Building a Jewellery Brand's First Online Store
CircleNine is a new jewellery brand building from the ground up — no existing website, no ecommerce presence, no digital footprint. The founder had a vision for the brand and products but needed a development partner who could move fast, iterate as the business took shape, and handle the technical side without weeks of meetings that go nowhere.
Client
CircleNine
Industry
Jewellery
Project
Shopify Store Build & Customization
Service
Shopify Development
Status
Ongoing partnership (started September 2025)
Challenge
The Challenge
Before finding us, the founder had worked with other agencies. The experience was the same pattern: hours of meetings, detailed planning documents, timelines that stretched — but nothing actually getting built. They needed a team that was hands-on and ready to ship.
Approach
Theme Setup, Customization & Ongoing Development
Starting with a Shopify Theme
The client had already selected a theme from the Shopify Theme Store. Rather than building from scratch (which would have added cost and time for a bootstrapped brand), we took the smart approach: set up the theme properly, build out all pages using the existing components, and customize from there.
Finding and Fixing Theme Issues
As we built out the store, we uncovered issues with the theme — things that didn't work as expected or didn't fit the brand's needs. We fixed these alongside the buildout rather than treating them as separate tickets.
Custom Components
The client had specific ideas for how certain parts of the store should work that went beyond what the theme offered. We customized existing components where possible and built entirely new components where needed — extending the theme without breaking its upgrade path.
Iterative, Ongoing Partnership
This isn't a "build and hand over" project. CircleNine is bootstrapping — the founder is investing his own money, building stock, getting product photography done, and growing the brand step by step. We work alongside that pace:
Build what's needed now
Iterate as the brand evolves
Add features as the business grows
No pressure to spend money that isn't there yet
Outcome
What the Client Values
Hands-on, not hand-off
We're in the Shopify admin building things, not sending decks about what we'll build someday.
Fast iteration
Need a change? It gets done. Not queued, not scoped into a change request, not scheduled for next sprint. Just done.
Real partnership
We understand that a bootstrapped brand can't plan 6 months ahead. We work with what's real now and grow with the business.
Tech stack
Starting a New Brand?
You don't need a massive budget to get a great store. We work with new brands at their pace — build what matters now, iterate as you grow.