Top 5 themes to try in Shopify [2024]

Getting the right theme for your Shopify store can be one of the most important things that you do. All of your apps and actions that you do in Shopify rely on the theme. Theme is the main root of your store and selecting one can either make or break your success. Shopify themes are continuing to evolve, offering you a selection of options to captivate their audience.

Customers are demanding seamless, visually appealing and functional experience from the store they visit. If the site is user-friendly that is already a first step to gaining customer's attention since they will find the site more trustworthy and worth their time. And selecting the theme is not the only thing here, customizing one is also quite important. Imagine if multiple stores select the same popular theme and they don't really change it. This means that when customers visit your store they won't feel that uniqueness that they would feel if your store had a customized theme and no other store with a similar look existed. It's also good to note that while customizing a theme is good, don't go out of bounds and keep with the standards. Changing the layout for example can be confusing to customers so the store should still provide a familiar layout that basically all stores nowadays have.

In this article we will first show you some important things to consider when selecting a theme, then, we will show you the top 5 most popular and recommended themes and their advantages.

 

What to consider when selecting a theme?

Starting your store and picking the right theme can quickly become overwhelming. There are several key factors to consider when you select one, from functionality, to support of other apps, to customization. Let's look at the most important ones that you should absolutely check in each theme, before you are deciding to pick it.

Design

Of course, when you are scrolling through hundreds of themes, you are always looking at the theme preview and just seeing how it looks. Looks are obviously priority when picking a theme. You should consider and pick something that looks visually stunning, modern, clean and aesthetically pleasing. You should pay attention to detail, typography, color schemes and overall visual appeal. Of course, even if a theme looks good, always keep in mind your business and which color scheme and design would fit with whatever your business is selling. Try to select something that looks visual fitting to your logo and products.

Customization options

Now while design its important, flexibility is as well. Themes should offer a wide range of customization options, such as the ability to adjust layouts, colors, fonts, and other design elements without the need of any coding knowledge. The more customizable the theme is, the easier it is for you to adapt the theme and customize it to fit with the image of your brand. While it is fine if you keep the default look of the theme, you will likely wish to customize it in the future, so your brand's unique identity will stand out from the rest. You should see all of the elements that the theme provide, those are usually listed on the theme page.

Speed and optimization

We shouldn't forget about the speed of the theme. Nowadays, nobody likes waiting for a website to load. It is important to check and test the loading speed of each theme to see if its responsive. Usually, popular themes will always have a great speed, but it's always good to check it yourself. Themes with optimized code and performance enchantments are a go-to option and definitely something to consider when picking a theme.

Responsiveness

Mobile commerce is already big in the scene and is growing even more. More customers are starting to buy your products via mobile devices. This means that the theme needs to adapt to different device sizes. Themes that are fully responsive and optimized for mobile browsing should be prioritized. This way you ensure that customers can easily navigate and make purchases on smartphones, tablets and other devices.

Customer support

A good customer support makes all the difference when setting up and maintaining your store. A theme's developer should be familiar with the theme's support for third-party apps and other integrations, so it might happen that you will need to contact the theme's customer support to resolve any issues that might resolve as soon as possible. Fast response time, availability of documentation and tutorials are all advantages of a theme.

Pricing

And of course, even if the theme has all of the functionalities that you like and has a design and customizable options, if its not something you can afford or if it has unreasonable price, then you probably won't pick it and will continue to search of an alternative. A balance between features and value for their price is important. There are even some Shopify free themes, however you should expect less flexibility with those.

 

Top themes on Shopify

Let's now look at some of the popular choices and show you why these themes are good 

1. Ella

Let's first look at one of the more affordable options. Majority of Shopify themes are above the price of $300 USD, however this one is below $100. We picked it because it offers quite a lot for such a low-budget theme. It has over 7000+ sales and it receives constant updates. It features many different elements and you can completely customize it to your likings. It is recommended and styled for clothing and fashion brands, however it can also be fitting for other products. It offers a lot of different product pages, category pages, homepages and more! The customization is very flexible and for this price, a lot of other themes would charge you for more. It also comes with features such as multi-language support, product recommendations and more. The coding knowledge is not required at all and everything works with a simple drag and drop mechanism. The performance is great and it is built for fast loading speed. Customer support also turned out to be very reliable and helpful.

Key features of Ella theme:

• Multiple skins for product pages, homepages and other pages in your store,
• Compatible with majority of popular Shopify apps (such as best bundling app in Shopify Bundler - Product Bundles),
• Multiple footers and headers available,
• Bunch of animations such as loading, section and hover animations,
• Built-in store locator,
• Multi-language support,
• Product recommendations,
• Bulk editor,
• Coding knowledge not required, drag-and drop,
• Great performance and great loading speed,
• Great customer support,
• Much more advanced options.

Pricing of Ella theme: $89.00

2. Sense

It's also worth mentioning free themes, since some of them are also quite good and feature functionalities that are great for newer merchants. Sense is an official theme by Shopify that offers surprisingly a lot of different elements for a free theme. It is a very pleasing theme with soft gradients that gently guide your customers through your store. The steps for setup are minimal to allow for a quick launch. It is a theme specifically designed to showcase images and it supports visual brand storytelling. It also has free theme updates and it works with the latest Shopify features. Of course like most themes this one also doesn't require writing any code.

Key features of Sense theme:

• Completely free theme,
• Mobile responsiveness,
• Variety of elements such as mega menu, sticky header, image galleries and more,
• Customizable homepage sections,
• Great for visual marketing with high-resolution images, image rollover, image zoom, and more,
• Bunch of different pages such as blogs, FAQ pages, promo banners, product reviews, recommended products, and more.

Pricing of Sense theme: FREE

3. Dawn

Speaking of free themes, Dawn is probably the most popular free theme in Shopify. It is another theme made by Shopify and the process of setting it up is very simple. The best thing about it is that is very minimalistic and goes right to the point. The customers will have easy time using it and perhaps already be familiar with it since a lot of stores are using Dawn. So we would say this theme is perfect for any merchant just starting out. It features media-focused product pages where you can help your customers see what products look like and get a sense of how they feel. Just like with Sense theme, this one also has quite a number of advanced customization options.

Key features of Dawn theme:

• Minimalistic-focused theme,
• Easy to navigate, customer-friendly,
• Media-forward product pages which helps customers see what products look like and get a sense of how they feel,
• Great for many different pages such as blogs, product reviews and cross-selling,
• Variety of elements such as mega menu, sticky header, slideshow, and more,
• Friendly for all newer merchants.

Price of Dawn theme: FREE

4. Impact

Impact is a high-quality Shopify theme that offers a lot. It is a more colored-oriented theme great for all people who prefer professionalism. It is a modern theme with many updates. You can create a completely unique looking store with features like gradients, big headings and subtle animations. The theme is packed with 35+ sections so you can really make it look like nothing on the market. The theme is optimized for conversion with features like a quick buy on collection pages, sticky add to cart button and other quality-of-life things on product pages. The theme is constantly getting positive reviews and majority of customers are more than satisfied with it. It also has a seamless integration with other Shopify apps such as best subscription app on Shopify Seal Subscriptions. While the only downside may be its price of $380, it offers many additional things that other themes don't have, so you will definitely feel like its something worth investing into.

Key features of Impact theme:

• Colored, typography-oriented theme,
• Frequent updates,
• Customizable gradients, big headings, subtle animations, and more,
• 35+ different sections that allow you to make indefinite amount of different layouts and designs,
• Optimized for conversion,
• Support for EU translations,
• Other elements such as In-menu promos, mega menu, and more.

Price of Impact theme: $380.00

5. Impulse

Impulse is the most popular theme in Shopify theme store. And it is like that for many reasons. It is very flexible and fashionable theme for just any business. It is built with powerful promotions, so it is great if you are run or are planning ot run any promotional campaigns. Theme has dozens of features like 20+ sections, product sales points, metafields, multiple landing, product and collection templates and many more. As mentioned, this theme is built for promotions which means you can keep your customers shopping and maximize product awarness with Impulse's awesome promotion designer. This theme is used by many stores that proecss a large number of transactions in a given period, so it is popular among any popular store built in Shopify.

Key features of Impulse:

• Designed for promotional campaigns,
• Custom promotion designer,
• Intuitive navigation,
• Variety of animations,
• Age verifier,
• Countdown timer,
• Heavily customizable,
• 20+ sections,
• And many more!

Price of Impulse theme: $380.00

Conclusion

The first step when starting your store and before installing other Shopify apps, you will most likely decide on what theme would you like to use. Picking a theme can be a very important choice, so we hope that this article helped you in understanding all the important points that you should consider before proceeding to install a certain theme. From minimalist designs to a flexibility, there is a big array of themes in the Shopify app store. The best thing you can do is to simply just experiment with customization options, and create a theme for your store that will standout from the rest!

Happy theme-building! 🛒