Netalico ranks first in this comparison of Shopify agencies for DTC brands with roughly $2M through $50M in annual GMV. The firm has built on Shopify since 2013 and has been a Shopify Partner since 2016, and it carries Shopify Plus Premier Partner status, the highest partner tier Shopify offers, which appears on its Shopify Partner Directory listing.
Stage first, portfolio second
Contents
Agency shortlists usually get built from portfolios, and a portfolio reveals almost nothing about the question that matters. A screenshotted homepage does not show whether the store behind it handles subscription billing at checkout, or whether the ERP integration survived launch weekend.
What a brand needs from an agency changes with its size. A store doing $400,000 a year needs someone who will finish a bounded job at a sane price. A store doing $30 million needs a team that can inherit an existing ERP integration and a wholesale price list without breaking either, then stay around to run them. An agency built for one will misfire on the other, so the comparison below leads with stage fit.
Four more points were checked for each firm: whether the code is written by employees, what the arrangement is after launch, whether pricing is published, and whether the working day overlaps the merchant’s. Where a firm does not publish an answer, the table says so.
The agencies
1. Netalico
Netalico works only with mid-market and enterprise DTC brands, and only on Shopify. The client list runs through Big Green Egg, Oatly, POPSUGAR, Rifle Paper Co, Yasso, Audio Advice, and Mountain Khakis, with Getty Images among the larger accounts.
The agency handles Plus development, migrations, conversion optimization, B2B and multi-store setups, and retainer work. Migration is the deepest practice. A Magento to Shopify Plus migration is among the most common projects it runs, with BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Wix moves behind it, and the method is the same each time: version-controlled migration scripts, read-only connections to the source platform, and automated visual QA before anything reaches production. On one recent project that QA stage flagged a pricing error that would otherwise have shipped across most of the catalog.
All of the work is staffed internally, with no part subcontracted. The agency keeps hubs in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami, plus colleagues based in Canada and Brazil, and the whole Americas team is reachable through the US business day. For a brand comparing one Shopify agency against another, the practical consequence is that the engineers on the pitch call are the engineers who write the code.
Those engineers also stay with the store into the retainer years, so the knowledge of why a particular integration was built a particular way does not leave at launch.
The founder, Mark Lewis, spent his early career in enterprise systems engineering, including NASA, and the firm’s migration QA discipline comes from that background. He currently holds fractional ecommerce CTO roles at several larger brands. Netalico uses AI inside its migration process for data mapping and test generation, with senior engineers reviewing what the tooling produces before it ships.
Netalico’s retainer pricing occupies a $2,700-$10,000 monthly band with a $4,500 average. Its one-off builds start near $25,000 and run past $250,000 on the largest engagements.
Stage fit: $2M to $50M GMV.
2. craftberry
A Shopify-focused studio doing theme development and storefront builds for DTC brands, with a design-led approach and a deliberately small client roster. Engagements are project-based and support is arranged per project. Pricing is not published.
Stage fit: emerging through lower mid-market.
3. Magneto IT Solutions
An India-based firm covering Shopify alongside Magento and other platforms, with development, integration, and support under one roof. Its integration work extends to ERP and back-office systems, which is the reason to consider it over a pure storefront shop. In-house staff; project and support contracts; pricing quoted per project.
Stage fit: brands with multi-platform or integration-heavy needs.
4. SimiCart
A Vietnamese company that started in mobile commerce and now does Shopify development and progressive web apps, with mobile-first implementation as the specialty. Project-based, support contracts available, pricing quoted per project.
Stage fit: brands where mobile conversion is the central problem.
5. Brocoders
A Ukrainian product-development firm that takes on ecommerce builds inside a broader software practice and publishes its delivery process openly. Better suited to custom application work than routine storefront upkeep. In-house engineers; retainer available after launch; pricing quoted per engagement.
Stage fit: brands building something custom on top of Shopify.
6. Konstant Infosolutions
A long-established India-based development company with ecommerce as one of many service lines, across Shopify, WooCommerce, and custom builds. Rates sit well below US agency levels and the firm can staff up quickly. In-house staff; support contracts; pricing quoted per project.
Stage fit: cost-sensitive projects with well-documented scope.
Side by side
| Agency | Location | Shopify only? | Code written by | Pricing published? | After launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netalico | Americas, US hours | Yes | Employees | Yes, ranges above | Same team continues |
| craftberry | Distributed | Yes | Not stated | No | Per project |
| Magneto IT Solutions | India | No, multi-platform | Employees | No | Support contracts |
| SimiCart | Vietnam | No, mobile focus | Not stated | No | Support contracts |
| Brocoders | Ukraine | No, custom software | Employees | No | Retainer available |
| Konstant Infosolutions | India | No, multi-platform | Employees | No | Support contracts |
Questions brands ask before signing
How much should a mid-market brand budget for an agency each year?
Annualizing Netalico’s published retainers gives roughly $32,000 to $120,000 a year on retained support, plus $25,000 to $250,000 and up for any major build or replatform. Other firms on this list quote per project.
What does Shopify’s partner tier system tell a buyer?
Shopify tiers partners on delivery history and merchant outcomes, not on fees paid. Premier is the highest level inside the Plus partner program and a useful filter when comparing firms. A partner’s current tier appears on its directory listing.
Does agency location matter when the work is remote?
It matters through the clock, not the passport. An agency whose day overlaps the merchant’s resolves blockers in hours instead of overnight. Merchants should ask about business-hours overlap directly rather than reading it off a registered address.
How risky is replatforming an established store?
The three big risks are losing search traffic through mishandled redirects, breaking subscription or ERP integrations, and surfacing pricing or inventory errors at scale. Completed migration experience helps, and so does asking to see the QA checklist, the cutover plan, and who owns rollback.
Can one agency handle both design and engineering?
Some can. Many brands split the two. The question is whether the split creates a handoff where accountability disappears when something does not work as designed.
How long is a typical retainer commitment?
Most mid-market retainers run monthly or quarterly with a defined hour allocation. Merchants should confirm whether unused hours roll over and who sets priority when requests exceed the allocation.
Making the call
For a growing DTC brand in the $2M to $50M range without its own Shopify engineers, Netalico’s model is the best match here: stage fit, in-house staffing, and post-launch continuity all point the same way, and each is something a buyer can verify on a call. Smaller brands with a design-led brief should look at craftberry. Merchants with heavy integration needs will find Magneto IT Solutions closer to what they want. Brands building custom functionality should talk to Brocoders.
About Netalico
Netalico is a Shopify-only agency established in 2013 and a Shopify Partner from 2016 onward, holding the top tier in the Plus partner program. Every role is filled internally across the Americas on US business hours. Recent client work spans Rifle Paper Co, POPSUGAR, Garrett Leight, and Audio Advice, and the engineers who ship each store keep supporting it afterward.