By Rajendra Bhochalya
Is the Shopify Motion Theme Right for Your Store?
I know how hard choosing the right theme for your Shopify store can be. We all know that a great theme is crucial to making your brand stand out, and delivering a great experience to customers, but there are so many options to choose from – it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
The Shopify Motion theme is just one of the many premium themes available on the Shopify theme store, and it’s by far one of my favorite options for a few reasons.
First, the Motion theme has an amazing minimalistic aesthetic, that works well for a range of brands, and it prioritizes visual storytelling, ensuring you can showcase eye-catching content.
Secondly, it’s packed full of great features that can bring your store to life, like animations and product video options.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Shopify Motion Theme.
What is the Shopify Motion Theme, and What Does it Cost?
The “Motion” theme is a Shopify theme created by Archetype Themes, the same company also responsible for many of the top premium templates available to Shopify store owners.
I’m a big fan of many of the company’s top-sellers, such as Impulse (particularly for fashion brands), and Expanse (ideal for companies with large product inventories).
You can learn more about all the features of this theme, and see some great shop page, cart page, and product page examples, in our template gallery here.
The theme will cost you $360 to use on your store, but like most premium themes, you can try it out for free, for as long as you like, and you only need to pay when you activate the theme.
Additionally, like other premium Shopify themes, the Motion theme is guaranteed to:
- Work with the latest Shopify features (like Shopify AI and omnichannel selling options)
- Deliver ultra-fast loading times to improve customer experiences
- Integrate with free stock photos from Shopify Burst
You even get free theme updates and fixes for life after you’ve made your purchase, and you can “re-download” your purchase whenever you like.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Excellent visual merchandising capabilities
- Powerful animations and video options
- Brilliant urgency-building and conversion tools
- Engaging, yet minimalistic design
- Ultra-fast performance
Cons:
- Slightly more expensive than some Shopify themes
- May not be suitable for less “visual” brands
Design and Presets
Like many of my favorite Shopify themes, Motion is a minimalist, sleek, and professional-looking theme, perfect for all kinds of companies.
I personally think it would be an excellent option for fashion brands, thanks to its visual focus, and it’s great for high-volume stores too.
If you process a large number of transactions, this theme will scale easily with your brand, and ensure you can showcase ever-evolving collections of products with ease.
One of the biggest things that sets the Shopify Motion theme apart is how it encourages you to take full advantage of visual elements to capture customer attention.
If you’re in the travel, accessories, tech, or beauty space, you can use eye-catching videos and animations throughout your store to elevate your brand and keep visitors engaged.
There are 3 preset options to choose from (all of which can be customized to suit your brand):
Classic
Don’t let the name fool you, the Classic theme is probably one of the boldest, and most eye-catching presets in the Motion theme collection. It features a central menu, powerful, bold fonts, and minimal copy, putting your product images front-and-center.
Elegant
The elegant theme is a lot more sophisticated and refined. It’s the kind of design I could see a luxury fashion house using to showcase premium products. This theme has thinner fonts, a sticky top menu, and more white space, but it’s still packed with animation and video options.
Minimal
If you’re looking for something streamlined and modern, the Minimal preset could be the perfect choice. This preset essentially combines the best elements of the other two into a harmonious design, ideal for technology brands, accessory companies, and forward-thinking organizations.
The Features of the Shopify Motion Theme
As a premium Shopify theme, Motion gives business owners a lot more functionality than any free alternative. You can find the full list of features on the theme’s page, but here are some of the key capabilities I wanted to draw attention to:
Cart, Checkout, Marketing and Conversion
Alongside a fantastic slide-out cart and quick buy option, Motion supports an in-store pickup option, which is ideal if you already have your own retail store and want to invest in omnichannel selling.
For marketing and conversion purposes, Motion has all the basics, from blog access to a product reviews, promotional pop-ups and banners, and product badges.
I also love the product quick view option, that streamlines the purchasing process for shoppers, as well as all the extra features designed to increase urgency, such as countdown timers and stock counters.
To increase your average order value, you can also take advantage of cross-selling apps, recommended products, and trust signals like “trust badges”.
Merchandising and Product Discovery
Motion is great at giving online shoppers a convenient experience, with it’s phenomenal mega menu, sticky header, and advanced search functionality.
I’m a huge fan of the filtering options, which help customers track down the products they’re most interested in in seconds.
Of course, the biggest selling point of Motion (in my opinion), is how it uses visual components to really draw attention to your items.
As well as sharing high-resolution images and product videos, you can also create image galleries, image rollover animations, and before/after image sliders.
Plus, you can provide your customers with plenty of extra information in the form of size charts, lookbooks, and shipping/delivery information sections.
Other Major Features Worth Noting
On top of all the features mentioned above, Motion benefits from an incredibly fast-loading and efficient design.
It was designed by Shopify experts, to deliver an ultra-refined experience across both desktop and mobile devices. Plus, it’s perfect for global selling, with instant EU translations.
The animation capabilities are particularly impressive, allowing sellers to showcase their products in action. As you move from home pages to collection pages, aspects of the screen fade in and out, giving users an immersive experience.
As users scroll through the product page, you can delight them with engaging videos, GIFs, and components that keep them focused on the products and their capabilities. Overall, you get a great way to really bring your store to life.
Shopify Motion Theme Review: Verdict
I consider the Shopify Motion theme to be one of the most impressive premium themes I’ve reviewed so far, particularly for companies who want to take a visual-first approach to merchandising.
It excels at drawing attention to your products in unique ways, while ensuring an excellent user experience.
It might be a little more expensive than some of the other themes available for Shopify store owners, but considering all the functionality you get, I’d say it’s worth the cost.
If you’re still looking for more inspiration, make sure you check out our full collection of Shopify themes and templates.
