How to Choose a Shopify Agency in Quebec, a Guide for Growing Businesses

You have an online store on a CMS like Shopify or you're using WooCommerce on WordPress, but the results aren't there. Your products aren't selling as expected. Your website lacks a smooth user experience. And most importantly, you're wasting a lot of time managing everything without strategic guidance. It's difficult to scale a business when you're bogged down in day-to-day operations.

The problem? You don't need an agency that will simply execute your requests in a support role. You need an expert partner who understands Shopify development, eCommerce marketing, and can simplify your online growth.

But with so many Shopify agencies in Montreal and Quebec, how do you make the right choice for your store?

The Shopify agency landscape: understanding your options

Before diving into the selection criteria and our advice, it's important to understand that there are different types of agencies within the Shopify ecosystem. Each model offers different services and a distinct customer experience.

Shopify freelancers

An independent expert can manage the development of a theme for your online store or optimize the SEO of your product pages. These professionals offer one-off services to businesses with simple needs.

The advantage? Affordable rates and a direct relationship with the expert who does the web development.

The downside? A clear lack of bandwidth. When a bigger lead comes along, your project takes a backseat. If you need design, development, marketing, and consulting services simultaneously, you'll have to juggle multiple freelancers, which quickly becomes complicated for your business.

Generalist marketing agencies

These agencies offer digital marketing, content creation, and campaign management services for various web platforms. They are not necessarily specialized in Shopify stores.

The advantage? Broad expertise in marketing and communication.

The downside? They often lack depth in services specific to e-commerce. They don't always master the Shopify CMS, often specializing more with clients who have a simple website, complex payment systems, or SEO best practices for an e-commerce store. The result: you get great marketing campaigns that don't necessarily generate qualified leads or sales.

Shopify fulfillment agencies

These agencies are made up of platform experts. They know Shopify development inside and out and can create any feature for your online store.

The advantage? Solid technical expertise in web development and in-depth knowledge of Shopify.

The downside? They often operate in "demand taker" mode without strategic consultation. You tell them what to develop, they do it. But what if your core marketing strategy is flawed? What if your products aren't well-positioned online? You'll get exactly what you asked for, not necessarily what your business needs to generate sales.

Shopify's strategic growth agencies

This is where the model changes. Instead of simply executing, these agencies begin with an in-depth consultation: understanding your objectives and desired features, analyzing your data, studying your market, and creating a strategic plan for your store.

The advantage? A comprehensive approach that combines strategic consulting, cutting-edge technical development, marketing services, and ongoing support. Multiple areas of expertise brought together to optimize your online store experience.

The downside? A higher investment than a freelancer. But the return on investment is measurable.

Working with the Maze team means absolute efficiency, professionalism, and unparalleled support across all areas of the web. With their responsiveness and proactive approach, we recommend this agency without hesitation!

- Les Minettes, food distributor

The essential criteria for choosing your Shopify agency

1. Methodology: Consultation vs. Blind Execution

Imagine going to the doctor, starting to describe your symptoms, and being immediately handed a prescription. You'd be worried, wouldn't you? You'd want them to really listen, ask questions, run tests, and only then make a diagnosis and recommend a treatment.

It's exactly the same for your Shopify store.

Yet, too many agencies operate like a doctor in a hurry: you tell them, "I need a new theme or a new page," or "My sales are stagnating," and they offer a solution before even understanding the real problem. You wouldn't launch a store without a plan. Why grow your online business without a strategic assessment?

A good Shopify agency always starts with a consultation and a thorough analysis. They study your current data, your products, your online customer experience, your payment systems, and your marketing positioning.

This consultation approach allows you to create a clear roadmap: which strategies to implement, in what order, and why they will generate results for your store. No crystal ball, just data-driven strategy and smart marketing.

A question to ask: "How do you approach a new Shopify project? Do you start with a consultation to analyze my current store, or do you go straight to development?"

2. Technical expertise and mastery of Shopify development

Shopify is a powerful platform for creating your online store, but it's the surrounding ecosystem of strategies that truly makes the difference. Your agency needs to master much more than just theme development and web customization.

Look for a team that includes:

Developing custom applications for your store
SEO optimization to improve the online ranking of your products
Complex payment system integrations
Optimizing web speed and search to improve user experience
Headless development for advanced Shopify projects
Best design practices for online commerce

At Maze in Montreal, we primarily work with manufacturers and distributors in the food and home improvement sectors. These companies have specific needs: massive product catalogs, B2B payment system integration management, and complex customer experiences. Our expertise in Shopify CMS development and consulting allows us to simplify these challenges.

Plan your growth now

3. Ongoing marketing support services

Launching your Shopify store is not the finish line, it's the beginning of your online growth.

Lead generation and eCommerce sales require a partner who stays by your side to continuously optimize your web store: marketing monitoring, identification of SEO opportunities, deployment of services that maximize your sales.

This includes services such as:

Optimizing the customer experience and personalizing the offer to generate more leads
Merchandising marketing strategies for your products (smart search, upselling, cross-selling, etc.)
SEO optimization and local SEO in Montreal and on a larger scale (Quebec, Canada, new markets)
Email marketing automation for engagement
Consulting services on payment systems
Analyzing your company's performance with dashboards

Since 2020, we have helped over 100 merchants stop wasting time and money by focusing on world-class strategies and solutions. Companies like Flordeco and Speclite have seen their online stores transformed thanks to a strategic rather than tactical consulting approach.

With Maze, we went from a Shopify store that mainly served as a showcase to a platform truly designed for management, performance, and growth. Their team took the time to understand our realities on the ground, our products, and our network challenges. Today, every decision is based on clear data and well-defined priorities.

- Flordeco, flooring distributor

4. Transparency in services and customer experience

You deserve to know exactly where your investment in your Shopify store is going. A good agency is transparent about its development processes, marketing strategies, and results.

It should provide you with:

Regular reports on the progress of your store's development
Dashboards with your sales and lead generation metrics
Honest recommendations during consultations, even if it means less income
Open communication about web challenges and marketing opportunities

This transparency builds a long-term collaborative experience, essential for a true partnership with your agency.

5. Shopify Partner status and proven expertise

Being a Shopify Partner is good. Being a Shopify Select Partner with proven expertise in development and services is better.

The Shopify Select program recognizes agencies that have helped numerous online stores succeed. It's a guarantee of quality in the services offered and the experience provided.

But be warned: the badge isn't everything. Ask questions about completed Shopify store projects, request company references, and review their case studies. Real-world experience with businesses similar to yours and comparable products is worth more than any certification.

6. Location in Montreal and understanding the Quebec market

98% of our clients are in Quebec. Why? Because an agency in Montreal understands the specific needs of the French-speaking market for your online store.

An agency based in Montreal or Quebec includes:

Quebec consumers' expectations for a web experience in French
Local regulations (language, payment systems, privacy)
Local SEO opportunities for your store
Marketing services tailored to the Quebec market
Lead generation in the cultural context of Quebec

Working with a team in Montreal that speaks your language makes consultation easier and accelerates the development of your Shopify store.

The Maze team truly understood the essence of our brand. Their localization work allowed us to offer a bilingual experience that remains true to the gentleness and closeness associated with Bonne Maman. It's exactly what we needed for the Canadian market.

- Bonne Maman, manufacturer of spreads

7. The ability to scale with your business

Your business will change. Your online sales will grow. Your service and development needs will become more complex.

Choose an agency that can grow with your store. One that has the capacity to hire when you need more services, rather than abandoning you for a bigger lead. One that can support the growth of your Shopify store without you having to change agencies.

8. Defining success metrics or the importance of defining clear KPIs

A successful Shopify store can't be run by intuition. Without clear metrics and well-defined performance indicators, it becomes impossible to know if your platform is truly working or if you're simply investing more time and money without any real impact.

A good Shopify agency goes beyond development and technical support. It helps you define KPIs aligned with your business objectives and then track them over time.

KPIs are not universal. They depend on your business model, your products, your CMS, your sales channels, and your e-commerce maturity. A reputable Shopify agency always starts by asking the following question: " What does success look like for your business?"

Among the most frequently tracked metrics on a Shopify store are:

The online store's conversion rate
The average value of orders
Acquisition cost per marketing channel
The SEO performance of the product and category pages
Repurchase rate and customer loyalty
The speed of the platform and the stability of its features
The volume and quality of leads generated
The customer support burden related to user experience

These metrics allow for better decision-making, both in terms of development and marketing and store management.

A growth-oriented Shopify agency implements simple and easy-to-understand dashboards. Not to impress, but to give you a clear view of what's working and what needs adjusting. This also allows you to prioritize features to develop, improve customer support, and optimize the experience across the entire platform.

Without clear KPIs, a Shopify store can appear active but silently stagnate. With the right metrics, every action on your CMS becomes measurable, and every optimization truly contributes to your business's success.

Start optimizing your growth with Maze

How Maze simplifies commerce for tech companies

At Maze, our mission is simple: to simplify online commerce by using world-class strategies and tools for your Shopify store.

Our three-phase approach to projects

Planning — Not sure where to start with your store? Our consultation begins by analyzing your data, products, payment systems, and current web experience to create a strategic plan. Our approach eliminates uncertainty with a clear roadmap based on marketing data.

Planning services:

Consultation and complete audit of your Shopify store
SEO analysis and analysis of your online products
Consultation on payment systems and web experience
Marketing and lead generation strategy
Analysis of your store and definition of key performance indicators

Building — We transform your vision into reality with our expertise in Shopify development and web design. From custom theme development and bespoke applications to SEO optimization of your products, we create high-performing online stores.

Development services:

Web design and Shopify store development
Custom application development
SEO optimization for your products
Integration of advanced payment systems
Shopify store migration
Headless development services

Growth — Your store's growth doesn't stop at launch. Our support services include: ongoing marketing optimization, lead generation strategy, automation, SEO optimization, and customer experience consulting for your online store.

Growth and optimization services:

Marketing services and lead generation
Optimizing your store experience
Ongoing SEO consultation for your products
Marketing automation services
Consultation on payment strategies
Performance analysis of your online store

Why companies choose our agency

Since migrating to Shopify, we have increased our operational efficiency by 20% and increased the satisfaction of our B2B customers.

- Speclite, industrial lighting distributor

Our clients in the food and home improvement sectors appreciate our consultancy approach because we understand their challenges: technical products requiring educational content, complex catalogues, and the need for robust integrations between the Shopify store and their existing payment systems.

Unlike development agencies, we don't just do the development you request; our consultation guides you toward the services that will truly grow your store and generate qualified leads. Unlike freelancers, you'll never run out of bandwidth for your Shopify projects.

Your final checklist before choosing your Shopify agency

Before signing with an agency for your online store, make sure you can answer yes to these questions:

Does the agency begin with consultation and analysis rather than rushing straight into development?
Does she have experience with Shopify stores in your industry and with your types of products?
Does it offer ongoing strategic consulting services, not just one-off development?
Is it transparent about its methodology, services, and rates?
Does it offer marketing services in addition to web development?
Does she have expertise in SEO and lead generation for your store?
Does it include payment systems and the online customer experience?
Does she have expertise with companies in Quebec and Montreal?

Ready to stop wasting time and money on your Shopify store?

Choosing the right Shopify agency isn't just about web development or design. It's about choosing a partner who understands the complexity of e-commerce and has the expertise in consulting, development, marketing, and services to simplify it.

At Maze in Montreal, we are Shopify Select Partners specializing in businesses with technical products. Since 2020, we have been helping Quebec-based manufacturers and distributors transform their online stores into lead generation and profitable growth engines.

No generic solutions for your business. No development without strategic consultation. Just data-driven planning, cutting-edge technical services, intelligent marketing, and expertise that delivers measurable results for your products and customer experience.

Our approach combines strategic consulting, advanced Shopify development, marketing services, SEO optimization, and payment system integration to create an online store that converts web visitors into qualified leads and sales.

Start your strategic planning now

Ready to discuss your Shopify store project? Let's talk about how our consulting services can create a clear growth plan for your business. Contact our team in Montreal for a strategic consultation on your online store.