Service
Ecommerce Website Development in Melbourne That Actually Sells
A beautiful online store that takes 8 seconds to load doesn't sell. A fast store with a confusing checkout doesn't sell either. Ecommerce conversion comes from getting twenty things right at once — and that's exactly what I do.
I build custom WooCommerce and Shopify stores for Melbourne businesses. Every store ships fast (under 2 seconds), SEO-ready, mobile-first, and built to scale from your first order to your ten-thousandth.
Direct contact with the developer. Transparent pricing. No surprise add-ons after launch.
Included
Why most Melbourne ecommerce sites underperform
Ecommerce sites get built by three types of people: agencies that mark up freelance work 4×, freelancers who know design but not conversion, and DIY founders using drag-and-drop builders that look fine on desktop and break on mobile. None of them think about the things that actually move ecommerce revenue:
Time-to-interactive on mobile (the #1 conversion killer in 2026)
Checkout flow length (every extra field drops conversion 2–4%)
Product page schema (rich results in Google, free traffic)
Image format and lazy loading (Core Web Vitals + bandwidth)
Inventory and pricing rules that scale beyond 100 SKUs
Australian payment gateway support (Afterpay, Zip, Apple Pay, PayID)
Shipping integration with Australia Post + Sendle
I think about these things first and design second. The result is a store that ranks, loads fast, and converts the traffic it gets.
What's included in Akime ecommerce development
Discovery and planning. Two-hour kickoff to define your product catalogue, customer journey, payment and shipping requirements, and post-launch maintenance plan.
Platform recommendation. WooCommerce, Shopify, or BigCommerce — chosen based on your actual needs, not what I prefer. WooCommerce if you want full control, lower long-term costs, and content marketing power. Shopify if you want speed-to-market, hosted infrastructure, and a simpler admin. I'll explain trade-offs honestly.
Custom design. Bespoke design built around your brand and product range. No off-the-shelf themes (or, if budget is tight, a premium theme customised heavily). Mobile-first, accessible, fast.
Product catalogue setup. I'll import your products, set up variants, categories, tags, and inventory rules. For up to 100 products this is included; beyond that we'll scope additional time.
Payment and shipping. Stripe, PayPal, Afterpay, Zip, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayID — whatever fits your market. Live shipping rates from Australia Post and Sendle.
SEO foundation. Product schema, breadcrumb schema, sitemap, robots.txt, canonical URLs, mobile-optimised images, fast LCP — all done at build time, not bolted on later.
Email and abandoned cart. Klaviyo or Mailchimp integration with abandoned cart automation. The single highest-ROI feature on any new store.
Analytics. GA4, Google Tag Manager, and Meta Pixel installed and tested. Conversion goals configured before launch.
30-day post-launch support. Bugs, tweaks, content changes — included.
Who I work with
Established Melbourne businesses ready to move from in-person to online (or expand their existing online channel)
D2C brands launching their first product or scaling past their current platform
Existing WooCommerce or Shopify stores looking to migrate, rebuild, or fix performance issues
Ecommerce platforms I build on
WooCommerce — the default choice for most Australian small businesses. Self-hosted, full control, lower ongoing fees, deep customisation, strong SEO. Best for catalogue stores (50–5,000 products), content-led brands, and anyone who wants to keep options open.
Shopify — fastest to launch, fully hosted, excellent admin UX, strong app ecosystem. Best when speed-to-market matters more than long-term cost, or when you want to outsource hosting and security entirely.
Custom React + headless commerce — for brands with specific UX requirements or who already have a frontend they love. Higher build cost, faster runtime, more flexibility.
Pricing transparency (because most agencies won't show you this)
Project type - Range - Timeline --- - --- - --- Simple WooCommerce store (1–50 products) - A$4,000–A$7,000 - 4–6 weeks Medium WooCommerce store (50–500 products) - A$7,000–A$15,000 - 6–10 weeks Shopify store with custom theme - A$5,000–A$10,000 - 4–8 weeks Custom headless build - A$15,000+ - 10–16 weeks Migration (existing store) - A$3,000–A$8,000 - 3–6 weeks
These are real numbers, not anchored "from $999" lies. If your budget is below A$3,000, I'll be honest — you're better off on a premium theme you install yourself and I'll point you in the right direction.
The Akime ecommerce build process
Brief and scope — 1 week
Design — 2 weeks
Development — 2–6 weeks depending on scope
Content + product setup — 1 week (parallel with dev)
Testing and QA — 1 week
Launch — 1 day
Post-launch support — 30 days included
You see every milestone. I don't disappear for six weeks and come back with something unrecognisable.