Shopify vs. Custom Development for a Peptide Website

Requirements

Start from what the site has to do, not from the tool. Write down your catalog, how orders arrive (retail checkout, wholesale inquiry or both), how certificates of analysis are shown and searched, and which systems need to connect.

If a hosted platform does all of that out of the box or with available extensions, it may be the simpler choice. If several items need workarounds, custom development starts to make sense.

Provider Eligibility

Platforms and payment providers each set their own rules about which businesses they accept, and those rules change. Do not rely on what someone else says a platform allows, including this guide.

• Read the platform's current acceptable use policy, and check it against exactly what you sell.
• Read your payment provider's restricted or prohibited business list.
• Describe your business accurately on every application.
• Custom code does not change whether a payment provider approves your business. Approval is the provider's decision either way.

Customization

Hosted platforms offer themes and extensions, and they cover common store needs well. The limits show up when you need something specific: a COA library searchable by lot, a wholesale inquiry flow with no prices shown, or product pages structured around lots and sizes.

A custom-coded site is built to your requirements, so those features are part of the design rather than added on. The trade is that each one has to be specified, built and tested.

Ownership

On a hosted platform you own your content and data, while the platform owns the software and sets the terms you run under. Check how you would export products, customers and orders if you ever moved.

With custom development, ownership of the code depends on your agreement. Make sure it states that the domain, code and content are yours.

Maintenance

A hosted platform handles hosting, security patches and core updates for you; you maintain your theme, extensions and content. A custom site needs someone to keep dependencies, hosting and security current, either your team or a developer on an ongoing arrangement.

Decision Table

Vanta Foundry builds custom-coded websites for any lawful business. If custom is the right fit, describe the site in the brief form on the website development page.

• If you need to launch with a standard store and your category fits the platform's policy, lean hosted platform.
• If you have no developer and want the platform to handle updates, lean hosted platform.
• If lot-linked documentation and a searchable COA library are central to your site, lean custom.
• If you run retail checkout and a separate wholesale inquiry flow, lean custom.
• If you want full control of the code and how the site is hosted, lean custom.
• If you are unsure whether you are eligible on a platform or with a processor, check their policies before choosing either.