Let’s talk about a familiar ecommerce story.
You’ve got a Shopify store. You’ve got products people genuinely want. You’ve got traffic coming in. And yet… revenue feels like it’s being held hostage by a long list of “small” issues:
- The site is slower than it should be
- Checkout drop-off is high
- Tracking is “mostly working” (which is a polite way of saying “it isn’t”)
- Shipping rules are a mystery even to the person who set them up
- Apps keep multiplying like gremlins
- And every fix turns into a project
So you do what most brands do. You look for help.
Option 1: Hire full-time
Which is great — if you’ve got the budget, the time, and the appetite to manage another role.
But hiring full-time for a Shopify tech might seem like the only option, but you don’t always need a full-time person… You need the right person at the right time, with the experience to see the fix instantly.
Option 2: Sign with an agency
And then comes the proposal.
A 12-month contract. A “discovery phase”. A kickoff meeting. A second kickoff meeting (for the kickoff meeting). A Slack channel with 14 people in it. Half of them have job titles that sound like they were invented during a team-building retreat.
You know the scene: beanbags, neon signs, and a “culture wall” that says “Move Fast” while you wait three weeks for someone to update a button colour.
To be fair, plenty of agencies are good.
But if you’ve ever felt like your store is being serviced by a process instead of improved by a person… you’re not alone.
The Digital Uplift Way: Fractional Shopify CTO Support (No Nonsense. No Contracts.)
At Digital Uplift, we act as your Fractional Shopify CTO — the person who owns your Shopify tech stack and removes the barriers that stop your store growing.
Not advice. Not endless strategy decks. Not “we’ll add it to the sprint.”
We handle the work. We prioritise the work. We ship the work.
And we do it without tying you into long contracts or making you translate your business into agency-speak.
What a Fractional Shopify CTO Actually Does
A proper Shopify CTO service isn’t just “someone who knows Shopify.”
It’s someone who understands that ecommerce is a chain — and the weakest link is where revenue leaks out.
A Fractional Shopify CTO helps you:
- decide what matters (and what doesn’t)
- fix what’s broken
- simplify the stack
- make the store faster, smoother, and easier to buy from
- keep improvements moving every week
In short: we bring momentum and ownership.
Our Core Services (aka: the stuff that’s quietly killing conversion)
1) Shopify Tech Stack Management
Your Shopify store is not just “a theme.”
It’s a living ecosystem of apps, integrations, tracking scripts, feeds, and settings that can either work together… or fight each other every time you press publish.
We take ownership of:
- Theme and performance (speed, UX issues, layout bugs)
- Apps and integrations (what to keep, what to remove, what’s conflicting)
- Shopify Markets and international selling setup
- Tracking, analytics and attribution basics (the unglamorous stuff that matters)
Goal: a cleaner, faster, more stable store that scales without drama.
2) Ecommerce Operations Setup (Orders, Shipping, Inventory)
Selling online sounds simple until you’ve got:
- multiple product types
- different shipping rules
- fragile items, oversized items, or international orders
- inventory in more than one place
- returns, exchanges, and customer expectations
For new sellers especially, we help set up practical systems for:
- packing workflows
- fulfilment processes
- shipping templates and profiles
- inventory control across platforms
Goal: fewer mistakes, fewer support issues, and smoother fulfilment.
3) Sourcing & Imports Support (Without the Surprise Costs)
If you’ve ever ordered stock and then discovered “import charges” are not just a suggestion — you’ll understand this one.
We support brands with guidance around:
- sourcing strategy
- estimating landed cost
- import duties/VAT
- planning for port clearance and delivery timelines
Goal: fewer surprises, better margins, and smarter planning.
4) Payment Gateway Setup & Checkout Optimisation
Checkout is where revenue either happens… or disappears.
We help you set up and optimise payment options that increase conversion, including:
- choosing the right payment gateways
- improving checkout speed and flow
- reducing friction for different markets
- ensuring payment methods match customer expectations
Goal: smoother checkouts, less drop-off, more completed orders.
5) Shipping Setup for Worldwide Delivery
Shipping is one of the biggest conversion killers when it’s unclear or inconsistent.
We build shipping rules that actually make sense:
- zones, rates, and thresholds
- product-based shipping logic
- delivery messaging that reduces support tickets
- international delivery structure that doesn’t break at the first edge case
Goal: confident customers and fewer “why is shipping £___?” messages.
6) Customer Journey Building (Email Automation & Funnels)
If your only “marketing” is hoping people come back… you’re leaving money on the table.
We build customer journeys that convert:
- abandoned cart recovery that doesn’t sound desperate
- enquiry follow-up automations
- post-purchase flows
- win-back and retention sequences
- incentives that don’t wreck margins
Goal: more repeat customers and better lifetime value — without you manually chasing people.
Why “No Contracts” Matters (and why we mention it a lot)
Long contracts make sense when you’re delivering a big build with fixed scope.
But most Shopify brands don’t need a 12-month relationship to change a heading, fix a bug, clean up the stack, and improve conversion.
They need:
- a capable operator
- fast prioritisation
- consistent delivery
- and zero nonsense
So we keep it simple:
- one monthly fee
- priority-based delivery
- clear updates
- no long-term lock-ins
We earn the relationship by getting results — not by holding you hostage with terms and conditions.
Who This Is For
You’ll love a Fractional Shopify CTO service if you:
- want one person accountable for getting improvements shipped
- are tired of freelancer roulette and agency delays
- feel like your store has “too many moving parts”
- want better conversion but don’t want a 40-page CRO audit you’ll never implement
The Beanbag Clause (Unofficial, but spiritually accurate)
We don’t do beanbags.
We don’t do buzzwords.
We don’t do “let’s circle back.”
We do:
- identify the revenue blockers
- prioritise them properly
- and get them fixed
If that sounds like what your Shopify store needs, let’s talk.
Contact Digital Uplift — and let’s make your store easier to buy from.