and get those only from your site. So that's really interesting. The other thing I'd like to kind of start thinking about is, as a developer, what are some of the most common requests that you're getting? Right? What are people looking for? Because obviously, as you start to build out, as you start to have more channels, that just introduces way more variables into your mix of what you're trying to solve for.
But what are some of the most common things that people come to you for and how do you get started within an engagement with those customers?
Yeah, so I think there's a really good app ecosystem in Shopify, and you can solve a lot of your problems with apps. What starts happening, though, is when you want to customize that app, right? When you're like, well, it kind of does what I want, but it doesn't do exactly what I want. Now, that's where I think they have to weigh out. Is the investment in doing this custom worth what I would be investing in? 40, 50, $60 app a month? Right. And when they do that cost analysis, I imagine they have to think about how much manual labor is going to have to be put into fixing the small little thing that the app doesn't do. So I always with people before they enter an engagement with me, I'm like, hey, have you explored this app? Right? Because I think it's always better to present the easiest, least path of friction. But sometimes it's like, no, we need to do this custom. And at that point, you need to create sort of like a private app using Shopify's API to do exactly what they want.
Right. I think I gave you the example earlier, like reward points. Sometimes the app out of the box has its things that it does, but customers like, no, we want it to do XYZ automation and we want it with our branding and whatever the case is. Then they'll have to call a developer. Right. So a lot of these apps also have APIs that let you customize it further. So I think those are the two situations when people are like, well, you know what? I need a developer.
Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. And I think the way you think about it in terms of making sure that you really need to build things before you build them, it's so important because once you start building, you have all sorts of technical debt. You become dependent on what it is that you build. But at the same time, if it's something that's really essential to your business, you need to build it. And like you said, you need it now. But understanding it from a product perspective, what the costs are of taking something on. And I think that's why Shopify even itself, is such a great example. Like, you could go out and you could build a lot of the stuff that Shopify enables, but out of the box, it's getting you 99% of the way there.
So you're better off just sacrificing a couple of those things and not having to worry like you're paying shopify so you don't have to worry about building all those things. The reason that ecommerce platforms weren't a thing back then was because everyone was building them custom and it was a hard thing to do. Right. So I think understanding that when is the right time to bring in development to your store is something that's super, super important 100%.
And I think that's how I approach it to people that try to engage with us. And I think that they appreciate that honesty because it's not like this. Like you might go to somebody else and of course I can estimate a bunch of hours and it's worked for us. But long term, that's not going to work for the, for the merchant. And then when they do find out that an app could have did everything they wanted and they spent all this money, you look like a liar. Right. I think that's why having people that specialize in shopify is important. Because you're in the ecosystem, right? You understand what apps are out there.
We know what other customers are using. And so sometimes it could be ignorance from a developer not being in that ecosystem where they're just like, well, I guess I'll just do it from scratch because I don't know better. Right. The other instance, believe it or not, Blaine, is some people really are stickers for design. There are some people that really want their site to look like, I know magic spoon is always one that comes across our tables. Like we want this to look like magic spoon. And you know, they spent a lot of money on development, right. To do those kind of animations and things.
That's not cheap, that's not out of the box.
Yeah, that's another really important point. Let's talk a little bit about front end, right. Site, especially in brand, is something that's so important when it comes for consumer brands. Like a brand is the product and one part of it is build a great product. The other side is build a great brand. Right. What on the front end? Are you able to get out of the box? Why don't we talk a little bit about shopify themes? If you're thinking about coming up with a site the way I think about building product, for example, I do it all the time. I think of it pretty iteratively prove out the important things when those are working, then have a general idea of where the design you're going is, and then slowly, over time, really mold and crystallize that design and then make it whatever it ultimately will end up being.
I think a lot of people, and I could be wrong, right? A lot of people do think they want to get that design 100% right out of the box. The design is their brand is everything. So for those people. Why don't we just talk about what front end development in Shopify looks like? What's available out of the box? How do you kind of customize these themes? If you want to kind of get fancy, what are the things that are what is getting fancy, like magic spoon even mean? And then what is the cost and what are some of the solutions to go one step beyond what's available out of the box?
Yeah, that's a good question. I think out of the box there are beautiful themes that theme developers have spent a lot of time designing so that you can go and start with something, I think the top tier. Right. I think that even some of the free themes look amazing. Where I was like, wow, this looks expensive. And ultimately that's what you want, right? You don't want your brand to look cheap or something that was developed offshore. So I think out of the box, those things work really well. They make them really modular so that you can move these modules around.
They make it so that you can adjust fonts, you can adjust images. So for me, if you're not selling, I think themes are a great way to start. Your question was, when should we start design or how much can you design inside of Shopify?
Yeah, my question was more about what are the options for customization when it comes to Shopify, right? Are the front ends built on Shopify? Are there any other front ends that you plug into? Like, have you ever seen it where a site builds on a web flow or build something custom and then Shopify is the back end. What is the front end kind of what are the options look like?
Good question. Yeah. So you can pretty much do anything you want on front end. In Shopify. They've really expanded expanded their theming capabilities so you can make it look really nice and beautiful and then create these sort of schemas and blocks on the back end and create your own theme, right, and make it your own. So I think it was like five years ago, people had this notion that, well, we can't do that in Shopify, we can't make it look like that in Shopify. That's gone. And then there is this other option, which nine out of ten times I've noticed is not the best option for for merchants, is going headless.
So headless is this idea of separating the front end with Shopify and throwing the front end in something that feels like an app, right? And I don't want to get too technical, but you could use a code like React or whatever, and it has this really nice app feel. But you start you you create all this technical bit, right? Now you have to you create the API that connects Shopify to this front end. Now, you got to manage this front end on another server. You got to manage this API that's being hosted somewhere. And what that does is now all of the data that you get inside of Shopify, you lose it because Shopify is using its native theme to track pixels and to easily install your pixels and to easily send product feeds. So what I've seen with people that invest a lot in this design and say, we want to go headless, we want to get this speed, is they end up saying, I wish we wouldn't have. Because separating the two takes away all the ease of Shopify product feeds to Instagram, product feeds to Google merchants, syndicating reviews, it just breaks everything. Right now you have to do custom everything.
So we have a couple of headless customers that an engineer recommended them to go that way and now they're regretting it. So they're kind of like, hey, can we just theme this out? I hope they don't get too tech.
No, I love that. And I actually want to kind of dig in a little bit further on the whole headless thing because I know that was like a big trend that we started to see even from the venture community. It was always like, okay, headless commerce, it's the next big thing. Where is it going? So, yeah, clearly I think you definitely gave some sort of take on your thoughts on headless, generally speaking. But where do you see it going over time? Right? Is this something that's really here to say or do you think Shopify is good enough or is headless really important for brands of a certain scale?
Yeah, that's a good question. What I'm going to say is my own bias and doesn't have any data behind it. I probably should do some research, but I think that the only reason you'd go headless is if you have an engineering team working full time staff. To me, what I've noticed with headless is it feels like a flex. It feels like something I can tell my it's like a showing off. Right. Can you take your Honda from point A to point B? Yes. Can you do it with the lamborghini? Yes.
Right. But what's important to you is the difference maker there. And so that's what I've noticed with Headlights, it's a flex amongst the tech people. But if you don't have a full time engineering staff and you don't want to spend that money, shopify does exactly what you need. Now, Shopify does have headless options at hydrogen and what's the hydrogen and oxygen. So hydrogen is its framework and then oxygen is what it uses to deploy it and it has that for that community. But from what I understand, it's not like Shopify's main focus.
That makes a bunch of sense. And I think the tricky part is, and I think this happens a lot in terms of the gap between tech and commerce, is that in the tech community, they're thinking about tech and all the different applications that great tech can have to commerce, whereas commerce is kind of like looking for the simplest and most straightforward way to get something done. Right. They have different budgets that they're using for tech, and they're using tech as like the means to the end, as opposed to, like, everything. Right. So, like, if you're a certain scale and you really want to go headless, and maybe your service incorporates a whole bunch of different elements to it that maybe goes beyond physical products and everything like that, and you have the whole engineering team and you're at a certain scale, then maybe those sort of solutions start to make more sense. But if you're just getting up and started, it seems like there's plenty to carry you through from just being able to sell to your customer perspective, right?
Yeah, 100%. To be fair, I work, like I said, between our brands that we work with are between 500,000 to 10 million. Right. And for those, I could tell you for sure with certainty that in that range, it's been more of a burden than it's been positive. Above that I wouldn't know. But I can tell you that it's definitely not something that they're excited when they're on it. They usually come to me because they were frustrated.
No, that's really great perspective, because again, you're the one in the weeds. You're doing this every day.
There is one thing that I think that would be fair. So the big thing around headless is speed. And at some point that seemed real, but now when you throw that into Google Page Insights or any place that you try to measure speed, most of these headless frameworks are in JavaScript, and JavaScript takes so long to execute. So it's actually these browsers and these, you know, the the crawlers. Google sees them as actually performing lower than the regular themes. So, you know, that that was a myth that even I believed. And after working on enough headless stores, I used to say, well, it's just that this developer didn't do it well, or this developer didn't do it well. But after a while, I realized, like, no, every headless site, well, 95% of them, have been pretty poor when it comes to the the speed rating.
Got it. And that's really interesting because speed is crucial for conversion, for SEO, for all these different for site experience, when customers are using it and everything like that. Right?
Yeah. And that's what everyone's looking for. Right. That's what I've seen most people go to handless. We need to get that Amazon study that 0.5 seconds can lose you X amount in conversion rate. Right. So that is when people start thinking about that.
Got it. And that starts to make a lot more sense when 0.5% has a much bigger hit on your bottom line and can support an entire dev team as opposed to a brand who's maybe going from starting to hit eight figures, right?
Exactly.
Cool. The next thing I want to talk about is some of the other apps that you're starting to see that a lot of your customers are using, that you really enjoy working with, that have really flexible APIs that add a lot of value to the clients. I know there's apps and enablement companies popping up every day and every minute. So what are some of the core ones that you swear by that are really crucial for brands that are going from 500K or even just starting off? So call it zero to ten mil?
Yes. Being working behind a computer and not doing a physical product or anything like that. One of the things that I really like to see is when people sell physical stuff that you can pick up or you can drop off. So here in Miami, I've seen a lot of meal prep companies, for example, or floral businesses, and they offer delivery, but they also offer pickup. And for a while, there wasn't a good option that says, hey, how do we set up these zip codes for certain ranges? How do we set up a pickup for this stuff? And then I found this app called Zapiat. So let's say you have sort of like, let's say a cookie business or something that you can ship, but also you want to do local deliveries. Zapiat is amazing app for that. I think we've done that on Magento and WordPress a couple of years ago when we would work on those.
And the companies that built that spent so much money to build out that infrastructure of zip code radius and how much is it going to cost to ship here? And we want that to go through the checkout. So Zapier solved all of that, and I think it's like $20 a month for any business that's doing local stuff and local delivery. I love it.
That's really cool. And I'd love to talk a little bit more about local because local is an interesting side of commerce and ecommerce. So how do you see local fitting into the fold, right? Are people going to other marketplaces like a GOP? Are they doing this? Are they managing services themselves? On the smaller end? What are you seeing?
Yeah, and I could speak about here in Miami some cool brands that I've seen, right? And this started around when COVID people were doing I remember pizza shops were selling like at home pizza kits so you could make it at home. And through that, we started working with this lady that does charcutery boards, meats and cheeses with a little bit of wine. And they have their own audience that just that they've met and they get orders from they do deliveries. There's always these big players like GoPuff and all that. But what I've noticed is that once these brands create a little audience that they continuously buy from. So Charcoal Boards is one of those cool businesses that I've seen do really well using that. Zapia app. There's a floral business that I see here that does really well with local deliveries.
Can they order from 1800 flowers? Yes, but they rather order from somebody local here in Miami. So I think that I've seen a lot of people complain about the behemoths like Amazon. I think that, again, I have no data. It looks like people are wanting to support somebody they could connect to, right? Like, I see Blaine. I know he's here in Miami. I've seen his Instagram post. I'd rather buy from him, and I know that it comes tomorrow than buy from Amazon. I'm seeing a lot of that more I have no data to say that this is a trend, but I can tell you that I've seen it here in Miami and with the businesses we work with.
Another cool thing that's, again, not necessarily related to apps, but it's more related to local, is I've seen Shopify being used for a bunch of creative solutions, right? So, for example, I shoot a bunch of film photography, and there's a local film lab I use here, and they process everything through Shopify, right? I drop off my film roles. They check me out through Shopify if I need to. Or I think what I do is I pay before I go through the Shop app, check out, can drop off my roles, and then they, like, ship me the negatives back, which is just, like, an interesting use case because they're not, like, really an ecommerce store, but they have the service listed in Ecommerce World. I buy it, and then there's, like, this local component, and they ship back the negatives. Also went to a workshop this weekend that was local in Miami, and it was like a lamp building workshop at this, like, really cool furniture shop around here. And they did all the like, he's got a store through Shopify where you can buy, like, furniture from, but, like, then he also added, like, tickets to this event. So I bought those through shopify. So it's like you're starting to see this cool local stuff where initially you're only thinking shopify e commerce, but also for local businesses, there seems like there's some cool and creative applications.
It's because it's just so easy to throw up a theme and start processing payments. It's literally, we can do that. We can do that in ten minutes. And that's why it's it's. And then generate labels if you want, and then install Zapia in the five minutes. And now you have local. Like, you could do that in 30 minutes. And I think that's why people are like, well, instead of having to do all these things, let me just throw up a Shopify store.
Similarly, I've been really into a raw denim, and I needed to get a pair of raw denim hemmed. And there is an alteration service all through Shopify. You check out, it gives you a return label. You send your jeans and then they ship it back and everything, all the emails automated, and I was like, this is beautiful. They're over in Williamsburg. But yeah, I like that. I think that a lot of stuff is going to lean towards that, like e commerce, but with a local sort of component to it.
Yeah. And even I think you hear so much about community, right, from a lot of these other commerce brands. I think they're going to be able to use the infrastructure they have set up in Shopify to start leaning into more like local opportunities, whether it's like an event or anything like that. I think it'll be cool to see and start to happen more within the Shopify ecosystem. The next thing I kind of want to get into is some of the tools that Shopify offers, right. I think one of the exciting parts about the platform is there are so many products that they're working on commerce and being the nervous system of commerce is such a big responsibility, but they build out a whole bunch of different solutions, right. So why don't you walk us through some of the exciting things that they've been releasing lately and maybe some other things or rubblings that might be on the roadmap are just coming out and are just making their ways into clients hands.
Yeah. Shopify Editions is something that they release every quarter, I believe, either every quarter or every six months. And they've made it almost like a hype drop. It almost feels like if it's supreme or one of these sneaker drops, because everyone's anticipating it in the Shopify ecosystem. And they're like, oh, when it comes out, everyone's reading and sharing it. One of the most exciting things was with the trend of AI and Chat GPT was now you can generate product descriptions using an AI. And I thought that was like, they probably just designed this on the landing page and they probably don't have it ready. No merchants were using it.
A week after that announcement, I had one of our customers, West Coast Corvettes, was like, hey, did you see this? This is so cool. You put a couple of keywords, you put the tone you want, and it writes out a product description. And somebody like West Coast Corvette who has 10,000 SKUs, he's like, Dude, this is awesome. I can go through all my SKUs and really rewrite it because before I was just doing lazy and typing one word sentences to get this done. So, yeah, that was really cool. I'll stop there. There's a couple more.
Yeah. I think that the AI stuff when it comes to the application, is so interesting because obviously we've seen what the capabilities are from OpenAI and the language that they're developing. But another really important component of AI is just like how you apply it and what's the environment it's being applied. Right. So, for example, you could obviously have Chat GPT or even if you're a developer. You could link into OpenAI's API and have them spit it out, but you would manually have to go plug those into each product description if you were doing that yourself. So when Shopify, the platform rolls out the feature within their product, all of a sudden you're able to execute it across your catalog, and now they've productized it, which makes a huge difference. Right, exactly.
It's not like I have to get a I think when you look at some companies, like use West Coast Corbett as an example, brandon is the general manager. He's a warehouse guy. He makes sure the shipment goes out. He's not up to date on Chat GPT like us, like the tech guys. Right. So it might be a couple of steps for him before he gets there, but just integrating into the system makes it accessible to Brandon right. Who's not a tech guy, but understands how to use those things. So, yeah, I agree with you 100%.
Shopify has just been opening up their API a lot more, and as a developer, that's exciting. It was really a closed sort of cat. Like, it was really locked before and they didn't want people in there. But now I think I'm not sure why, but they're opening up a lot of endpoints and a lot of things in Checkout, and that just leaves so much opportunity for if you want to create apps or you want to customize things. So that's why I'm really bullish on Shopify, as opposed to some of the older platforms like Magento Woocommerce or Big Commerce. They're working really hard to let people create what they want in that world.
Yeah, I'd love you to talk a little bit about that in terms of what type of functionality is being opened up, what was closed before? What are they opening? Because that is a huge piece.
Yeah. So for a while, Checkout was a big deal, and it still is. Right. For Shopify, you could not customize anything inside of the Checkout. And now if you have Shopify Plus, you can customize, you can put testimonials in there. They're letting you kind of put blocks in there, and that's a big deal. Right. Because that's where people are putting their credit card and finishing.
And then what does that mean for returns? Before, everything had to be worked around. Like when Recharge first came out, you didn't check out on Shopify, they had to create their own Checkout platform. So you would go from Shopify to Recharge as Checkout, and then it would bring you back. So it's come a long way from when it first came out, and now that just opens up conversations for how do we increase our conversions on Checkout? How can we create apps in the ecosystem that are valuable to merchants now that we have access to Checkout? So if you look at the big players, like, I don't know if you've heard of a return loop or recharge or there's a lot of those companies that only existed because shopify didn't let them use the checkout. But now that they have an open API, I think the competition is going to flood in. What else can we build in there? Right?
Actually, that becomes interesting. Do you see risk posed to some of those other bigger enablement companies that were maybe built their moat because parts of the API had been closed before? Or is this just more opportunity for new entrants to shopify build some of this stuff out internally? Where do we go from here?
Yeah, again, I don't have any data for this, but I could tell you that I see some of our merchants now shopping out recharge. Well, their fees are a little expensive. Where else can we go? And I've seen a couple of new players pop up in the last six months, and I think that to get to market really fast and to build that fast, I think they might need some venture money. But I think that competition is going to get steeper in that ecosystem.
Yeah, especially I've seen a bunch pop up in subscription. But then I think the tricky part for merchants and with more and more people building is in a lot of ways it also becomes a race to the bottom. But I think that as you right, brands are going to kind of gravitate towards the solutions that obviously do what they need them to do. But I don't personally believe that they're going to be excited about paying like 1% of total transaction or subscription volume to a subscription platform if another entrance enters the market. Right. So it'll just be interesting as so many of these players enter the market. I think the winners ultimately are the brands.
Right, that's exactly what I was going to say. I think if I was an app developer and my income was solely from apps in the Shopify App store, I'd be a little worried. Right. Because like you said, I think that there's going to be a lot more competition and once you get companies overseas that can produce these super fast, I think you're right. But the winner is the merchant, and at the end of the day, that's who they're serving. Right. So as a developer, if I wanted to create an app, that's a problem. But as a shopify advocate and people that likes to work with merchants, I think that's a w for them.
Yeah, absolutely. More and more and more tech and lower and lower prices. So that's a great thing. And then last point on the checkout thing, I think that's really exciting because I know Shopify wasn't opening up checkout to really anything. And I was even hearing things where there's like a new feature with Amazon where there might even be like a checkout with prime solution for if you land on the page so that the merchant can collect the first party data. If the traffic source becomes Amazon. Have you heard anything about that?
Yeah, actually, just an Amazon rep reached out to me, and I think that's what they want to talk to me about. Because I heard about it and I don't know how my my name was thrown into the mix, but somebody was like she reached out and she's like, hey, I want to talk to you about our Amazon solution that's going on with Shopify. So that way we can see if it's valuable to your merchants and see if you can help us implement it across the merchants that request it from us. So let's see. I get worried because like I said, I'm pro merchant, so I get worried about implementing something that can hurt our customers. But I'm interested to see if it works right? To see what that does, what kind of data is done. But for sure, I think everyone's just like, everyone looks at Amazon and they're like, do I want them in my stuff? Right?
Yeah, but I think this one could be really interesting. Again. I've just started to hear about it. But I think what's interesting here is one of the concerns of shopping or not shopping, but, like, listing on Amazon, it's like you kind of take that whole part of your business, you push it off to one side, and then you don't have the first party data coming back and this sort of thing. So I think it's like this interesting middle ground where you could actually acquire a customer through Amazon, right, and then you can get the data and they let the checkout happen so Amazon gets that purchase. But like, hey, as long as you have your email now, you've opened up your direct line of communication with them. So in a lot of ways, it seems like a win win, but it's not something where any merchant can just go ahead and like you were saying, they can't just install it in the Shopify ops or there's no install the prime checkout button. I think it's more like if a developer writes the script in, then it becomes accessible to merchants.
Yeah, as soon as I meet with this rep and I set up my first store, I'll let you know. I think it's exciting, for sure. I think it's going to be because there are like, I was talking about those Amazon first brands that they might be like, you know what, let's just do it this way so we'll collect our data anyway.
Yeah, it'll be really cool to see. And as we wrap up here, are there any other things that you're really excited about for building within the Shopify ecosystem or any new developments that you see coming out that get you and Solo Media Group really excited?
I think I spoke about a lot of them. I just think that there's so many use cases that go beyond CPG or just like the regular things we know in e commerce. I'm really excited about local companies using shopify to supplement their local business. I think that if smart young people can get into these old school businesses and set up a couple of shopify with a couple of things, I think that it could skyrocket to me. That's really fun. So I'm really excited about that.
Awesome. Well, John, for our listeners, where can they connect with you? And are you on social? Are you on LinkedIn, Twitter? Where can we find you? And where can we find out more about Solo Media Group?
Yeah, so I'm most active on LinkedIn, Jonathan Solorzano. Jonathan with A-J-O-H-N-I think that's where I post either daily or every other day. I'm not as active on Twitter, but yeah, check out my website, www. Dot solomediagroup. Co and yeah, thanks for coming on.
Thanks for tuning in and we hope you enjoyed this episode of DTC Pod. If you enjoyed the show, we'd love your support. A rating and review would go a long way as we continue to host Best Builders in DTC and beyond. Follow and subscribe to the show and make sure to check out our show notes where you can find our socials and weekly newsletter. Visit us on dtcpod.com to join our founder community and access resources from every episode. We'll see you on the next Pod.
Also generated
More from this recording
📚 Timestamped overview
03:09 Start Shopify store with no code; buy theme, get product design on Fiverr; focus on sales and marketing.
05:19 Automate fulfillment process with 3PL (Third Party Logistics).
08:33 Brand owners fear Amazon taking their business, so they are balancing presence on Shopify and Amazon to avoid being cannibalized.
12:03 Customizing Shopify apps requires cost analysis and potential development for desired automation, branding and functionality.
14:43 Specialized Shopify developers understand the ecosystem and can avoid costly custom development.
18:31 Shopify allows customization of themes and blocks to make it look unique, but headless is not typically the best option because it requires custom technical work and breaks data tracking.
26:04 App (Zapier) helps businesses run local delivery/pickup for physical items.
27:36 Local businesses thriving in Miami due to increased support from customers.
32:07 Shopify releases new features quarterly or every six months, similar to "hype drops", including AI-generated product descriptions.
35:35 Shopify Plus now allows customizing and adding blocks to Checkout, increasing options for merchants to increase conversions and create apps in the Checkout ecosystem.
📚 Timestamped overview
03:09 Start Shopify store with no coding; buy theme, design product on Fiverr; focus on marketing for sales.
05:19 Automate fulfillment process with third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse.
08:33 Brands started on Amazon and Shopify worry about Amazon taking their business, so they invest in their own stores and put a few SKUs on Amazon.
12:03 Customizing Shopify apps requires cost analysis and manual labor; custom app needed for automation and branding.
14:43 Honesty and specialization in Shopify important for providing customers with cost-effective solutions that meet their needs.
18:31 Create custom Shopify theme instead of headless to avoid technical issues and lost data.
26:04 Businesses use Zapier to deliver physical items locally.
27:36 People in Miami are supporting local businesses and buying from people they can connect with instead of large companies.
32:07 Shopify releases new additions every quarter/6 months, like a hype drop; AI and Chat GPT used to generate product descriptions; customers with 10,000+ SKUs can rewrite them quickly.
35:35 Shopify Checkout now customizable and open API, leading to increased competition and possibilities.
📚 Timestamped overview
03:09 Start a Shopify store with no code, buy a theme, get product designed, focus on sales & marketing.
05:19 Automate fulfillment process with Three PL (third party logistics).
08:33 Brands that started without Amazon are putting a few SKUs on due to fear of being cannibalized; brands that started on Amazon are investing in Shopify to diversify.
12:03 Shopify app ecosystem can be used to solve most problems, but customizing an app requires careful cost analysis and a developer for more complex tasks.
14:43 Honesty and specialized knowledge of Shopify needed to avoid costly development and design mistakes.
18:31 Shopify theming capabilities allow for custom designs, but headless is not the best option as it separates data and complicates product feeds.
26:04 Local delivery app Zapier solves costly zip code radius problems for physical product businesses.
27:36 Local businesses thriving during COVID in Miami, people prefer to buy from small local brands instead of big companies like Amazon.
32:07 Shopify releases exciting new innovations quarterly, like AI-generated product descriptions, which customers can use to quickly and easily create descriptions for their products.
35:35 Shopify Checkout now allows customization and access to API, leading to increased conversions and competition.
❇️ Key topics and bullets
Topic: Automating fulfillment process with 3PL
Using a 3PL can automate the fulfillment process for Shopify sellers
Topic: Specialized Shopify developers
Specialized Shopify developers can avoid costly custom development
Solo Media Group focuses on providing high-quality development services within the Shopify ecosystem
Topic: Local businesses thriving in Miami
Increased support from customers in Miami is helping local businesses thrive
Topic: Starting a Shopify store
Fiverr can be used to get product design and launch a Shopify store with no code
Focus on sales and marketing to grow the business
Topic: Balancing presence on Shopify and Amazon
Brand owners fear Amazon taking their business, so they balance their presence on Shopify and Amazon
Topic: Customizing Shopify apps
Customizing Shopify apps require cost analysis and potential development for desired automation, branding and functionality
Topic: Local delivery/pickup
Zapier can help businesses run local delivery/pickup for physical items
Topic: Customizing Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus now allows customizing and adding blocks to Checkout, increasing options for merchants to increase conversions and create apps
Topic: Headless Shopify
While Shopify allows customization of themes and blocks, headless Shopify is not typically the best option because it requires custom technical work and breaks data tracking
Topic: Shopify's features
Shopify releases new features every quarter or six months, similar to "hype drops"
Shopify's new features include AI-generated product descriptions.
❇️ Key topics and bullets
Topic: Starting a Shopify Store
Starting a Shopify store without coding
Buying a theme and designing a product on Fiverr
Focus on marketing for sales
Topic: Fulfillment Processes
Using Zapier to deliver physical items locally
Automating fulfillment processes with third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse
Topic: Amazon vs Shopify
Brands started on Amazon and Shopify, concerns about Amazon taking their business
Investing in own stores and putting few SKUs on Amazon
Topic: Customizing Shopify Themes and Apps
Creating custom Shopify themes instead of headless options to avoid technical issues and lost data
Honesty and specialization important for providing cost-effective solutions that meet customers' needs
Cost analysis and manual labor required for customizing apps
Custom app needed for automation and branding
Topic: Shopify Platform Updates
Shopify releases new additions every quarter/six months, similar to a "hype drop"
AI and Chat GPT used to generate product descriptions
Customers with 10,000+ SKUs can rewrite them quickly
Shopify Checkout now customizable and open API, leading to increased competition and possibilities
Topic: Supporting Local Businesses
People in Miami supporting local businesses and buying from people they can connect with instead of large companies.
❇️ Key topics and bullets
Topics Covered in the Episode:
Shopify Innovations:
Shopify has exciting new innovations, which they release quarterly.
Customers can use AI-generated product descriptions, making it easier to create descriptions.
Automate Fulfillment Process:
The three PL (third party logistics) can help automate the fulfillment process.
Honesty and Specialized Knowledge:
The importance of honesty and specialized knowledge of Shopify to avoid costly development and design mistakes.
Zapier:
Local delivery app Zapier can solve costly zip code radius problems for physical product businesses.
Local Businesses during COVID:
Local businesses in Miami are thriving during COVID.
People prefer to buy from small local brands instead of big companies like Amazon.
Shopify Checkout:
Shopify Checkout now allows customization and access to API.
This leads to increased conversions and competition.
Brands and Amazon:
Brands that started without Amazon are putting a few SKUs on due to fear of being cannibalized.
Brands that started on Amazon are investing in Shopify to diversify.
Shopify App Ecosystem:
The Shopify app ecosystem can be used to solve most problems.
Customizing an app requires careful cost analysis and a developer for more complex tasks.
Starting a Shopify Store:
Ways to start a Shopify store with no code.
Buy a theme, get product designed, and focus on sales and marketing.
Shopify Theming Capabilities:
Shopify theming capabilities allow for custom designs.
Headless is not the best option as it separates data and complicates product feeds.
Weekly Newsletter
DTC POD Newsletter
Episode Release: Solomedia Shopify Development with Johnathan Solorzano
Introduction
Welcome to this week’s DTC POD newsletter! We're excited to announce our latest episode—Solomedia Shopify Development—featuring Johnathan Solorzano, the founder of Solo Media Group, alongside your host Blaine Bolus. Whether you’re just starting your ecommerce journey or scaling a brand aiming for eight figures, the insights in this episode are tailored for operators looking to optimize and future-proof their Shopify presence.
On this show, we go behind the wheel with leading founders and builders. This week, we break down the Shopify ecosystem—from initial store setup to API customizations, the evolving world of headless commerce, and trends shaping local business enablement. Johnathan Solorzano brings years of experience working with brands from bootstrapped startups to established CPG players and unpacks practical advice that demystifies both the tech and operational side of Shopify.
5 Keys Listeners Will Learn
1. Getting Started on Shopify: Launching with Minimal Hassle
The best approach for new brands? Keep it simple. Johnathan Solorzano underscores that Shopify has everything you need out of the box—there’s no need to overthink design (03:09). Start by choosing a $300 theme, skip custom coding (even if you know how), and focus on marketing and sales first. Product fulfillment, email flows, and Shopify payments are plug-and-play, giving you a fast track to market without technical debt. The biggest trap new founders fall into is spending too much time “perfecting” brand design and not enough time figuring out how to sell (04:10).
2. Operational Automation: When and How to Integrate a 3PL
Scaling fulfillment beyond your living room? The transition to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider is a pivotal step. As order volumes grow, so does the need to automate—connecting your Shopify store with a warehouse for streamlined fulfillment and tracking is often the first reason brands engage developers (06:00). The key is seamless integration; if your 3PL doesn’t plug in neatly with Shopify, it’s time to call in expert help.
3. Omnichannel Expansion and Inventory Management
Selling across multiple channels is now standard. Brands are diversifying—adding Amazon, Whole Foods, and Walmart alongside their Shopify stores (07:08). The question becomes: how do you keep inventory, customer data, and order workflows in sync? Johnathan Solorzano explains how evolving toward omnichannel requires more sophisticated systems (often an ERP) and deeper customizations. He also discusses the strategic decision-making brands face when choosing which SKUs to list on Amazon versus keeping hero products exclusive to their own site (09:38).
4. Shopify Customization: When to Use Apps vs Custom Development
Shopify's app ecosystem covers most needs, but sometimes brands want custom features—particularly for rewards, automation, or UI/UX tweaks (12:12). Johnathan Solorzano recommends always starting with off-the-shelf apps, since custom builds create ongoing maintenance challenges and costs. Only invest in custom development if it’s core to your business or will materially reduce manual work—a philosophy rooted in transparency and long-term thinking (14:43).
5. The Truth About Headless Commerce
Headless commerce has generated buzz, but is it worth it? Johnathan Solorzano shares candid insights: separating the Shopify back end from a custom front end (“going headless”) usually makes sense only for brands with a full-time engineering team (19:10). For most operators, headless creates complications—lost Shopify data, broken integrations, and technical debt. Despite the promises of speed and flexibility, real-world experience shows performance may actually suffer (24:07). The lesson: simplicity and practicality win unless you truly need enterprise-scale solutions.
Fun Fact from the Episode
One standout from the episode is the rapid adoption of Shopify’s built-in AI features. Just a week after Shopify announced AI-generated product descriptions, brands with massive catalogs—like West Coast Corvettes (10,000 SKUs)—were already using it to overhaul their listings (32:48). This highlights how quickly technological advancements can be leveraged by ecommerce businesses when they’re seamlessly integrated into platforms, saving founders hundreds of hours and dramatically improving content quality.
Outtro
If you’re a founder, operator, or product manager in the DTC space, this episode delivers actionable advice for making the most of Shopify—both for rapid launches and scaling complexities. Johnathan Solorzano brings the developer perspective grounded in real-world brand challenges, helping you avoid costly missteps and leverage the latest tech breakthroughs.
We also discuss trends around local commerce, creative uses of Shopify for service businesses, and the shifting landscape for app developers as Shopify opens up its APIs—creating new opportunities and shaping a more competitive marketplace for merchant tools.
Call to Action
Ready to put these insights to work in your own business?
Listen to the full Solomedia Shopify Development episode now to hear practical strategies, candid developer advice, and stories from the trenches.
Join our founder community at dtcpod.com for additional resources and to connect with other operators.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter for exclusive content and episode recaps that go beyond the podcast.
Connect with Johnathan Solorzano on LinkedIn for Shopify expertise or visit solomediagroup.co to learn more about custom ecommerce development.
Stay tuned for our next episode—where we continue to bring you the best builders in DTC and beyond.
Catch up on previous episodes, explore show notes, and access bonus content at dtcpod.com.
Thanks for joining us, and happy building!
1️⃣ One Sentence Summary
Shopify development insights, customization, local commerce, app recommendations, headless debate.
🔑 7 Key Themes
Shopify development and agency specialization
Starting and scaling on Shopify
Importance of simplicity and speed
Choosing apps vs custom development
Omnichannel and marketplace challenges
Headless commerce pros and cons
Local businesses using Shopify
💬 Keywords
Shopify development, Solo Media Group, ecommerce storefront, Shopify themes, Shopify payments, product fulfillment, third party logistics (3PL), inventory management, ERP system, Amazon sales channel, Walmart sales channel, Omnichannel strategy, Shopify API, Shopify apps, custom app development, reward points, front end development, headless commerce, Shopify checkout customization, local delivery, Zapiet app, meal prep businesses, floral businesses, product description generation, AI tools, Shopify Editions, subscription apps, recharge app, Google Page Insights, conversion rate optimization, Shopify Plus
Interview Breakdown
Discover how Johnathan Solorzano built Solo Media Group into a Shopify development powerhouse, specializing in seamless storefronts, app integrations, and customized solutions for brands scaling from zero to eight figures. We unpack the most important lessons in Shopify development, app ecosystems, and new technology trends shaping ecommerce for founders and operators.
Today, we'll cover
The Solo Media Group journey from white label work to direct Shopify development
How to launch a Shopify store quickly and efficiently without custom coding
Key building blocks for scaling fulfillment with 3PLs and multichannel inventory management
The truth about headless ecommerce, customization, and when to invest in advanced tech for your store
Exciting Shopify trends: AI product descriptions, open APIs, and the rise of local business solutions
DTC Pod Linkedin
@Johnathan Solorzano, founder of @Solo Media Group, joins @blaine on this week’s episode of DTC Pod to unpack all things Shopify development.
Johnathan shares how Solo Media went from white-labeling for major agencies to helping brands scale directly on Shopify, supporting DTC brands from start-up to $10M+ in sales.
We dive into must-know steps for new merchants, when to bring on developers, custom app strategy, omnichannel setup, Shopify’s latest AI tools, and why local businesses are crushing it by using Shopify beyond traditional ecomm.
Listen to the full episode: [Spotify Link]
#dtcpod #shopifydevelopment #ecommerce #dtc #brandstrategy #tech #marketing
✏️ Custom Newsletter
🚀 DTC POD Newsletter: SoloMedia Shopify Development Is Live!
Hey DTC fam!
We’re excited to drop our newest episode, where Blaine Bolus sits down with Johnathan Solorzano, founder of Solo Media Group, for an insider’s guide to mastering Shopify development. Whether you're launching your first product or scaling past seven figures, this episode is packed with actionable tips and stories.
💡 5 Keys You'll Learn From This Episode
Getting Started on Shopify
How even seasoned developers recommend launching with a $300 theme and skipping the custom code — focus on selling first! (03:09)Automating Fulfillment With 3PLs
When—and how—to integrate third-party logistics as your orders pile up, and why seamless connections are key. (06:00)Building for Omnichannel Growth
Moving beyond Shopify-only: tips for brands expanding to Amazon, Walmart, and more, while keeping your inventory and customer data in sync. (07:57)Custom vs. App Solutions
Why Johnathan Solorzano asks every client: “Have you tried this app first?” before building anything custom—and how to avoid unnecessary technical debt. (12:03)Front-End Design & Headless Commerce
How Shopify’s theming has evolved, and honest advice on headless builds—when it’s a flex and when it’s a burden for most brands. Plus, the surprising truth about site speed. (20:16)
🤩 Fun Fact From the Episode
Shopify’s new AI-powered product description generator is so effective, one merchant with 10,000 SKUs used it to overhaul his entire catalog in a week—and finally ditched his one-word descriptions! (32:48)
👋 Outtro
This conversation is a must-listen for founders who want straight talk, practical shortcuts, and a roadmap to customize without chaos. If you want your ecomm site looking like Magic Spoon without breaking the bank, tune in.
🚦 Call to Action
Ready to upgrade your Shopify game?
👉 Listen to the full episode on dtcpod.com
📬 Reply to this email if you have Shopify questions—we might tackle yours in our next pod!
Catch you next week,
The DTC POD Team
🐦 Business Lesson Tweet Thread
Building on Shopify? Here’s the shortcut most people overcomplicate.
Everyone obsesses over design. It’s a trap. You don’t need custom code or a fancy agency to make your first sales. Buy a theme for $300 and start selling. Don’t let “brand” get in the way of revenue 03:09.
Shopify gives you everything out of the box: product pages, payments, shipping, order tracking, email flows. If you’re wasting weeks on pixel pushing, you’re doing it wrong 04:21.
Don’t worry about the backend until you’re buried in orders. Then, solve real problems—like automating fulfillment with a 3PL and connecting their system to Shopify. No orders? No problem yet 05:19.
Apps are your cheat code. Most things you want are a $50 app, not a custom build. Only go custom when the app doesn’t cut it and you’ve outgrown the basics. Ask if the problem is worth the technical debt 12:12.
Headless sounds cool, but unless you have a full-time engineering team (or enjoy pain), stick to Shopify themes. Speed isn’t better. Managing it is worse. And you lose all the out-of-the-box magic that makes Shopify frictionless 19:39.
Focus on selling, not flexing technical muscle. Iterate when you have traction. Tweak when you have cash flow. Build custom when you have no other choice.
Remember—the simplest solution is usually the winner. Shipping product beats shipping code. Always.
🎓 Lessons Learned
1. Shopify Store Launch Basics
Shopify offers out-of-the-box tools for launching and selling with minimal coding or technical knowledge required.
2. Prioritize Sales Over Design
Focusing too much on branding and design upfront may lead to delay; prioritize getting sales early.
3. Start With Prebuilt Themes
Shopify themes are affordable, look professional, and allow quick setup before custom development is needed.
4. Automate Fulfillment Early
Once orders ramp, connect with a 3PL to streamline shipping and automate fulfillment processes.
5. Integrate Omnichannel Sales
Expanding to Amazon, Walmart, and other channels requires inventory and data integration for seamless operations.
6. Customization Versus Apps
Use Shopify apps for most needs; only invest in custom development when apps can’t solve your problems.
7. When to Go Headless
Headless setups are rarely worth the added complexity unless you have a full engineering team and very advanced needs.
8. Leveraging Local Commerce
Shopify can power creative local businesses—food, workshops, services—using apps for delivery, pickup, and event sales.
9. Harnessing Shopify Editions
Stay informed on Shopify’s quarterly updates—AI product descriptions and Checkout features can provide new advantages quickly.
10. API and Checkout Innovations
Shopify’s expanding APIs allow deep customization, fostering app competition and benefiting merchants with more features and better pricing.
💎 Maxims
Maxims for Building and Scaling with Shopify
Start Simple, Sell Early
Don’t overthink design and branding—launch your Shopify store quickly with an out-of-the-box theme and focus on making sales first 03:09.Let the Platform Work for You
Use Shopify’s built-in tools for orders, fulfillment, payments, and email flows—most essentials are ready out of the box 04:16.Prioritize Marketing Over Perfection
Perfecting your brand or website means little if you haven’t validated demand—prioritize customer acquisition and sales above all 04:10.Automate as You Scale
As orders grow, offload manual fulfillment and operations by integrating with third-party logistics (3PL) and appropriate technology 06:00.Centralize Your Data and Workflows
Ensure all order, inventory, and customer data syncs seamlessly between Shopify and operational partners—this is your business’s nervous system 06:44.Expand Channels Intentionally
Add new sales channels (Amazon, retail, etc.) with a strategy that preserves your brand, data ownership, and customer relationships 08:26.Leverage Apps Wisely
Explore the Shopify app ecosystem before building custom solutions—save time, money, and minimize technical debt 12:03.Custom Build Only When Necessary
Invest in custom development only when it directly supports essential business needs and justifies the cost and complexity 13:01.Specialization Matters
Work with developers who deeply understand the Shopify ecosystem—they’ll know the right solutions and won’t reinvent the wheel 15:15.Brand Always Matters, But Don’t Lose Focus
Beautiful front-end design is valuable, but function and growth come first—iterate your site’s look as your business evolves 16:13.Know When Not to Go Headless
Reserve complex, expensive solutions like headless storefronts for very large brands with dedicated engineering teams; for most, Shopify’s theming does the job 19:10.Speed Impacts Conversion, but Simplicity Wins Early On
Site speed is important, but “fancier” technical solutions like headless often backfire on performance for small and mid-size shops 24:07.Build for Your Customers, Not for Tech’s Sake
Let your customers’ needs and the simplest effective solution—not tech trends—drive your choices 22:48.Harness Local Opportunities
Use Shopify creatively for local delivery, pick-up, or hybrid models—differentiate through proximity and community (apps like Zapiat can help) 26:13.Embrace Creative Business Models
Shopify isn’t just for DTC—think creatively for tickets, events, services, and non-traditional commerce 29:42.Adopt Platform Innovations
Take advantage of Shopify’s continual updates (e.g., AI-generated product descriptions, improved checkout customization) to stay ahead 32:07.Stay Flexible and Iterative
Launch fast, refine continually, and leverage Shopify’s constant evolution—don’t wait for perfect conditions.Community Builds Strength
Engage with other founders, share knowledge, and stay plugged into the broader Shopify and DTC community for support, trends, and growth 00:00:23.Choose the Right Tools for Your Scale
Not every cutting-edge solution fits every brand—make selections based on your business stage, not status signaling 21:10.The Merchant Always Wins with Competition and Openness
Continued platform improvements and a vibrant app marketplace mean lower costs and better tools for everyone—take advantage of it 39:05.
🌟 3 Fun Facts
Johnathan Solorzano shared that even as an experienced developer, he would not code his own Shopify store from scratch—he’d buy a theme for $300 and launch quickly instead of over-focusing on design 03:09.
Local businesses like meal prep, floral shops, and even a film developing lab are using Shopify to handle both e-commerce and local pickup/delivery creatively, showing Shopify’s reach beyond typical online stores 26:04 and 29:03.
Shopify’s AI-powered product description generator was used by a customer with 10,000 SKUs within a week of being announced, rapidly improving their workflow 33:01.
📓 Blog Post
Building a Modern Shopify Store: Insights from DTC POD’s Solomedia Episode
Unlocking Growth in Ecommerce with Streamlined Shopify Development
Shopify continues to empower brands across the spectrum—from bustling local businesses to rapidly-scaling digital consumer favorites. In this episode of DTC POD, Blaine Bolus talks shop with Johnathan Solorzano, founder of Solo Media Group, to shed light on how merchants can best approach Shopify development, app integrations, customization, and the latest trends shaping ecommerce.
Getting Started: Simplicity Over Complexity
Shopify’s biggest advantage for new merchants is its accessibility. As Johnathan Solorzano explains, “Shopify has everything it needs for you if you know no code to just start” 03:09. He recommends that beginners avoid overthinking site design. Instead, buy a good theme for ~$300, upload product assets, and focus on marketing before diving into customization. “If I were to start a Shopify store tomorrow...I wouldn’t even code...I’d buy a theme for $300. I’d throw that theme up. If you don’t have a product design, get one on Fiverr, then worry about marketing.” 03:39
Many merchants mistakenly spend too much time on branding and design early on without realizing that sales and fulfillment are the keys to real progress 04:10. Shopify provides robust tools for order fulfillment, label generation, and customer updates out of the box, enabling a plug-and-play commerce setup 04:28.
Scaling Operations: Automation and Third-Party Logistics
After initial traction, brands face operational complexity—especially fulfilling orders efficiently. For bootstrapped brands fulfilling from home, moving to a third-party logistics solution (3PL) is usually the next step. Here, technical integrations are crucial. As Johnathan Solorzano notes, founders want seamless connections between Shopify and their chosen 3PL 06:06. When default integration falls short or costs escalate, developers come into play to bridge workflows, automate order syncing, and streamline data exchanges.
As omnichannel commerce becomes standard, inventory management across Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and the brand’s own Shopify store is vital 07:06. This requires ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, often interfaced with 3PLs and Shopify, and expert customization to ensure synchronized inventory and order flows 07:26.
The Omnichannel Challenge: Data and Distribution
Brands are experimenting with blended channel strategies. For Shopify-native brands, expanding onto Amazon can be both an opportunity and a risk of cannibalization 09:32. Many retain exclusivity on certain SKUs via their direct-to-consumer site while listing key products on Amazon for visibility. On the flip side, Amazon-native brands increasingly invest in Shopify to regain margin control and customer data ownership 10:08.
This convergence underscores the importance of data orchestration—knowing where customer information lives, how to leverage it for marketing, and where to drive the best margin and brand loyalty 11:20.
Customization vs Out-of-the-Box: Developers and Apps
Shopify’s app ecosystem solves most problems with minimal friction. But highly specific needs—such as customized reward points—require developer intervention for private app builds or API customization 13:01. Johnathan Solorzano stresses the importance of weighing investment against ongoing costs and manual labor, always advising brands to exhaust app options before committing to custom projects 12:52.
Front-end customization has evolved. Today’s Shopify themes are flexible, modular, and visually compelling—even free themes “look expensive” 17:33. Advanced design—a la Magic Spoon—demands significant development and can move brands toward headless commerce architecture. However, Johnathan Solorzano warns that headless approaches often introduce technical debt and disconnect core Shopify functionalities, from pixel tracking to native feeds 19:53.
Innovative Apps: Enabling Local and Hybrid Commerce
A standout trend is the rise of local commerce solutions on Shopify. Apps like Zapiat allow businesses to define delivery zones, offer local pickup, and manage logistics for meal prep, florals, or niche services 26:50. Johnathan Solorzano highlights creative use cases, including film processing labs or lamp workshops integrating Shopify for seamless payment and notifications 29:12.
Platform Evolution: AI, Open APIs, and New Ecosystem Dynamics
Shopify’s rapid innovation cycle, highlighted in quarterly Editions releases, has introduced features like AI-powered product descriptions—game-changers for merchants with massive SKU catalogs 32:39. The platform’s shift toward opening APIs, especially around checkout, promises major changes. Whereas companies like Recharge built moats around closed APIs, the new openness is inviting fresh competition and lowering costs for merchants 36:37.
Final Thoughts: The Shopify Advantage
Solo Media Group’s experience affirms that Shopify is a robust choice for brands in the $500K–$10M range and beyond. Whether used for pure ecommerce, local services, or creative hybrid models, its out-of-the-box tools are powerful, and judicious customization unlocks even greater value. The winners in this ecosystem will be the merchants—benefiting from more competition, lower prices, and ever-improving tech.
As Shopify continues its evolution, brands looking to scale or diversify should focus on leveraging its core strengths, integrating thoughtfully, and prioritizing simplicity in their tech stack.
🎤 Voiceover Script
Thinking about launching your own brand on Shopify but not sure where to start? You’re not alone! Many founders get stuck overthinking design or custom development before making their first sale. In this episode, I break down:
Why picking a simple theme and focusing on sales trumps endless tweaking.
How Shopify’s plug-and-play tools automate everything from payments to fulfillment.
When it’s time to invest in custom features or apps—and when it’s not worth it.
The real story behind headless Shopify and why most brands don’t need it.
Let’s cut through the noise, save time, and help you grow!
🔘 Best Practices Guide
Shopify Storefront Best Practices
Start Simple: Use Shopify’s out-of-the-box features and a paid theme for a quick launch – no need for custom code initially (Johnathan Solorzano at 03:33).
Prioritize Sales: Don’t obsess over branding or design before generating sales. Focus marketing efforts immediately upon launch (Johnathan Solorzano at 04:10).
Automate Fulfillment: When order volume grows, integrate a Three PL for seamless fulfillment and tracking. Custom development is often needed if integration isn’t straightforward (Johnathan Solorzano at 06:00).
Use Apps First: Leverage Shopify’s robust app ecosystem for added functionality. Only invest in custom development if apps can’t meet your requirements (Johnathan Solorzano at 12:03).
Iterate Design: Start with modular themes and only invest in advanced front-end customization when you’ve proven demand (Johnathan Solorzano at 17:17).
Avoid Unnecessary Complexity: Headless solutions are rarely worth it for stores under $10M revenue (Johnathan Solorzano at 23:23).
🎆 Social Carousel: Do's/Don'ts
10 Shopify Development Mistakes to Avoid
Overthinking Design
Don’t obsess over custom design before you sell. Launch with a good theme, then focus on sales and marketing first.
Coding Too Early
Don’t custom code your site at the start. Use Shopify’s themes and tools to get online and selling quickly.
Ignoring Apps
Don’t jump straight to custom builds. Explore Shopify’s app ecosystem—many solutions are available out of the box.
Manual Everything
Don’t fulfill orders by hand forever. As you grow, automate fulfillment with a 3PL and proper integrations.
Picking Pricey 3PLs
Don’t assume you have to use expensive 3PL providers. Seek out cost-effective options and connect with a developer if needed.
Avoiding Omnichannel
Don’t stick to just one channel. Expand to Amazon, retail, or local and sync inventory with the right tools.
Building Custom Headless
Don’t rush into a headless setup. Stick to Shopify themes unless you have a full-time engineering team and unique needs.
Ignoring Local Delivery
Don’t neglect local. Use apps like Zapiet to enable pickup and local delivery easily.
Paying Premium Fees
Don’t overspend on app subscriptions. Compare features and fees—new competitors are constantly dropping prices.
Bypassing Shopify Tools
Don’t overlook new Shopify features like AI product descriptions and open API endpoints. Leverage platform updates for an edge.
🎠 Social Carousel
10 Tips Every Shopify Founder Needs to Know
Start Simple
Shopify's out-of-the-box tools let anyone launch a store without code—just buy a theme and get selling.
Focus Sales First
Don’t spend forever tweaking design. Prioritize testing your product in the market and generating actual sales.
Use Themes
Shopify’s paid and free themes look polished and are highly customizable—skip custom code until you’ve proven demand.
Automate Fulfillment
As you grow, offload fulfillment to a 3PL and make sure orders sync seamlessly between Shopify and logistics partners.
Centralize Data
Integrate your sales channels so all your order, inventory, and customer data syncs with Shopify as your central hub.
Shop App Ecosystem
Before custom development, see if an existing Shopify app solves your problem. Only go custom when you must.
Design Wisely
Front-end Shopify themes are modular and highly flexible. Only invest big in design once you know it’ll impact sales.
Headless Isn’t Essential
Going headless feels flashy but brings complexity. Shopify’s native setup is fast and effective for most SMBs.
Leverage Local
Use Shopify for local delivery, pickup, and services—apps like Zapiat make building a local offering easy and affordable.
Stay Agile
Shopify launches tools like AI product descriptions and opens APIs—take advantage to streamline your operations.
CTA:
Want more insider tips? Follow us for weekly DTC lessons and join our founder community at dtcpod.com.
One Off Tweets
The best founders know when to stop tweaking and start selling. Perfect design can’t save you if you have no sales.
Shopify is the ultimate plug-and-play for DTC. Don’t overbuild. Launch with the basics, then listen to your customers.
Outsourcing fulfillment sounds great until your 3PL can’t connect to your store. Automate before you scale or you’ll drown in orders.
Every founder dreams of omnichannel. Few realize how messy it gets when Amazon, Walmart, and your own site all want your inventory at once.
Most “custom” requests are really app requests in disguise. Don’t reinvent the wheel if a $40 Shopify app can do the job.
Design obsession can kill a new brand faster than you think. Your site’s beauty is useless if nobody finds it.
Thinking about going headless? Unless you’ve got a dev team and deep pockets, it’s probably just a flex.
Speed matters. But everyone chases milliseconds while forgetting the basics: clear experience, easy checkout, fast support.
Shopify used to keep checkout locked down. Now, opening up the API is triggering a wave of new tools and fierce competition for apps.
Local business isn't dead—it just looks different. The smartest brands use Shopify to blend e-commerce with pickup, workshops, and events.
Twitter Post 1
Shopify’s built-in AI can write your product descriptions for you.
Just pick the tone and add keywords—no more lazy one-liners for 10,000 SKUs.
Mindsets
If you’re looking to build a thriving Shopify-powered business or support brands as a developer, here are three mindset shifts inspired by today’s episode:
💭 Shift from obsessing over design to prioritizing sales and operational basics. Johnathan Solorzano stressed that many founders overthink their site’s look and feel, but Shopify covers everything you need to start selling without code. Get your product and storefront live first, then adjust design once actual sales are rolling in 03:09.
💭 Embrace “out-of-the-box” solutions before considering custom development. Leaning on Shopify’s ecosystem of apps and themes is often more efficient than building from scratch. As Johnathan Solorzano explained, a custom solution can add tech debt and complexity, so always challenge yourself to explore native options and third-party apps before reaching for a developer 12:03.
💭 Recognize that growth brings complexity—and it’s okay to ask for help. Once your business reaches a higher scale, like crossing the $500K mark or adding more distribution channels, integration with things like 3PLs and Omnichannel inventory gets complicated. Adopting an open mindset toward support from specialists can be the difference between stagnation and seamless scaling 07:06.
Ready to apply these mindset shifts? Use Shopify’s native tools, tap into the app ecosystem, and give yourself permission to reach out as you hit new milestones.
Tactics
If you’re ready to take your Shopify-driven business to the next level, here are five actionable strategies inspired by insights in this episode:
💭 Skip the design rabbit hole and launch fast. Instead of agonizing over branding or custom development from day one, choose a quality Shopify theme (free or paid), quickly upload your product, and prioritize sales over aesthetics. This approach lets you validate your idea earlier and prevents wasted effort on perfecting visuals before you have traction 03:33.
💭 Offload fulfillment and automate before burnout. The moment you notice fulfillment eating away your time—or orders piling up—start evaluating 3PLs and integration solutions immediately. Don’t wait until you’re overwhelmed. Prioritize seamless connections between your store and logistics partners to free up bandwidth for growth 06:00.
💭 When considering custom features, always ask: Can an app solve this? Before hiring developers to build complex solutions (like reward points or workflows), explore Shopify’s app ecosystem and weigh manual labor versus custom build cost. If an app gets you 95% there, use it—save custom development for true business-critical needs 12:03.
💭 Leverage local delivery/pickup apps to unlock new audiences. If your product suits local fulfillment (think meal prep, floral arrangements, or workshops), use tools like Zapiet to tailor zip code-specific delivery and pickup options. These features expand your customer base and create differentiated value while keeping operations lean 26:04.
💭 Harness Shopify’s AI-powered product descriptions to refresh your catalog at scale. Instead of spending days rewriting thousands of SKUs, use built-in AI tools for tone and keyword-rich copy. This tactic increases conversion and saves you time that can be redirected toward growth and marketing 32:48.
Try shifting your priorities toward simplicity, automation, and scalable solutions—these mindset changes will save you hours and make your business future-proof.
In Depth Thread
Overrated: Obsessing over custom-built ecommerce platforms.
If you’re a founder getting your brand online, spending months (and budget) chasing a pixel-perfect, 100% custom site will eat your runway and distract from what matters.
Underrated: The out-of-the-box Shopify Stack.
This is the move Johnathan Solorzano recommends for brands just starting out (and he only moves off it when brands are doing real volume):
Pay $300 for a well-made theme, fill in your assets, and start selling. That’s it.
If a developer with years of experience still runs his own tests this way, you know it’s efficient.
Quick Launch Playbook
Buy a premium Shopify theme
Drop in your logo and assets (a Fiverr designer can help)
List your products—don’t wait for “perfect” photos
Set up Shopify Payments and automated fulfillment
Launch and measure sales out of the gate
No code, no custom features, no endless design debates.
The number one reason for new ecommerce failure? Spending too much time trying to “craft a brand” in the backend instead of getting live and selling (03:39).
The best “brand” is product delivered on time and revenue in your account.
Process Before Perfection
You can build a multi-million dollar brand on Shopify without a single custom feature (04:16).
Out-of-the-box, Shopify handles:
Payments & checkout
Order fulfillment (including shipping labels and automations)
Customer notifications & tracking emails
Need more? The app ecosystem’s got it covered.
When to Upgrade
Don’t think about custom development until you’re:
Juggling complex ops (like integrating a non-standard 3PL or ERP)
Adding omnichannel (Amazon/Walmart) and need true sync
Feeling real pain, not just “wants” (07:14)
Even then—try off-the-shelf apps first. Invest only when the manual lift outweighs the dev cost (12:12).
Shortcut: Ask your developer what apps solve the problem before scoping custom work.
The True Competitive Edge
What’s undefeated? Execution.
Speed to site. Speed to first sale. Speed to feedback.
No one remembers if you started on a template.
They remember if you deliver and grow.
That’s the solo media Shopify way.
Test faster, iterate faster, win faster.
New Idea
Idea #1: Starting Simple with Shopify
Keep your initial Shopify store setup straightforward to focus on validating your product and driving sales:
Use Pre-Made Themes and No-Code Tools: Johnathan Solorzano recommends buying a $300 theme and launching without any custom code, even though he knows how to code, so you can get your store live quickly and ease into the platform features 03:09.
Prioritize Sales over Design: Johnathan Solorzano emphasizes that many founders get stuck in the design phase, iterating endlessly, when the real priority should be making sales and validating demand for the product 04:10.
Leverage Built-In Shopify Capabilities: Shopify offers out-of-the-box features like order fulfillment, label generation, tracking numbers, and automated email flows, allowing founders to get started with minimal setup and focus on their business operations 04:21.
Tweet thread on learnings
Tweet 1:
Just listened to @dtcpod with Shopify expert Johnathan Solorzano:
From agency origins to powering $500K–$10M+ brands, Solo Media Group is shaping Shopify for the next wave.
💻 Headless vs Themes
🚚 Three PL integration
📦 App ecosystem
My biggest takeaways on building a scalable Shopify store: 👇
Tweet 2:
Start Simple, Sell Fast
Johnathan Solorzano says most founders overcomplicate store design.
Shopify’s out-of-the-box tools let anyone launch and start selling without code.
Buy a $300 theme, get product photos on Fiverr, and focus on sales—not endless branding tweaks.
Tweet 3:
Three PL Integration Unlocks Growth
When your fulfillment moves from your house to a third-party warehouse, integration with Shopify becomes critical.
If it’s not plug-and-play, custom dev work can help automate syncing orders and tracking between your store and fulfillment partners.
That’s when hiring a developer actually matters.
Tweet 4:
Beware Headless Commerce Hype
Everyone in tech talks about “going headless”—but for brands under $10M, Johnathan Solorzano says it’s usually a flex, not a necessity.
Headless frameworks often complicate pixel tracking, product feeds, and break Shopify’s ease of use. Major speed gains are mostly a myth.
Unless you’ve got an engineering team on payroll, stick with Shopify themes.
Tweet 5:
Use Apps—Build Custom Only When Needed
Shopify’s app ecosystem solves most problems for $40–$60/month.
Only go custom if you really need features outside what apps offer—the technical debt isn’t worth it unless it’s core to your business.
Always weigh the time & money versus solving it with an app.
Tweet 6:
Local Commerce is the Next Big Opportunity
Shopify isn’t just for CPG. Think meal prep, florals, events, alterations—local brands are using Shopify and apps like Zapiat to enable local delivery and pickup.
Ecommerce infrastructure is fueling creative, hyper-local brand growth.
Tweet 7:
AI Features in Shopify Drive Efficiency
Shopify Editions is rolling out AI tools like automatic product description generation.
When you have thousands of SKUs, this saves teams hours and boosts conversion—especially for merchants not steeped in tech.
Tweet 8:
Opening Checkout & APIs Means More Choice
Shopify’s increasingly open APIs mean apps and customization can finally touch checkout—a game changer.
Expect more competition, lower prices, better options for subscriptions, returns, and payments.
Merchants win with greater flexibility and less vendor lock-in.
Tweet 9:
The DTC Stack: Grow, Automate, and Stay Lean
The best founders don’t overbuild:
• Launch with themes
• Grow with apps
• Automate fulfillment as orders scale
• Avoid technical debt unless it’s mission-critical
• Stay customer-obsessed—tech is just the enabler
That’s how you scale up without losing your mind (or your margins).
LinkedIN - Start from Scratch
If I had to build a Shopify brand from 0, here’s the playbook I’d use:
(This is the exact approach Johnathan Solorzano shared on DTC POD, working with brands from zero to eight figures)
To launch, scale, and streamline Shopify, you need to focus on:
• Getting online fast
• Prioritizing sales over endless design tweaks
• Layering in the right tech as you grow
So…
How do you get your store live, start selling, and automate ops with minimal headache?
By using the Shopify Growth Framework.
This framework has 3 stages:
• Launch
• Automate
• Optimize
Launch:
Use Shopify’s out-of-the-box capabilities.
• Buy a theme for $300
• Skip custom coding and design (even if you know how)
• Get product images done quickly (Fiverr works)
• Worry about marketing—not perfect brand aesthetics 03:09
The mistake most founders make?
They spend months on branding and design, but don’t focus on sales. Shopify gives you everything you need to start: order fulfillment, email workflows, Shopify Payments, plug-and-play setup 04:16.
Automate:
As your orders ramp, start offloading the manual tasks.
• Automate fulfillment with a 3PL
• Ensure your 3PL integrates with Shopify for seamless order + tracking sync
• Sync data with your workflows so ops stay smooth 06:00
Brands tend to start hunting for developers when integrations get tricky or their chosen 3PL doesn’t play nice with Shopify 06:12.
Optimize:
Once you’re scaling beyond $500k, it’s time to fine-tune.
• Don’t build custom unless you’ve maxed out what apps offer
• Weigh the cost: is that feature worth a $40/mo app or hours of dev work?
• Leverage Shopify’s expanding app ecosystem and API
• Only invest in custom when it drives unique value 12:22
If you want to go “fancy” with front-end, Shopify themes now rival custom design. Only invest in deep customization if you need something like Magic Spoon’s site and have the budget 15:44.
The key ratio for growth:
• Launch fast, automate early, optimize only as needed
• Don’t overbuild before you prove sales
Where most founders go wrong?
• They obsess over design and custom features up front.
• They ignore ready-to-go themes and apps.
• They end up with tech debt, wasted hours, and weak sales.
The solution?
Focus on sales and customer experience first.
Build out custom tech only once you’re running at scale and need that extra edge.
How can you implement the Shopify Growth Framework?
Step 1: Know your goal
What product are you launching?
Why are you passionate about it?
Start marketing ASAP
Step 2: Map your tech stack
Use themes and apps out of the box
Identify points where automation will save you time
Revisit customization only after proven demand
Step 3: Optimize based on scale
Dig into your workflows and customer data
Explore API-driven custom solutions when necessary
Stay lean—iterate as you go
Biggest takeaway?
Shopify is built for speed and scale.
Launch fast, automate smart, optimize only when needed.
Anything you’d do differently?
Drop your thoughts.
--
Check out the full convo with Johnathan Solorzano here:
https://dtcpod.com/episodes/solomedia-shopify-development
Follow along as we build Solo Media Group for the next wave of DTC brands.
Future State, 6 reasons post
In 30 days, you could launch a beautifully branded Shopify storefront, start selling—and scale to $500K in revenue. But too many first-time founders get stuck optimizing their design, missing the real unlock: fast, iterative launches. Here are 6 changes Shopify should prioritize to make launching, growing, and optimizing even more seamless for brands:
BACKGROUND:
Shopify is already the backbone of DTC. It gets your store live, handles checkout, payment, fulfillment, email flows, and enables commerce at scale.
Yet founders often overthink design, spend weeks polishing instead of marketing, and run into friction once they try to automate fulfillment, expand into omnichannel, or customize workflows.
Old Launch Process:
Obsess over custom design before product-market fit
Manual fulfillment and fragmented inventory tracking
Juggle several sales channels with broken data sync
Upfront custom dev work (expensive, slow)
Limited insight into local commerce opportunities
Hidden friction integrating third-party apps/features
New Launch Blueprint:
Lean, theme-based launch (focus on sales, not design)
Plug-and-play fulfillment and 3PL connections
Synced data across Shopify, Amazon, retail, and local
Automate, then customize once traction is proven
Enable local pickup/delivery at checkout with no dev
Smart app marketplace: recommend best tools based on brand needs
HOWEVER...
Even with Shopify’s flexibility, brands often miss out by building too soon, using apps inefficiently, and underleveraging new tools for local commerce and omnichannel expansion.
Here are my 6 recommendations:
Launch wizard that guides founders through themes, product setup, fulfillment integration, and app recommendations based on brand size and category
Seamless 3PL onboarding—connect your warehouse, sync inventory/orders/tracking with one click, and automate fulfillment by default
Smart omnichannel data sync—integrate Amazon/retail/local sales, track customers & inventory centrally, and make channel expansion frictionless
Dynamic app marketplace—surface best apps for each brand profile with transparent pricing and robust customization options
Instant local commerce enablement—add pickup/delivery options by ZIP, manage fees, and automate logistics natively within Shopify
Expand checkout customization—open up more API endpoints beyond Shopify Plus so every merchant can optimize conversion and recap first-party data
I’d pay for a Shopify toolkit that gets me from idea to launch (to $500K!) without slowdowns—automating ops, surfacing best apps, and enabling omnichannel/local workflows natively.
With more and more merchants using Shopify for creative local services, hybrid events, and pickups, there’s a huge opportunity for Shopify to become the nervous system for ALL retail—not just ecommerce.
P.S.
What features do you think Shopify should launch next?
Do you believe Shopify will make local + omnichannel selling as easy as launching a simple ecommerce store? What would help YOU scale faster?
About the Episode
Johnathan Solorzano is the founder of Solo Media Group, a Shopify development agency specializing in custom solutions for brands scaling from early-stage to eight figures. With a background in white-label development for top agencies and direct client engagements, Johnathan brings deep expertise in navigating the complexities of ecommerce tech integrations and Shopify’s ecosystem.
In this episode of DTC Pod, Johnathan outlines a strategic approach to launching and scaling on Shopify. He stresses the importance of avoiding overthinking design at the outset and leveraging out-of-the-box Shopify capabilities, starting with a premium theme and focusing energy on sales and marketing rather than costly custom builds. For founders moving inventory themselves, he highlights the critical step of automating fulfillment with integrated 3PLs and reveals how technical complexity increases when brands expand to omnichannel sales.
Johnathan shares actionable insights on when to use Shopify apps versus custom development, encouraging brands to evaluate app solutions thoroughly before investing in bespoke builds to avoid unnecessary technical debt. He details common requests—from customizing reward point systems to building integrations between ERPs, 3PLs, and Shopify—illustrating how his team steps in when brands require more than what standard apps offer. The episode also explores front-end strategies, with Johnathan explaining the pros and cons of going “headless,” customization possibilities within Shopify themes, and why a modular approach is often best for growing brands.
The conversation covers emerging trends like local commerce, innovative ways businesses are utilizing Shopify beyond standard ecommerce, and the evolving ecosystem of enabling apps. Johnathan highlights how Shopify’s increasingly open API has sparked competition among app developers, ultimately benefiting merchants through a wider array of solutions and lower costs.
Episode Summary
Johnathan Solorzano is the founder of Solo Media Group, a Shopify development agency specializing in building and customizing e-commerce storefronts for scaling brands. With deep expertise in development and hands-on experience working with brands navigating the transition from white-label agency work to direct client services, Johnathan has guided businesses from launch through advanced technical integrations.
In this episode of DTC Pod, Johnathan breaks down the essentials of setting up and scaling a Shopify store, from choosing out-of-the-box themes to the technical considerations of integrating third-party logistics and adding omnichannel sales. The conversation moves from practical advice for bootstrapped founders to weighing the real benefits and complexities of headless commerce, API integrations, and recent Shopify releases like AI-powered tools. Johnathan also shares his perspective on the value of local commerce, app ecosystem trends, and how brands can leverage new Shopify features to streamline operations and fuel growth.
Success Strategies
Prioritize rapid launch over perfect design
Many founders waste valuable time obsessing over branding and site design before ever making a sale. Johnathan Solorzano emphasizes that Shopify’s built-in tools and robust theme marketplace let you launch immediately—often without a single line of code. Buy a proven theme, add your product, and go live to validate interest. The faster you get to market, the sooner you start selling and learning.
Invest in automation as you scale
When your DTC business evolves past bootstrapping and order volume jumps, fulfillment quickly becomes a bottleneck. Johnathan Solorzano recommends offloading operational tasks early by integrating a third-party logistics (3PL) provider and ensuring your store’s tech stack syncs seamlessly. Automate key processes from inventory management to order flow, so you can focus on growth instead of fighting manual tasks.
Only build custom tech when truly required
It can be tempting to customize every element or chase the latest tech trend like headless commerce. Johnathan Solorzano cautions that most needs can be met by Shopify’s mature app ecosystem—with custom development reserved for unique differentiators or essential workflows. Weigh the cost and complexity of building custom tech against sticking with existing apps. This disciplined approach saves you time, money, and unnecessary technical debt.
Success Strategies v2
Launch Fast—Don’t Overthink Design
If you’re just getting started in DTC, it’s easy to assume your website has to be perfect before you can sell anything. But according to Johnathan Solorzano, most new founders spend way too much time fussing over design—and not nearly enough time actually selling.
His advice? Skip the expensive custom builds and get moving:
Buy a high-quality Shopify theme (even free themes can look high-end)
Get basic product photos and descriptions
Focus on uploading your products and enabling payment, shipping, and notifications
Don’t wait on that “perfect” brand—validate your offer first
Johnathan Solorzano notes that Shopify comes loaded with the essentials for order fulfillment, payment processing, automated customer emails, and more right out of the box 04:28. So rather than burning months perfecting your logo or site flow, ship your first order and start learning from real customers.
As you grow (and revenue starts flowing), that’s when you can invest in detailed customizations and visual polish—knowing exactly what your audience cares about.
Streamline Operations with Smart Integrations
Building a DTC brand isn’t just about the front end. Once your orders pick up, the real test is keeping fulfillment, inventory, and logistics running smoothly.
Johnathan Solorzano highlights that the first major bottleneck for founders is fulfillment—the point at which hand-packing boxes in your home becomes unsustainable 06:00. That’s when it’s time to plug in a third-party logistics partner (3PL) and make sure your Shopify store is set up to seamlessly send and receive order and shipping data.
Start with apps and native integrations; Shopify’s ecosystem is robust and covers most needs
When off-the-shelf solutions fall short, bring in a developer to connect your 3PL, sync inventory across channels, or automate tedious manual flows
Be cautious about building custom tech too early—validate that it’s worth the cost and complexity
Efficient back-end ops keep your customers happy, your team sane, and your business scalable.
Go Omnichannel—But Play to Your Strengths
As DTC brands scale, a key inflection point is diversifying beyond your main channel—whether that’s adding Amazon, retail, or pop-ups alongside your Shopify storefront.
Johnathan Solorzano advises founders to get strategic about channel mix 08:33:
Some brands use Amazon as an acquisition channel, listing only bestsellers to ensure visibility without eroding their core business
Others start on Amazon and then double down on their own site to retain more margin and customer data
Where you expand depends on your unit economics, audience, and product mix
Most importantly, make sure your tech stack (Shopify plus any integrations or ERPs) can handle inventory, customer data, and order flows across every channel. Don’t create busywork by managing multiple systems manually.
The net result: well-integrated channels that maximize both growth and customer ownership—without unnecessary operational headaches.
Castmagic LinkedIn Post
Shopify powers more than just your store—it’s the backbone of your entire commerce operation.
Johnathan Solorzano, founder of Solo Media Group, joins Blaine Bolus on DTC Pod to share the real perspective from inside Shopify development.
With experience helping brands scale from $500K to $10M+, Johnathan unpacks exactly how to get started on Shopify, what founders need to focus on, the common mistakes brands make, apps and integrations that drive growth, and why customization matters (and when it doesn’t).
We dig into front-end vs. back-end setups, streamlining fulfillment with 3PLs, the reality behind headless commerce, favorite app recommendations, and how local brands are using Shopify in creative ways.
Listen to the full episode here: [link]
hashtag#shopify hashtag#dtc hashtag#ecommerce
IG Reel Vids
Johnathan Solorzano moved to Colombia and started Solo Media Group, hiring his first developer and white labeling Shopify projects for top agencies. The agencies landed big contracts with brands like Oatley, then handed the technical work to Johnathan’s team so they could get shiny case studies. After mastering Shopify, Johnathan went direct, specializing only in development for brands scaling past six figures and looking for real customization. He noticed founders obsess over design but miss the most important thing—sales. Instead of wasting time on branding, he suggests buying a theme for $300, launching, and focusing on marketing. As these brands grow, the real complexity comes from connecting third-party logistics and managing inventory across Shopify, Amazon, and retail channels. Solo Media Group now helps brands solve these technical hurdles while relying on Shopify’s evolving app ecosystem and core features. Their laser focus on development and honest guidance has made Solo Media Group a go-to partner for fast-growing DTC brands.
IG Video
This agency started out white labeling for the giants, but now brands come straight to them. It’s called Solo Media Group, founded by Johnathan Solorzano, who kicked things off doing remote work in Colombia with a team of developers.
Early on, Solo Media Group did backend work for big-name agencies, helping brands like Oatly build their Shopify sites, while those agencies took the credit and the case studies. But after a while, Johnathan Solorzano realized their team was so good at Shopify development, they should just work directly with brands.
Their specialty? Just development—no distractions, all in the Shopify ecosystem. Most businesses get stuck overthinking design, but Johnathan Solorzano recommends grabbing a $300 theme, launching fast, and focusing on sales first. Everything’s built-in: fulfillment, email flows, payments, literally plug and play.
Solo Media Group proves that sometimes, simplicity is the path to scaling faster and smarter.
📢 Short VO
Shopify isn’t just a platform—it’s the operational backbone for modern commerce.
I recently sat down with Johnathan Solorzano, founder of Solo Media Group, who’s worked behind the scenes with leading US agencies, powering brands like Oatly and Mother Love. In this episode, Johnathan Solorzano breaks down the difference between overcomplicating with custom code and leveraging Shopify’s built-in tools, plus why brands should focus on sales first and design second. We unpack the true role of Shopify themes, the realities (not the hype) of headless commerce, and what happens when brands scale beyond $500k and start adding 3PLs and Amazon channels to the mix.
Want to know what apps to swear by if you’re a CPG brand, meal prep company, or even a local flower shop? Curious how AI-powered product descriptions are changing the game for stores with thousands of SKUs? It’s all here. Check out this deep-dive with Johnathan Solorzano, founder of Solo Media Group, and let me know what you think.
Hormozi Prompt
When I started Solo Media Group, I focused on keeping things simple.
I didn't spend money on expensive custom design.
I didn't spend money on a custom-coded store.
I didn't spend money hiring a big team.
I didn't spend money perfecting brand aesthetics.
I bought a $300 theme.
I hired a freelance designer on Fiverr when needed.
I only prioritized the essentials: product up, fulfillment ready, and sales started.
This let me build real experience and prove results before investing further. I could validate what mattered before spending on what didn’t.
I would have NEVER poured cash into development if the store wasn’t selling and the fulfillment process wasn’t automated.
“Launch with perfect branding. Build custom everything right away.” That mindset isn’t helpful for most new founders. I wanted to show the tactical approach: start with practical tools, test your product, and only invest when there’s traction and a real need. Do what works for you, just keep moving forward.
Timestamps Trial
00:00 Intro to DTC POD and Solo Media Group
01:07 Johnathan Solorzano shares Solo Media Group’s origin and focus on Shopify
02:10 Building a Shopify site: essentials for new brands
03:09 Out-of-the-box Shopify setup and avoiding overthinking design
04:16 Functional components: order fulfillment and Shopify’s built-in features
05:19 The transition from home fulfillment to integrating a 3PL
06:00 Why brands need developers as order volume increases
07:06 Going Omnichannel: integrating Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and ERPs
08:33 Shopify vs Amazon native brands: product channel strategy
09:05 JJWinks example—balancing Amazon presence with a native Shopify store
10:01 Mother Love example—moving from Amazon-focused to investing in Shopify
11:29 Common developer requests: custom apps vs out-of-the-box solutions
13:08 When to build custom vs use Shopify apps
15:10 The importance of honest scoping in Shopify development
15:29 Design-driven brands: “magic spoon” site aspirations
16:04 Shopify themes: iterative design and customization
17:08 Options for customizing Shopify front ends
18:31 Headless commerce: pros, cons, and technical implications
21:04 Who should go headless? Scale and engineering needs
22:48 Commerce vs tech: practical realities
23:23 Headless regrets for brands between $500K–$10M
24:04 Headless myths: speed realities and Google Page Insights
25:02 Speed, conversion, and SEO implications
25:33 Apps and enablement: favorite tools for local delivery and pickup
26:07 Zapiat app for zip code-based local delivery
27:36 Local commerce trends in Miami: charcuterie, floral, and meal prep businesses
29:03 Creative uses of Shopify for local services and workshops
30:17 The ease of launching Shopify for local and service businesses
31:05 Community and local opportunities within Shopify
31:35 New Shopify platform features: quarterly Editions, AI product descriptions
33:01 Real-world AI: West Coast Corvettes example
34:09 Opening Shopify’s API: impact for developers and merchants
35:35 Checkout customization: testimonials, blocks, and increasing conversions
36:01 API changes: implications for returns, subscriptions, and app competition
37:44 Subscription apps: emerging competition and pricing
39:05 Winners in the app ecosystem: merchants benefit
39:41 Amazon + Shopify: potential feature for Prime checkout and first-party data
41:36 Why brands are excited about Prime checkout possibilities
42:07 Local commerce and creative Shopify use cases
42:41 Where to connect with Johnathan Solorzano and Solo Media Group online
43:12 Outro and episode wrap
Custom LinkedIN Post Format
If I had to launch a Shopify store from scratch & hit my first $1M in sales, here's how I'd do it:
(This is the exact playbook that Solo Media Group founder Johnathan Solorzano shared after supporting brands from idea to eight figures in Shopify revenue, prioritizing what actually moves the needle)
To build a profitable ecommerce brand with Shopify, you need to focus on 3 key things:
• Start simple, avoid overdesigning
• Put sales FIRST, not branding
• Automate fulfillment ASAP
Here's the step-by-step:
Get your store live FAST.
Don’t spend weeks on design.
Buy a proven theme for $300.
Upload your product images (hire through Fiverr if needed), set up Shopify Payments, and hit publish.
Shopify comes with order fulfillment, email flows, and payment setup out of the box.
Prioritize sales momentum.
Skip the endless branding and design rabbit hole.
Focus ALL your energy on marketing your product, driving traffic, and learning what sells.
Many founders stall out chasing perfection — but sales are what fuel the business and guide improvement.
Automate fulfillment as orders grow.
Once sales pick up, offload fulfillment to a 3PL (third-party logistics provider).
Connect your Shopify store to the warehouse — so orders flow, tracking updates automatically, and you stay focused on growth, not packing boxes.
If integrations aren’t seamless, call in a developer for support.
Bonus tips:
• Only customize when Shopify apps won’t do the job — avoid unnecessary technical debt
• Iterate on front-end design over time, not upfront
• Don’t chase “headless” setups unless you have a full engineering team; native Shopify themes are powerful and fast for most brands
Shopify = get 99% of what you need out of the box.
Everything else is a distraction until you have traction.
Start selling. Start iterating. Build the operation when you have the orders to justify it.
--
Check out the full DTC POD episode with Johnathan Solorzano and Blaine Bolus for practical Shopify advice and insider stories:
https://www.dtcpod.com
#shopify #dtc #ecommerce #founders #bootstrapping
WEEKLY LINKEDIN SAMPLE POST
If I had to launch a successful Shopify store in 2024, here’s the exact framework I’d follow:
(This is the process Johnathan Solorzano used at Solo Media Group after building and scaling for brands from startup to $10M+—all focused on what actually drives sales and growth.)
To stand up a Shopify storefront that’s set for real results, you need to prioritize three things:
Launch fast with out-of-the-box tools
Focus on sales and fulfillment from day one
Layer in automation and only customize when it truly matters
Here’s how…
Launch with a ready-made theme and skip the code.
Don’t overthink design at day one. Head to the Shopify Theme Store, pay ~$300 for a well-built theme (even the free ones look pro), and stand up your site in hours—not weeks.
Remember: Johnathan Solorzano is a developer and even he says he wouldn’t code from scratch to launch his own store 03:39.
Focus immediately on sales, not perfection.
Don’t get stuck tweaking branding, logos, or colors before you have a single order. List your product and get it in front of people. If you need designs, hit up Fiverr and keep it moving 03:48.
Sales drive everything—get them, then build out fancy features and high-gloss branding later.
Automate fulfillment as soon as you can.
Start by shipping orders yourself, but as soon as orders ramp up, automate with a 3PL (third-party logistics provider) 05:34. The tech is already there—Shopify’s backend handles order processing, packaging, and shipping, and plugs into 3PLs to manage inventory and tracking.
Your workflow connects:
Shopify → 3PL for fulfillment
3PL → Shopify for real-time updates to customers
Only build custom features if you’ve maxed out apps.
Shopify’s app ecosystem can handle most needs: rewards, subscriptions, delivery zones, reviews—the works 12:03. Only invest in custom development when it’s directly tied to growth or a core business need, and always weigh against app costs and time saved.
Optimize your front end once you have traction.
Shopify themes are highly customizable and modular—adjust fonts, blocks, and visuals as you validate demand 17:15. Save the “make it look like Magic Spoon” custom design investments for when your brand is scaling and you know the spend delivers ROI 15:29.
Pro tips:
Use plug-and-play fulfillment tools like Zapiat for local delivery and pickup (especially if you’re a local DTC brand) 26:38
Leverage new Shopify features: AI-generated product descriptions can save hours across huge catalogs 32:39
Don’t jump to headless unless you have a dev team and a super-specific reason—Shopify’s native theming does 99% of what brands need and is better for speed in most cases 21:10
Always track site speed and user experience—conversion depends on it 24:07
Build your local and online audience: creative IRL use cases (like workshops or services) work seamlessly with Shopify’s tech 29:20
The takeaway:
Shopify gets you live, selling, and shipping in hours.
Get orders, automate, scale, and only customize when it matters.
Your ecommerce infrastructure is your central nervous system. Don’t overcomplicate—let Shopify handle the heavy lifting so you can focus on what moves the needle: selling products.
--
Tap into the full episode with Johnathan Solorzano on building, scaling, and automating your next Shopify business.
#Shopify #ecommerce #DTC #productivity #automation
dtcpod newsletter NEW (test)
Johnathan Solorzano is the founder of Solo Media Group, a Shopify-focused development agency specializing in scalable DTC solutions for brands. Prior to launching Solo Media Group, Johnathan built his team remotely from Colombia, initially white-labeling for top U.S. agencies on marquee clients like Oatly, before going direct-to-brand with custom Shopify development. Solo Media Group now supports brands from early-stage bootstrapping to scaling north of eight figures in annual revenue.
What you’ll learn:
• Why starting a Shopify store doesn’t require custom code—and the mistake most founders make by obsessing over design rather than sales.
• How Solo Media Group evolved from behind-the-scenes white-label work to direct Shopify engagements, specializing strictly in development, not all-in-one agency services.
• The critical inflection point when brands graduate from handling fulfillment in-house to integrating with third-party logistics (3PL), and why seamless tech integrations drive operational success.
• The differences in approach between Shopify-native and Amazon-native brands—plus why savvy brands list limited SKUs on Amazon to avoid cannibalization.
• The most common development requests Johnathan receives, and his advice on leveraging off-the-shelf Shopify apps versus custom builds to minimize technical debt.
• How “headless” commerce solutions can create more problems than they solve for mid-market brands—and why Johnathan urges caution before investing in headless storefronts.
• The evolution of Shopify’s theme ecosystem, why design flexibility has never been greater, and the practical considerations around theme customization for consumer brands.
• The best Shopify apps for local delivery, pickup, and niche workflows—like Zapiat for managing zip code radius and local logistics.
• Creative ways brands and local businesses are using Shopify, from meal prep and floral delivery to lamp-building workshops and denim alteration services.
• How Shopify’s open API and quarterly “Editions” releases are unlocking new opportunities for integrations, particularly around Checkout customization and rapid app innovation.
• The implications for enablement companies as Shopify opens its APIs, increasing competition but ultimately benefiting merchants.
Some takeaways:
The secret to launching a successful Shopify store isn’t building a perfect site—it’s focusing on getting your product live and prioritizing marketing and sales over endless design iterations. As Johnathan Solorzano advises, even experienced developers would start by purchasing a $300 theme, plugging in product images (outsourced to Fiverr if needed), and immediately working on customer acquisition rather than custom coding 03:09.
Shopify provides everything a founder needs to fulfill orders, generate shipping labels, set up email flows, and plug in payments—out of the box and with minimal friction. Over-investing in design before validating sales is a common pitfall for new stores 04:28.
As brands approach scale—especially moving past $500k in revenue—the first tech investment is usually integrating 3PL for fulfillment automation. Connecting Shopify orders to external logistics providers is a turning point, and this is typically where founders reach out for developer help 06:00.
Managing Omnichannel inventory and customer data becomes complex when expanding to Amazon, Walmart, eBay, or retail partners. Some brands cautiously list only their hero SKUs on Amazon to maintain DTC control, while others start Amazon-first and later invest in Shopify for brand and margin protection 08:33.
Johnathan encourages founders to exhaust the Shopify app ecosystem before commissioning custom solutions, warning that technical debt and overbuilding can slow down growth. Custom development is reserved for essential automations or APIs where no app solves the need, such as personalized rewards systems 12:03.
Headless storefronts, often marketed as cutting-edge, can increase complexity and create maintenance headaches. Johnathan has seen brands regret going headless due to lost native integrations, broken product feeds, and poorer site performance—particularly for brands in the $500k-$10M revenue range 19:10.
Shopify’s theme marketplace now offers an abundance of beautiful, modular designs—even free themes are surprisingly polished. Customization is easy and iterative, allowing brands to adjust fonts, images, and modules without technical expertise 17:15.
For local commerce and hybrid offerings, apps like Zapiat make local delivery and pickup logistics accessible for small brands. These solutions unlock creative business models, from meal prep and floral delivery to film labs and workshops 26:04.
Shopify Editions, released quarterly or semi-annually, is a highly anticipated event in the ecosystem. Notable recent updates include AI-powered product description generation, which is especially valuable for merchants with thousands of SKUs, and newly opened Checkout APIs for customization 32:07.
As Shopify opens up more endpoints, competition for app developers will intensify, driving down costs for merchants. This is a net win for brands, who can expect more choices and lower prices for critical enablements like subscriptions, returns, and custom checkout experiences 37:17.
Where to find Johnathan Solorzano:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnathansolorzano/
• Solo Media Group: https://solomediagroup.co
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Solo Media Group and Shopify development
(03:09) Advice for launching a Shopify store—theme first, sales over design
(06:00) Operational inflection points and integrating 3PL
(08:33) Omnichannel strategies, inventory management, and Amazon vs. Shopify-native brands
(12:03) Off-the-shelf apps vs. custom development—minimizing technical debt
(17:15) Theme customization and design flexibility in Shopify
(19:10) Headless commerce explained—pros, cons, and pitfalls for DTC brands
(26:04) Best apps for local delivery, creative business models, and niche workflows
(32:07) Shopify Editions, AI product descriptions, and unlocking new integrations
(37:17) The future of enablement companies as Shopify opens APIs
(41:52) Exciting developments and opportunities for local businesses in the Shopify ecosystem
Referenced:
• Zapiat: https://www.zapiet.com/
• Shopify Editions: https://www.shopify.com/editions
• West Coast Corvettes: https://www.westcoastcorvette.com/
• JJ Winks: https://jjwinks.com/
• Mother Love: https://www.motherlove.com/
[New] Show Notes
Episode Summary
Johnathan Solorzano, founder of Solo Media Group, joins Blaine Bolus to break down the essentials of Shopify development for DTC brands. With years of hands-on experience building and customizing stores from the ground up, Johnathan Solorzano shares actionable insights for founders at every stage—from launching their first storefront to scaling sophisticated omnichannel operations. Topics include essential Shopify setup, core app recommendations, theme customization, the pros and cons of going headless, and how brands can leverage new Shopify and local commerce tools.
Episode Notes
Johnathan Solorzano leads Solo Media Group, a Shopify-focused development agency. After years of white-label projects for major U.S. agencies, his team now directly supports brands in building, optimizing, and scaling their commerce infrastructure. In this episode, Johnathan Solorzano demystifies the Shopify ecosystem: what founders need to know about setup, essential features, and when to bring in technical help. Highlights include avoiding common pitfalls, balancing design and speed-to-market, integrating 3PLs and ERP systems, and navigating Shopify’s evolving landscape for themes, customization, and new API capabilities.
He also explores local commerce trends, using apps like Zapiet for local delivery, and emerging use cases for Shopify—from local workshops to service businesses. The discussion covers Shopify’s latest AI-powered tools, changes to checkout customization, the rise and realities of headless commerce, and the expanding opportunity for app developers and merchants in the Shopify ecosystem.
On this episode of DTC POD, we cover:
How Solo Media Group started and evolved
Getting started with Shopify: fast, efficient, and out-of-the-box
The “minimum viable” approach for founders: themes, marketing, and first sales
Scaling up: when to bring in 3PLs, ERPs, and custom development
Omnichannel operations: Amazon, Walmart, and native Shopify brands
Balancing apps vs. custom builds and avoiding unnecessary technical debt
Shopify theme design, customization, and when to go beyond templates
Headless commerce: hype, realities, and who should (or shouldn’t) go headless
Shopify’s expansion of APIs and implications for checkout, returns, and subscriptions
Key app recommendations: Zapiet and beyond for local delivery and special use cases
Creative local commerce use cases—from florists to workshops to tailoring
Shopify Editions: new features, AI tools, and productized innovation
The dynamic Shopify app market: winners, competition, and lower costs for brands
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome and introduction to Solo Media Group
00:55 Johnathan Solorzano shares his Shopify development background
02:27 How to get started on Shopify and what founders should prioritize
03:33 Launching with themes, focusing on marketing, and avoiding overbuilding
05:19 Automating fulfillment and integrating 3PLs as you scale
06:57 Tech considerations for omnichannel (Amazon, Walmart, eBay)
08:33 Customer data management and channel setup for growing brands
11:03 When to invest in custom features or stick to Shopify apps
12:17 Evaluating apps vs. private development: cost-benefit analysis
15:29 The role of front-end design and customizing Shopify themes
18:31 Headless commerce: benefits, drawbacks, and who should consider it
21:04 Headless as a “tech flex,” Shopify’s own headless solutions, and real-world outcomes
24:04 The truth about site speed, conversion, and JavaScript-heavy sites
26:04 Local delivery, Zapiet app, and the rise of local Shopify businesses
29:42 Nontraditional and creative use cases for Shopify: services, workshops, and more
32:09 Shopify Editions, AI-powered product descriptions, and developer tools
35:35 Opening of Shopify’s API and the changing landscape for app developers
37:17 Checkout customization and risks/opportunities for app builders
39:05 The future of subscriptions, enablement apps, and who wins as APIs open
43:01 Where to connect with Johnathan Solorzano and Solo Media Group
7 reasons in 60 seconds
7 reasons why you shouldn't go custom (in Shopify) before you need to:
Out-of-the-box themes are beautiful (and cheap)
Apps solve 99% of your pain
Custom = technical debt (fast)
Manual is better than costly “automation” (early on)
You won’t out-design Magic Spoon on day one
Headless is a flex, not a need
Every dollar spent on dev is a dollar not spent on growth
———
Out-of-the-box themes are beautiful (and cheap)
Shopify themes cost ~$300 and look expensive, modular, and highly brandable. Even the free ones impress. If you’re not yet selling, start here and don’t write a line of code.
Apps solve 99% of your pain
From reward points to local delivery to 3PL integration—apps do the work. Johnathan Solorzano challenges everyone: exhaust the app store before hiring a dev. Most use cases are solved for $20–$60/mo.
Custom = technical debt (fast)
Every custom “solution” is a future headache. As Blaine Bolus put it, you become dependent on what you build 13:36. Tech debt creeps in, and there’s always a simpler way—if you’re honest about what’s “essential.”
Manual is better than costly “automation” (early on)
Don’t automate what a human should do at 50 orders/month. Focus on selling, and add real ops only when you need them. Your 3PL, fulfillment, and ERP headaches come when you’re already winning.
You won’t out-design Magic Spoon on day one
Everyone wants a site like Magic Spoon. Few can justify spending $20k+ on a brand experience before PMF. Get proof, then reinvest in sick design or custom animations.
Headless is a flex, not a need
Headless is for brands with full-time engineers and complex requirements. For everyone else, it’s more pain than gain: “It feels like a flex,” says Johnathan Solorzano 21:10. Themes are fast, integrated, and get you paid.
Every dollar spent on dev is a dollar not spent on growth
Your time and money are better spent on getting customers, marketing, and operations—not on $200/hr for a slightly prettier cart. The winners are marketers and operators, not pixel-pushers.
TAKEAWAY:
Too many founders overthink everything except sales. As Johnathan Solorzano said 04:10: “The first thing? It’s sales.” Start simple, prove demand, and only pour fuel on the dev fire once your customers are hungry for more.
Martin Prompt
If I had to quickly launch a Shopify store for a new brand, here’s the exact framework I’d use:
(This is the exact playbook that Johnathan Solorzano shared after building Solo Media Group and helping brands scale efficiently on Shopify by focusing on sales-first, smart automation, and practical development.)
To get your Shopify store up and running, focus on 3 key things:
• Don’t overthink design
• Go out-of-the-box for speed
• Automate operations as sales scale
Here’s how...
Skip deep coding and start with a proven theme.
Download a Shopify theme for ~$300—don’t custom build unless you have to.
The platform already provides everything: product management, order fulfillment, payments, email flows, and more—just plug and play 03:09.
If you don’t have product design, get it done fast on Fiverr.
Focus your energy on marketing and sales.
Don’t let endless design tweaks drain your momentum.
Too many founders obsess over every pixel—don’t fall into the hole.
Sales are your #1 priority.
Shopify’s default setup looks great, is modular, and you can move, edit fonts and images, and iterate as you grow 17:15.
Upgrade only when you’ve proven traction and really need custom features.
Build automation as orders grow.
Once you break through and start getting lots of orders, automate fulfillment.
Start with in-house and then move to a Three PL (third-party logistics) when you outgrow your own setup.
Ensure seamless connections between Shopify and your warehouse for tracking, inventory, and workflows 06:00.
If tech gets trickier—like managing inventory across Amazon, Walmart, retail, and more—bring in a developer to help set up proper ERP integrations 07:19.
A few more tips:
• Use apps first—the Shopify App Store can solve most needs before custom development 12:03• Custom dev only when apps can’t deliver exactly what you need
• Don’t chase headless or ultra-custom builds unless you have an engineering team and deep pockets—most times, it’s not worth it for stores under $10M 21:04• For local businesses—use Zapiet to offer pickup, delivery, and zip code radius. Super easy, no coding needed 26:47.
• Leverage Shopify’s new tools (like AI product description generator) to save time and boost catalog quality 32:25.
Shopify lets you launch and scale fast.
Don’t let complexity slow you down—prove sales first, then upgrade.
Your storefront is your core pillar. Most custom tech is a distraction until you hit real traction.
--
Check out the full discussion with Johnathan Solorzano on practical Shopify growth, apps, automation, and local commerce here:
https://www.dtcpod.com
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