THE TEMPLATE BREAKS EXACTLY WHERE THE MONEY IS
WHAT AN ECOMMERCE ENGAGEMENT COVERS
DTC STOREFRONT BUILDS
Custom storefronts and Shopify builds engineered against conversion, speed, and the product logic your catalog actually needs — bundles, variants, gifting, and drops included.
SUBSCRIPTION SYSTEMS
Recurring purchase flows where the brand owns the logic and the customer data. Pause, swap, and upsell paths designed to retain, not to trap.
WHOLESALE & B2B PORTALS
Separate pricing, terms, and ordering for retail buyers and distributors — behind proper authentication instead of a discount code taped over the retail store.
RETAIL & OMNICHANNEL
Store locators, retailer integrations, and QR-to-cart flows that connect shelf presence to digital revenue instead of leaving the two channels strangers.
ANALYTICS & ATTRIBUTION
Server-side tracking and attribution wired at build time, so you know which channel produced the order — not which dashboard claimed it loudest.
MANAGED INFRASTRUCTURE
Hosting, monitoring, and scaling handled by us. The traffic spike you paid a creator to generate should never be the thing that takes the store down.
SHOPIFY OR CUSTOM?
Whichever the numbers support — and we will show you the numbers before you commit. Shopify is the right answer for a straightforward DTC catalog with standard checkout. We will say so and build it well.
It stops being the right answer when subscription logic, mixed wholesale pricing, retailer integrations, or a product configurator enter the picture. At that point the platform fee is the cheapest line item — the real cost is the app stack duct-taping around what the theme cannot do, and the conversion rate it quietly taxes.
When a brand crosses that line, we build the system custom and wire it to whatever back end already runs the business. That call gets made in scoping, in writing — not discovered in month four.
CLIENT TRANSMISSIONS
VERIFIED OPERATOR FEEDBACK // CLEARANCE LEVEL: PUBLIC
"Nicklaus was absolutely fantastic to work with. He completely transformed our website for The CPG Co-Op, and the end result is better than I could have imagined. What really sets Nicklaus apart is that he’s not just a great designer—he has a deep understanding of the technical side of websites and the backend functionality that makes everything work. He was able to take a fairly complex project, handle the technical details seamlessly, and still make the entire process incredibly easy for me as someone who is, frankly, a total luddite when it comes to this stuff. He also built the site in a way that makes it incredibly easy for me to manage and make changes myself, which means we aren’t constantly paying someone every time we need to update something. That was a huge win for us. He was responsive, collaborative, incredibly fast, and genuinely cared about getting it right. I would highly recommend Nicklaus to anyone looking for someone who can bring the creative vision and the technical expertise to actually execute it. He made the whole process easy—and delivered a website we absolutely love."
EMILY KEALEY
FOUNDER // THE CPG CO-OP
ON THE CPG CO-OP
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
WHAT MAKES A CPG ECOMMERCE AGENCY DIFFERENT FROM A GENERAL ECOMMERCE AGENCY?
The failure modes. CPG brands hit subscriptions, wholesale pricing, retailer handoffs, and velocity-driven traffic spikes earlier and harder than other categories. An agency that has not shipped against those specific pressures will discover them on your budget. We have, and we scope for them from day one.
WE ARE ALREADY ON SHOPIFY. DO WE HAVE TO MIGRATE?
Not necessarily. If Shopify still fits the business, we build on it — theme, apps, and all — and fix what leaks. Migration only enters the conversation when the platform itself is the constraint, and we will show you the evidence before recommending it.
CAN YOU TAKE OVER A STORE ANOTHER AGENCY BUILT?
Yes, and it is common. We audit what exists, tell you what is worth keeping, and take over from there. No rebuild-everything reflex — a rebuild gets recommended only when the audit proves the current build cannot carry the roadmap.
DO YOU HANDLE THE MARKETING SIDE TOO, OR JUST THE BUILD?
Both. Ecommerce builds ship with measurement, SEO, and conversion work included, and our CPG marketing engagements cover campaigns and content around the store. The point of one team owning the stack is that the site and the marketing stop being separate vendors' problems.
HOW LONG DOES A STOREFRONT BUILD TAKE?
Contained builds — a storefront on an existing platform with standard integrations — move in weeks. Custom systems with subscriptions and wholesale run longer, and the timeline you get in scoping is in writing. Nobody discovers the real deadline in month three.
WHAT DOES IT COST?
It depends on scope, and any agency quoting before scoping is guessing. You get a fixed number after a scoping call, not an open-ended hourly arrangement that rewards slowness.
SEND US THE STORE. WE'LL FIND THE LEAK.
Share the storefront and the number that worries you. You get a straight assessment of what is costing you conversions within 24 hours — no discovery gauntlet, no pitch deck.