Best Minimal Shopify Themes
There are over 100 Shopify themes to choose from in the Shopify Theme Store and thousands in third-party marketplaces like Themeforest, Template Monster, etc.
If you are starting an ecommerce store, you want the nest around.
The current trend is away from elaborate themes and towards minimal Shopify themes that use plenty of “white space”. Perhaps, this is simply a design preference in some cases and it can certainly be an effective way to showcase your best products.
But there are also some solid practical reasons to “go minimal”. Minimal Shopify themes use little code and are quick to load. They do well in the search engines and they generally provide a slick customer experience, especially for mobile users, who increasingly dominate ecommerce sales.
Shopify merchants face a constant balancing act of providing the best possible functionality for customers without making the site too “top-heavy”. A slow-loading, code-heavy site does nobody any favors and will damage rankings as well as conversions.
So, the advantages of a minimal Shopify theme are many. But which of the minimal themes are best?
We have gone through user reviews and download statistics to compile the following rundown of the best minimal Shopify themes and templates – as suggested by Shopify merchants themselves.
What is a minimal Shopify theme?
A minimal theme uses plenty of “white space” or “negative space”. That is, there is plenty of space between the main elements on each page.
That doesn’t mean that your website is necessarily mainly white (though it can be) – only that the elements on the page are easily separated and the use of color is generally minimized to a simple palette (one or two main colors).
Pixel Union are known for making great looking themes.
Minimal Shopify themes remove unnecessary menus, tabs and other elements. They are simple to navigate and remove everything that doesn’t support the main goals of the website or does nothing for the overall user experience.
A minimal theme helps your store feel clean, uncluttered, and uncrowded. Because there are fewer potential “distractions”, this can help users focus on the products and, therefore, aid conversions.
It won’t be news to any store owner that customers do not wait around for slow-loading pages. They click away and shop elsewhere. Slow sites are probably the biggest deterrent of all to making sales.
The absence of unnecessary coding with minimal Shopify themes is considered a major positive because pages load quickly. Page-load speed is also an important Google ranking factor according to those in the know, meaning that a minimal theme should help your search rankings.
Most stores using minimal themes are notable also because they use large and well-defined images, contrasting colors that are easy to read and bold typography (again, easy to read).
Many of the features of minimal themes are geared towards mobile use – which makes sense given that 68 percent of smartphone traffic worldwide in 2020 was mobile and 32 percent from desktop, according to SaleCycle’s 2021 Ecommerce Stats & Trends Report.
The top 10 minimal Shopify themes
Shopify merchants can download free or paid themes from the Shopify Theme Store or a third-party marketplace.
The following minimal Shopify themes are listed in no particular order. They are all popular and well-reviewed themes and most can do a wonderful job for fashion, apparel or beauty store entrepreneurs looking to get set up and start selling on the Shopify platform…
Outstock
Highlights
- Simple, clean. modern and mobile-friendly
- Drag and drop setup
- Best for: high-end furniture and fashion stores
- Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars by 65 Shopify merchants
- Price: $41
- Released: 2017 (last updated in 2021)
Quickshop
Highlights
- Responsive Shopify sections
- Drag and drop setup
- Best for: fashion and food stores
- Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars by 105 Shopify merchants
- Price: $56
- Released: 2014 (last updated in 2018)
November
Highlights
- Built on the latest version of Shopify
- Includes multipurpose sections
- Best for: fashion stores and cosmetic stores
- Rated 5 out of 5 stars by 38 Shopify merchants
- Price: $29
- Released: 2020 (last updated in 2021)
Xstore
Highlights
- Simple, clean. modern and mobile-friendly
- Highly customizable
- Best for: fashion stores, accessory stores, and furniture stores
- Rated 5 out of 5 stars by 17 Shopify merchants
- Price: $59
- Released: 2020 (last updated in 2021)
Vodoma
Highlights
- One of the fastest loading themes
- Multiple language support
- Best for: fashion stores and cosmetic stores
- Rated 4.97 out of 5 stars by 35 Shopify merchants
- Price: $34
- Released: 2020 (last updated in 2021)
Beauty Store
Highlights
- Clean and flexible design
- 100% mobile-responsive theme with all modern mobile devices
- Best for: makeup store, cosmetics and beauty shops
- Rated 5 out of 5 stars by 19 Shopify merchants
- Price: $53
- Released: 2017 (last updated in 2020)
Oreo
Highlights
- Simple, clean and modern, offering a great user experience
- 20+ homepages to choose from
- Best for: fashion stores and apparel stores
- Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars by 10 Shopify merchants
- Price: $59
- Released: 2018 (last updated in 2019)
Salehub
Highlights
- One of the latest minimal themes to be offered
- Great for t-shirt and clothing retailers
- Specifically designed for clothing and fashion stores
- Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars by 19 Shopify merchants
- Price: $48
- Released: 2021 (last updated in 2021 )
Manor
Highlights
- Clean. modern drag and drop theme
- Best for: fashion and accessories stores
- Rated 4.11 out of 5 stars by 19 Shopify merchants
- Price: $28
- Released: 2018 (last updated in 2019)
Ap Strollik
Highlights
- Single-product Shopify theme
- Not suitable for fashion stores with multiple products lines
- Best for: single item stores like those selling skateboards, strollers, toys, etc.
- Rated 5 out of 5 stars by 38 Shopify merchants
- Price: $56
- Released: 2020 (last updated in 2021)
Do you agree with our choice of the best minimal Shopify themes?
We think the 10 themes detailed above are the best minimal Shopify themes right now…do you agree?
If you are starting a new store, play around with a few of them, test them out and see which one works best for you.
Remember, you don’t need any coding knowledge with Shopify. Simply find a theme design that suits you and, more importantly, your customers – and then use the many features of the Shopify platform and its countless downloadable apps to start selling your products.
