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Shopify agency and web design in Rotterdam

Design by Karina is a boutique Shopify agency based in Rotterdam. We design and build Shopify stores and websites for brands in the city, and we work out what your customers need to see before we decide how it looks.

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5.0 ★ on Google · Shopify stores for Zourani, VYOLA and Thereza Pedrosa Gallery · Led by Karina Paviotti, who worked in product design at Uber, helping shape payment experiences for drivers.

Karina Paviotti, founder of Design by Karina, a Shopify agency in Rotterdam

The studio

Who we are, and do we work with Rotterdam brands?

Yes. The studio is in Rotterdam, so a Rotterdam brand is the easiest project to start: we can meet over coffee in the city for the kickoff, or keep everything on video if that suits your week better. We work with brands across the Netherlands and Belgium, and the way we work is the same for all of them. What changes in Rotterdam is that the first conversation can happen at a table instead of a screen.

We build two things:

  • Shopify stores, for fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands that sell their own product.

  • Websites without a store, for studios, practices and service businesses that need people to choose them.

How we work

How does a project run from Rotterdam?

The same four steps as every project, with one difference: you can sit across the table from us.

The same four steps as every project, with one difference: you can sit across the table from us.

Iced coffee in a takeaway cup printed with a custom brand logo

1. Book the intro call

A free 30-minute call. You tell us about the brand, the store and what isn’t working, and we ask a lot of questions, because the real problem isn’t always the one you’d expect.

Café brand identity: menus, cards and labels in red, green and cream

2. Decide what it says

We work out who is buying, what they need to believe and what stops them at checkout. That becomes a written project brief and a sitemap, and you approve both before anything is designed. For a Rotterdam client this is the session we’re happy to hold in person.

Branded café packaging: a tray with a wrapped sandwich, a drink and a coaster

3. Design and build

Your pages are designed around that brief, then built and tested on every screen size. Payments, shipping and policies are in place before launch, so the store can sell from the first day.

Branded takeaway box and coffee cups next to a printed receipt

4. Launch, then learn

We launch together, and you get a training video and 30 days of support. With the Growth Plan, the store keeps improving every month after that.

We reply within 24 hours, Monday to Friday, and work 9am to 6pm. Karina lives just down the river in Dordrecht, so Rotterdam, Dordrecht and the towns in between are all close by.

Rotterdam

What do we see in Rotterdam?

Rotterdam rebuilt the way people shop once before. After the bombing of 1940 destroyed the old center, the city opened the Lijnbaan in 1953: a shopping street designed for people on foot, without cars, at a time when that was new. It has been described as the first purpose-built pedestrian shopping street in Europe, and it became a national monument in 2010.

We like that story because it is the same decision we make on a Shopify store. The Lijnbaan didn’t just put new shop windows on an old street. It changed the route people walk, where they pause and how easy it is to go in. A good store does that online: it decides the route first, then the windows.

Rotterdam rebuilt the way people shop once before. After the bombing of 1940 destroyed the old center, the city opened the Lijnbaan in 1953: a shopping street designed for people on foot, without cars, at a time when that was new. It has been described as the first purpose-built pedestrian shopping street in Europe, and it became a national monument in 2010.

We like that story because it is the same decision we make on a Shopify store. The Lijnbaan didn’t just put new shop windows on an old street. It changed the route people walk, where they pause and how easy it is to go in. A good store does that online: it decides the route first, then the windows.

Where to next

Which services fit a Rotterdam brand?

  • Shopify store design: a first proper store or a store designed for your brand, from strategy to launch.

  • Website design: for studios, practices and service brands that don’t sell online but need people to reach out.

  • Shopify migration: moving from WooCommerce, Wix, Lightspeed or Magento, with your products, customers and order history, and a redirect for every old page, so you keep as much of your Google visibility as possible.

  • Shopify redesign and the Growth Plan, when the store is live but doesn’t sell like the product deserves.

See the stores we built in our work, from Zourani to Thereza Pedrosa Gallery.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

No. We're based in Rotterdam and work with brands across the Netherlands and Belgium, and further away too: our clients include brands in Belgium, Italy and Brazil. Rotterdam just means the first meeting can be in person.

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Do you only work with brands in Rotterdam?

No. We're based in Rotterdam and work with brands across the Netherlands and Belgium, and further away too: our clients include brands in Belgium, Italy and Brazil. Rotterdam just means the first meeting can be in person.

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Do you only work with brands in Rotterdam?

No. We're based in Rotterdam and work with brands across the Netherlands and Belgium, and further away too: our clients include brands in Belgium, Italy and Brazil. Rotterdam just means the first meeting can be in person.

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Do you only work with brands in Rotterdam?

Yes, in Rotterdam or Dordrecht, for the kickoff or the strategy session. Everything else runs by video and email, so you never have to plan your week around us.

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Can we meet in person?

Yes, in Rotterdam or Dordrecht, for the kickoff or the strategy session. Everything else runs by video and email, so you never have to plan your week around us.

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Can we meet in person?

Yes, in Rotterdam or Dordrecht, for the kickoff or the strategy session. Everything else runs by video and email, so you never have to plan your week around us.

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Can we meet in person?

Your location doesn't change the price. The scope does. How many products, a second language, written copy or moving from another platform all add to it. After the intro call you get a proposal with every item next to its price, agreed before we start.

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How much does a website or webshop cost in Rotterdam?

Your location doesn't change the price. The scope does. How many products, a second language, written copy or moving from another platform all add to it. After the intro call you get a proposal with every item next to its price, agreed before we start.

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How much does a website or webshop cost in Rotterdam?

Your location doesn't change the price. The scope does. How many products, a second language, written copy or moving from another platform all add to it. After the intro call you get a proposal with every item next to its price, agreed before we start.

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How much does a website or webshop cost in Rotterdam?

A webshop sells: products, a cart, payments and shipping. A website explains what you do and turns visitors into enquiries or bookings. If you plan to sell online later, tell us now, because building twice is the one thing we'll always talk you out of.

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What is the difference between a website and a webshop?

A webshop sells: products, a cart, payments and shipping. A website explains what you do and turns visitors into enquiries or bookings. If you plan to sell online later, tell us now, because building twice is the one thing we'll always talk you out of.

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What is the difference between a website and a webshop?

A webshop sells: products, a cart, payments and shipping. A website explains what you do and turns visitors into enquiries or bookings. If you plan to sell online later, tell us now, because building twice is the one thing we'll always talk you out of.

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What is the difference between a website and a webshop?

No, and that's on purpose. We make the store convert the traffic you already have. When you're ready for paid ads on top, we're happy to refer a media buyer we trust.

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Do you also run ads for Rotterdam businesses?

No, and that's on purpose. We make the store convert the traffic you already have. When you're ready for paid ads on top, we're happy to refer a media buyer we trust.

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Do you also run ads for Rotterdam businesses?

No, and that's on purpose. We make the store convert the traffic you already have. When you're ready for paid ads on top, we're happy to refer a media buyer we trust.

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Do you also run ads for Rotterdam businesses?

English, Dutch and Portuguese.

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Which languages do you work in?

English, Dutch and Portuguese.

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Which languages do you work in?

English, Dutch and Portuguese.

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Which languages do you work in?

Let’s work together

Looking for a Shopify agency in Rotterdam?

Book a call

Tell us what you’re building and where you’d like to take it. Thirty minutes, free. You talk to Karina directly, and by the end of the call you’ll know whether we’re a good fit. If we’re not, we’ll tell you that too.

Tell us what you’re building and where you’d like to take it. Thirty minutes, free. You talk to Karina directly, and by the end of the call you’ll know whether we’re a good fit. If we’re not, we’ll tell you that too.