Custom Shopify E-Commerce for Sobetec Solar Boosting Conversions
Simply7 Studio
Like this project
Posted Dec 30, 2025
Developed a high-performance, customizable Shopify site for Sobetec Solar, delivering a site that is 100% editable by the client, lightning-fast, and optimized.
Likes
2
Views
4
Timeline
Jul 25, 2025 - Oct 10, 2025
Project Overview
Client Profile: SobetecSolar Energy
Industry: Renewable Energy / Solar Retail
Location: Nigeria
Project Objective:
Transition to a premium e-commerce platform that converts high-ticket solar leads into sales, consultations and converting consultations to installations and maintenance while maintaining complete internal control over content.
Project Challenge:
SobetecSolar came to us with a common dilemma: they knew they needed an online presence to scale, but they weren't entirely sure how that should look or function to drive actual sales.
The "Vague" Vision: The client was initially unsure of the user journey, requiring us to step in with Product Thinking analyzing buyer personas in the Nigerian solar market (where trust and technical clarity are paramount).
The Constraint: Shopify’s off-the-shelf themes were too restrictive. They needed a site that looked premium and "engineered," not like a generic drop-shipping store.
The Autonomy Requirement: They wanted a bespoke site but didn't want to be "married" to developers for every minor text change or banner update.
Project Strategy:
We recommended Shopify for its robust backend, security, plugins that drive sales and payment integrations but we bypassed the limitations of standard templates by editing the dawn theme template using the Liquid schemas language to match our desired outcome.
Custom Development via Liquid Schema
Using the shopify pre-built dawn theme, we developed every section, itinerary, and page from scratch. By utilizing Liquid Schema, we created a "Drag-and-Drop" experience for the Sobetec team.
Modular Components: Every section (Hero banners, Product grids, Technical spec tables) was hardcoded for performance but mapped to the Shopify Theme Editor.
Zero-Code Management: This allowed the Sobetec team to edit images, text, and even layout order without touching a single line of code, effectively making our role redundant for daily operations.
adding custom sections to the dawn theme
product description page before theme custom schemas
After hardcoded schemas adding products to the custom collection list section inside the theme ui editor
Project Challenges
Building "custom" on Shopify often risks slowing down the site. We faced specific hurdles:
The Speed-Customization Paradox: Hardcoding complex layouts can bloat the theme.1 To counter this, we optimized our CSS and JS delivery, ensuring that only the code needed for a specific page was loaded.
Cross-Device Compatibility: Solar products involve complex data tables and "Savings Calculators." We used CSS Grid and Flexbox to ensure these technical itineraries remained perfectly legible on a N50,000$ Android phone as they are on a 27-inch iMac.
SEO-First Architecture: We didn't just make it pretty; we built it for Google.
Implemented JSON-LD Schema for "Product" and "Local Business" to get rich snippets in search results.
Custom-coded the header hierarchy (H1, H2) to ensure the most important keywords like "Best Solar Inverters in Nigeria" were prioritized by crawlers.
Increased sobetec solar visibility on google by +125% top solar companies in Enugu
Project Results:
By moving Sobetecsolar from a "vague idea" to a "data-driven store," the results were immediate:
Mobile Conversion Rate from N/A to +125% Increase
Organic Search Visibility Top 5 for "Solar Retail in Enugu and to 20 in Nigeria"
Internal Update Time 2-3 Days (Via Dev) but 15 Minutes (Via Editor)
Page Load Speed from 5.2s (Generic Demo) to 1.8s (Custom Liquid)
Project Conclusion:
The success of this project wasn't just in the code; it was in the Product Thinking. We acted as consultants first and developers second. By bridging the gap between "what the client thought they wanted" and "what would actually make a customer in their locality and Nigeria click 'Buy Now'," we built more than a website we built a high-performance sales machine.