Theme engineering · campaign logic · zero dependencies
Native theme architecture instead of app sprawl. Scalable, maintainable, performant.
Bekateq sells technically demanding coatings and paints with heavily campaign-driven sales. The existing Dawn-based store needed functional extensions — but without additional app dependencies, keeping performance, maintainability and control entirely within the theme.
4,400+
Lines of custom code
24
Individual collection templates
0
External app dependencies
The Challenge
The store needed multiple complex extensions simultaneously: campaign-capable discount communication, dynamic shipping information per variant, extensible collection structures with sub-navigation, landing pages with custom logic, and SEO improvements at template level. An app-based approach would have led to performance losses, inconsistent UX, and a hard-to-maintain setup.
The Solution
smplx. worked as technical development partner on the evolution of the Dawn theme — focused on a scalable, configurable and performant architecture. All features were implemented natively with Liquid, CSS and vanilla JS, and are fully manageable through the Shopify Theme Editor.
What we did
- —Discount bar system: fixed-position discount bar with code-copy and auto-apply modes, bilingual, configurable in Theme Editor
- —Dynamic shipping display: variant-specific shipping info based on metafields, reactive on variant change
- —Collection hero & sub-navigation: split layout with automatic sub-collection navigation from menu structure
- —Black Friday landing page: modular one-page section with countdown, category grid, top deals and newsletter signup (50+ Theme Editor settings)
- —Dynamic sale section: metafield-driven automatic category generation with grid/carousel layouts and pagination
- —Promotional badge system: SVG rosettes for product cards and navigation, collection-based
- —SEO improvements: meta description fallbacks, alt text fallbacks, sessionStorage breadcrumbs
- —24 individual collection templates for all product categories
Our role: technical development partner for the evolution of the Shopify theme and implementation of complex, campaign-driven features — focused on a scalable, metadata-based architecture without external dependencies.
Zero dependencies: Why we built everything natively in the theme
The problem with app dependencies
Every Shopify app loads its own JavaScript and CSS. With five apps, that's easily 500 KB+ of additional payload, plus uncontrollable render-blocking scripts and inconsistent styling. For a campaign-driven store that depends on performance, that's not acceptable. Our decision: zero external apps. Everything native in the theme.
Metafield-driven architecture
Instead of storing data in apps, we use Shopify Metafields as single source of truth. The discount bar reads its configuration from metafields, shipping displays react to variant-specific metafields, the dynamic sale section generates categories automatically from metafield data. This means: the merchant controls everything from the Shopify admin — no app dashboards, no external logins.
50+ Theme Editor settings for a single section
The Black Friday landing page is a good example of the approach: a modular section with over 50 configurable settings in the Theme Editor. Countdown timer, category grid layout, featured deals, newsletter signup — all toggleable, colour-customisable, text-editable. The merchant doesn't need a developer for the next campaign — they configure in the Theme Editor.
24 collection templates: Why not one for all?
Bekateq's product categories have different requirements: paints need colour swatch displays, coatings need technical data sheets, sets need bundle overviews. Instead of overloading one generic template with conditional logic, we built 24 specialised templates. Each template is lean, performant, and precisely tailored to its category.
Tech stack
Key insight
App sprawl is one of the most common performance problems in Shopify stores. The alternative isn't 'no features' — it's features that live natively in the theme. 4,400 lines of custom code sounds like a lot, but they replace 5+ apps that would each bring their own scripts, stylesheets, and external API calls.