By Bogdan Rancea
Is the Shapes Theme Right for your Shopify Store?
Do you want to create a Shopify store that’s modern, eye-catching, and perfect for accelerating conversions?
The Shapes Shopify theme could be the perfect option for you. This high-impact geometric theme is ideal for merchants who want to connect with a younger audience, and position themselves as a true trendsetter in the ecommerce market.
The premium theme comes packed with features, from age restriction options for companies selling alcoholic beverages, to diverse product options, and enhanced search.
While it’s not as versatile as some of the other premium themes I’ve reviewed, Shapes definitely stands out from an aesthetics perspective – and it has a 100% positive review rating.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Shapes Shopify theme, from the perspective of an experienced web developer.
Quick Verdict, Pros and Cons
The Shapes Shopify theme is one of the most eye-catching themes I’ve seen lately, with bold and bright colors, unique shapes and sections, and plenty of features for visual storytelling.
It’s great for companies that want to connect with younger generations, and sell fast-moving consumer products, like alcohol, food, or skincare.
Though it does miss a few extra features, like stock counters for FOMO, and infinite scroll, it’s still a brilliant premium theme all-around.
Pros:
- Incredible eye-catching visuals
- Lots of style options
- Valuable marketing and conversion tools
- High-quality merchandising features
- Powerful product discovery
- Easy to set up
Cons:
- One of the more expensive Shopify themes
- Depends on high-quality visuals
- Missing some advanced features.
The Shapes Shopify Theme: Overview and Pricing
The Shapes Shopify theme is a premium theme created by “Switch”.
Designed for the “Fast Moving Consumer Goods” (FMCG) industry, this modern theme offers robust customization options, a wide range of styles, and exceptional mobile responsive performance.
Like most premium themes on Shopify’s marketplace, the Shapes theme is available with an unlimited free trial.
However, once you’re ready to publish your store, you’ll need to pay a one-time price of $360 – making this one of the more expensive free themes I’ve seen.
Despite its price, however, the unique design elements and powerful features of the Shapes theme make it one of the most popular options for new merchants.
It’s particularly ideal for those selling age-restricted products, thanks to its age verification tools.
The Shapes Shopify Theme: Style Options
One of the top things that sets the Shapes theme apart from the other Premium themes I’ve reviewed, is the sheer number of presets or “styles” you can choose from.
Most premium themes give you a few style, but with Shapes, you get five, very different options- great for almost any kind of store.
Bold
The Bold preset certainly lives up to its name, with large, bulky font options, a simple expandable menu, brightly colored buttons and backgrounds, and a host of “sticker” options to choose from.
It’s brilliant for companies that really want to grab attention quickly on any device.
Neon
The Neon theme is similar to the Bold theme, using the same eye-catching fonts, and flexible button options.
The vibrant colors and customizable shapes on this theme give the overall design a slightly “retro” vibe, making it ideal for companies that want to stand out in the beverage or food space.
Pastel
Pastel is a slightly more “playful” theme with fewer bright colors, and slightly sleeker font choices. The shades used throughout the theme illuminate your store with a comforting, welcoming aesthetic.
This might be the best theme for someone who wants to stand out without overwhelming their audience from a visual perspective.
Muted
The Muted preset is closer in style to many of the other Shopify premium themes I’ve reviewed, with chic, minimalistic elements, and a more natural color palette.
It has an understated elegance that makes it a fantastic choice for beauty and skincare companies, or brands that want to reach a slightly more mature audience.
Playful
Playful is one of the newer presets available for the Shapes Shopify theme. It combines elements of the “Bold” and “Muted” styles to give your store a friendly and sophisticated appearance.
This one of the more versatile presets available, ideal for companies selling natural products, food, supplements, beverages, and a range of other products.
The Shapes Shopify Theme: The Core Features
As a premium theme, Shapes definitely gives merchants a lot more built-in functionality than most “free” themes.
However, for its price, I do think it should include a few extra capabilities, such as infinite scroll, product videos, and in-store pick-up options.
Here are some of the key features that I think stand out with the Shapes Shopify theme.
Cart and Checkout Features
The cart and checkout themes on Shapes are pretty limited. You don’t get a lot of extra options like in-store pickup, or “sticky cart” solutions.
However, you do get a quick buy option, which is excellent for a fast-paced industry like FMCG. Plus, there’s a slide-out cart, and the option for cart notes.
However, cart notes are pretty common on most Shopify themes.
Still, Shapes does make it easy to rapidly set up and customize your checkout experience, and you can add plenty of different shapes and button elements into the mix.
Marketing and Conversion
The Shapes theme goes a little further with its marketing and conversion tools, but there are still some limitations here.
My favorite feature is the “age verifier”, which is perfect for companies selling restricted products like alcohol, tobacco, or lottery tickets.
Beyond that, you can showcase recommended products to consumers, create product badges to show buyers which products are “hot”, “trending” or “on sale”, and design your own FAQ page.
Interestingly, there are no promo pop-ups or in-menu promos available here. Although you can add reviews and ratings to your product pages.
Merchandising
Focused on visual storytelling, the Shapes theme gives merchants a lot of ways to capture customer attention with their products.
You can experiment with high-resolution images that animate and move when customers scroll over them with their mouse.
There are color swatch options for companies selling variations, and you can design eye-catching image galleries too.
One thing that really makes this theme stand out is the “Product Options” feature, which allows merchants to offer customers various customization choices for their products.
This is great if you’re selling items with a lot of different ingredients, colors or sizes. Plus, you can show ingredients and nutritional information next to food and beverage products.
Product Discovery
Again, some small features are missing in the “Product Discovery” section of the Shapes theme, like infinite scroll, and the option to show “recently viewed” products.
You do get a handy sticky header, which is ideal for fast-paced navigation. Plus, the mega menu is brilliant for helping customers sort through categories and sections of your website.
Product filtering and sorting is also included, to help users find the items that are right for them based on price, color, size, and other factors.
You can also offer customers an enhanced search experience, which surfaces recommendations when they start typing into the search bar. I also love the “recommended products” feature, which is great for increasing average order values.
Performance and Merchant Reviews
Like most premium Shopify themes, Shapes has been speed-tested and approved by the Shopify team, so you shouldn’t have to worry too much about loading times.
Based on what I could find online, most customers say that the theme is quick and intuitive, regardless of which device customers are using. In fact, the Shapes theme has an excellent reputation all around.
Although it only has around 53 reviews on the Shopify theme marketplace (at the time of writing), all of those reviews are positive.
Customers say that the theme is fun, easy to customize, brimming with useful features, and versatile.
Plus, there are plenty of reviews that mention the Switch team’s excellent approach to customer service.
Customer support can be difficult to access from some developers, so if you want end-to-end assistance, the Shapes theme could be ideal for you.
Shapes Shopify Theme Review: The Verdict
Overall, the Shapes theme for Shopify might not be the most feature-rich premium theme available, particularly considering its price, but there’s a lot to love about it.
This versatile theme is perfect for a broad spectrum of merchants – particularly those in the FMCG space.
Bold, memorable, and packed with customization options, this theme will help you stand out in the ecommerce market, and draw attention to your products – ensuring you can generate quick conversions.
If you’re looking for a theme that really makes an impact, then the Shapes Shopify theme is a fantastic solution.
