Artificial Intelligence models are better than they’ve ever been. This might have some eCommerce entrepreneurs, such as those with Shopify stores, wondering if they’ll ever need to hire a Shopify Plus designer or they can just do everything visually with the help of AI.
First, Shopify Plus is a highly robust eCommerce SaaS platform that allows merchants to create up to 10 individual storefronts. This version of the platform also offers 100 free and premium themes for merchants to use.
Moreover, Shopify Plus, as a subscription-based platform, features an intuitive theme-editing interface that makes it somewhat easier and straightforward for merchants to make basic adjustments to their websites.
So, at the end of the day, is it worth it to hire a Shopify Plus designer or can you just make any visual changes you want to with help of the best AI models currently available?
It really depends on your budget and expectations. Working with a dedicated Shopify expert will be a lot less labor intensive on your part (if you hire a good one) and on top of that, designers are versed in:
- Creating custom themes, page templates and storefronts
- Brand integration
- Alignment of visual and textual page elements
- Font selection
- Design of custom page elements like callouts, page badges, and calls to action
- Optimizing the overall layout, look and feel for conversions
Moreover, Shopify Plus designers specialize in this specific platform, all but ensuring the one you hire will have requisite experience with Shopify and how best to utilize its tools. On top of that, some may even specialize in serving a specific niche or industry.
Now here’s where things get complicated. Modern AI models like ChatGPT have become proficient at coding, to the point that they can code entire pages that you can then export and use to build custom page templates and themes.
ChatGPT may be a bit harder to use than some models, though. Canva’s new Magic Design tool enables users to create whole landing pages with a prompt as small as 5 words. Naturally, the more clarification you offer, the better the output will be, but it can also be very succinct.
Canva’s Magic Design tool is surprisingly capable and generates very pleasant, modern designs with impressive visuals. It even auto-generates text that’s surprisingly relevant to the prompt (but you can see that for yourself).
What’s more, with an AI-design tool like this, you can actually take the code for the page and if you know how, use it to construct a whole new page or theme for a website built on Shopify Plus (or for that matter, on a different platform).
AI models like these are cost-effective, in some cases even basically free, which begs the question – is it worth the hundreds if not thousands of dollars to hire a Shopify Plus designer?
Ultimately, it depends. While you can build custom pages and make layouts with AI tools like Canva’s Magic Design, what you can’t do is ask them for help optimizing for SEO, UX, or conversions, at least based on experience.
You can prompt the tool to build you an optimized page, but you’ll be taking the output on faith. The one real value-add of working with a person is you can lean on their experience for the results you want.
So again – what are you looking to get out of this? Do you just need a quick page design coded and spun up? Or do you need a strategic partner who can help you grow? In the former, AI may be better and more cost-effective, but in the latter, you should seriously consider hiring a Shopify Plus designer.
