In this Shopify Shine theme review, you’ll learn you don’t need to pay for a premium theme to get premium features.
💡 We meticulously evaluate Shopify themes and apps based on our hands-on experience. Read more about our comprehensive review process and methodology.
The Shine theme is a newly launched theme that aims to provide a value-for-money solution for those looking to have premium features but don’t want to pay more than $300, or worse $400, for a single theme.
This theme is not just all about looks as it combines beauty and functionality that can help you create a stunning store that’s capable of handling all your needs without added costs from other apps.
So if that’s what you’re looking for in a Shopify theme, you’re in the right place. Let’s get started!
Shine Theme Review: What You Need To Know?
Shine is a premium Shopify theme that’s designed to be flexible to accommodate most online store niches. It is among the newly launched themes in the ever-expanding Shopify theme store.
And since you can avail it right from the theme store, you can rest assured that this theme is built solely for Shopify stores and with merchants in mind.
Developers Of The Shine Theme
As mentioned, the Shopify Shine theme is fairly new to the market. However, that does not mean that it cannot go toe-to-toe with other seasoned themes in the platform.
We’re not just talking about the design of the theme itself. Instead, we’re talking about Shine theme’s developers, SalesHunter Themes.
Before making Shopify themes, SalesHunter developers have been dominating the landing page space in Shopify. That’s because SalesHunter is built by the same people behind PageFly.
In case you don’t know, PageFly is the most popular and highest-ranking landing page builder for Shopify.
With more than 10,000 reviews, PageFly has managed to maintain an almost-perfect review from its very large user base.
As such, this shows that the PageFly team knows how to create not just beautiful pages, but also functional ones.
Now that PageFly has branched out to creating Shopify themes through SalesHunter, users are assured that these themes are developed with the utmost effort and a high-level understanding of ecommerce needs. And of course, users will be backed by a highly efficient support team.
And speaking of service, we’re working hard to provide all SalesHunter theme users with a 24/7 support team (in the very near future), just like what PageFly users enjoy.
Other Themes By SalesHunterThemes
The Shine theme by SalesHunterThemes is not just the only one created by the company. There are three well-received themes under our belt:
- Blum theme
- Electro theme
- Shine theme
All these Shopify themes are listed in the Shopify theme store. And before we go in-depth with the Shine theme, let’s talk about Blum and Electro for a moment.
Blum Shopify theme
Rating: 100% positive (40+ reviews)
Pricing: $170
The Blum theme is a multipurpose Shopify theme for virtually any type of online store. It has a great focus on visual storytelling and some animations to make a truly appealing and impactful experience.
It has four theme styles:
- Celia - best for fashion and luxury brands
- Solie - best for athletic and outdoor brands
- Mondo - best for chic, youthful, and vibrant brands
- Crafts - best for artisans, and home and garden brands
Similar to the Shine Shopify theme, Blum is packed with features but it’s priced slightly lower at $170.
Read more: Blum Shopify Theme Review
Electro Shopify theme
Rating: 100% positive (20+ reviews)
Pricing: $170
From the name itself, the Electro theme is specifically designed for consumer electronics and tech brands. It has well-proportioned product tiles, and well-spaced sections that can help make an electronic Shopify store stand out.
Electro has three theme styles:
- Audio
- Surveillance
- Gadget
All these themes are perfect for consumer electronics. But if you truly like the aesthetics, the theme is flexible enough to be molded for other types of niches.
Just like Blum, Electronic is available for a bargain price of only $170 in the Shopify theme store.
Quick read: Electro Theme Review
Shine Theme By SalesHunter: Let’s Take A Tour
Now that you know more about SalesHunter, let’s take a tour of the Shopify Shine theme page by page. But before that let’s talk about the two theme styles of the Shine theme.
Shine Theme Templates
The Shine Shopify theme has two templates or theme styles. These are:
- Sophisticated
- Energetic
Sophisticated theme style
The Sophisticated theme style can be described as neutral and elegant with just the right amount of sophistication. Some Shopify themes go overboard when creating luxurious-looking themes. However, this could scare away potential customers as they give the impression that the products are expensive.
On the other hand, Sophisticated is well-balanced. It has the right attributes of a premium Shopify theme while maintaining a “relatable” charisma through the proper combination of colors and fonts.
As such, it is suited for mid to upscale fashion brands. But with the right customization, it can also accommodate brands that target a younger audience.
Since it features cosmetics in the demo store, Sophisticated will work best with cosmetic brands - be it an upscale brand or a more affordable one.
Energetic theme style
The Energetic theme style is more like the opposite of the Sophisticated theme style.
Sophisticated exudes a relaxed persona through its neutral colors, elegant fonts, and overall appearance. And on the other hand, the Energetic kind of exudes a more active, fast-paced appeal. This is evident in its italicized fonts and animations.
As such, Energetic will be a great fit for brands that cater to outdoor-loving or adrenaline-loving audiences. Thus, Energetic is best suited for sports equipment, adventure, and workout gear retailers.
But of course, you can always customize it in the theme editor to fit your online store regardless of niche.
Now that we’re done discussing the two theme styles of the Shine Shopify theme, let’s take a side-by-side tour of their pages.
Homepage
Let’s start with the homepage.
The homepage of the Sophisticated theme style went bold without going overboard. If you noticed, there are no white backgrounds here. Instead, the entire homepage is clad with pastel colors that are neutral enough so as not to steal focus from the large image tiles.
The carousel for product images is a great idea because Shopify stores can showcase their best-sellers in a thin short section.
The gradient hues on certain sections add a nice flair to the overall feel of the theme. Thus, creating a more impactful first impression to your online visitors.
Similar to the Sophisticated theme style, Energetic did not make use of white background for their homepage – which is a common direction for other Shopify themes who want to add a touch of minimalism and modernity to their design.
Both these styles are neither minimalist because colors are everywhere and product tiles are attention-grabbing. However, they are both modern in design, which many online stores would appreciate when creating a store design.
Aside from the color palette and fonts, the biggest difference between the two theme styles is the appearance of their product tiles. Sophisticated uses rounded-square image blocks while Energetic image blocks are more square and edgy.
Main Menu
The Shopify Shine theme employs a different approach in its main menus for its theme styles. Thus, giving more options for designing Shopify stores.
Sophisticated uses in-menu images for its product collections to give more context to online shoppers. But at the same time, the mega menu is also used on other menu items to give a more expansive selection to the audience. This works well in improving website navigation as everything is within reach in just a few clicks.
The Energetic theme style also uses in-menu images for its collections from the menu bar. However, the mega menu was not used in designing other menu items, thus giving a simpler browsing experience.
Be that as it may, if you want to use the Energetic theme style, you can create a mega menu just like that of the Sophisticated template.
Product Page
Let’s now take a look at the unique iteration for the product pages of the Shopify Shine theme.
The Sophisticated theme style carries over the gradient background from the homepage to the product page.
The product page is very spacious, allowing you to add the story behind the efforts that go into your products. And as you may know, customers love a good story. Fortunately, the Sophisticated theme style is great for visual storytelling.
The Energetic theme style is more straightforward. Product images are laid out within the page, making it more immersive to shop.
Both theme styles can be used for effective storytelling in product pages as you can add more sections to effectively convey your brand message on your product pages. And considering the large default image blocks, you get to wow your customers with high-quality product images.
Collections
The Shopify Shine theme takes an unconventional approach in terms of presenting the collections to potential shoppers.
There is no collection page by default. Instead, collections are integrated directly in the menu bar so that in just one click, the shoppers can access the collections without going to another page. This approach is applicable on both Sophisticated and energetic theme styles.
Overall Feel
The Shine theme by SalesHunter is truly a unique theme that does not conform to the usual routes of other Shopify themes.
For example, most themes use a solid color for the background, whereas Sophisticated makes use of a gradient background.
For a more seamless browsing experience, the Shine theme also integrated the collections within the menu. Whereas other themes would redirect customers to a different page.
All these contribute to creating a Shopify store that’s optimized to convert visitors into customers.
Overall, the Shine theme exudes a modern overall feel. It’s snappy, the images are crisp, and the design itself is unique.
What We Think About The Shine Theme
After exploring the Shine Shopify theme, you might have formed your own opinion of it. And truth be told, people would have varying appreciation for this theme.
But regardless of opinion, the true test of whether a Shopify theme is good or not is its price and the features that come with it. More importantly, its performance when it’s put to the test.
For that, let’s be a bit more discerning in testing the theme.
Starting with the price.
Pricing
The Shine theme sits at the lower-middle part of the spectrum at only $210.
There are more than 200 themes in Shopify (including the free ones). The price range for paid Shopify themes starts for as low as $140 to the $450 mark.
As such, the Shopify Shine theme can be considered an affordable choice.
And later in this review, as you get to know its key features, you’ll find out why it isn’t just affordable, instead, it’s a bargain.
Key Features Of Shine Theme
Shine by SalesHunter has a bunch of theme features that will be useful for most kinds of Shopify stores.
Do note that the prices that Shopify themes command don’t just depend on their unique designs, but also on the features that they come with out of the box.
Although the Shopify themes are naturally well-designed, it can be expected that low-priced themes would have fewer usable features than higher-priced themes.
However, this can’t be said to be true with the Shine Shopify theme.
This theme has a lot of out-of-the-box features for its price when compared with other themes. Let’s take a look at its features.
SalesHunter pre-loaded the Shine theme with useful features so that new Shopify store owners won’t have to be bothered paying for additional apps for small added features.
After all, SalesHunter knows that small expenses add up as time goes by. And for a new Shopify business, savings on operational expenses could go a long way.
Here are the premium features of the Shine theme.
- Slide-out and Sticky cart
- In-menu promos and Promo pop-ups
- Countdown timer
- Product badges
- Promo banners
- Store locator
- Stock counter
- Before/after image slider
- Image hotspot
- Color swatches
- Infinite scroll
- Breadcrumbs
With these many added features that can only be found on more premium themes, the Shine Shopify theme can compete toe-to-toe with high-tier themes.
Shine Theme Vs. Other Themes
It’s true, Shine has a bunch of theme features that can be compared with a more expensive theme from the Shopify theme store.
Let’s take the Prestige theme as an example.
Priced at $380, it has very few advantages when compared to the Shine theme in terms of features.
The Prestige theme, which is almost double the price of the Shine theme only has these additional features:
- Promo tiles
- Right-to-left
- Recently viewed
- Animation
- Ingredients/nutritional information
- Usage information
- Collection page navigation
These added features may not be considered major ones as these can be optional when designing a store. For example, not all Shopify stores need animation in their websites. In fact, we’ve only seen a few Shopify stores with animations as it can be taxing to the load speed – which can be detrimental to user experience.
Additionally, nutritional and usage information is a case-to-case application as these can only be useful for food and beverage businesses. Be that as it may, you can always design a section out of any theme if you want to add these.
Lastly, the Shine theme does not have collection page navigation as it takes an unconventional approach by integrating collections right at the mega menu for faster access. As such, it’s a matter of preference on which one you would choose.
Let’s Do A Speed Test
A beautifully designed theme would be no use if it’s sluggish, no matter how many features it has.
According to Akamai UK, almost half or 40% of customers would leave an online store if it takes more than three seconds to load.
Thus, page speed is of utmost importance when choosing a theme. And we’re proud to share that the Shine Shopify theme nailed it in terms of speed optimization.
To best show what we’re talking about, let’s take a look at the test results using Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
Note: Google uses some specific parameters to measure the overall performance of a website. To know more about these parameters, check out their explanation of core web vitals.
Desktop version
The desktop version of the Shine theme’s demo store passed all six of Google’s core web vitals. This means that customers who are browsing a store that uses this theme won’t experience any delay visual and time delay.
And as you can see, the Shine theme did not merely pass the test. It passed the test with a lot more space to spare.
Mobile version
The mobile version of the Shine theme’s demo store also passes the test. Although it isn’t as lightning-fast as that of the mobile version, the mobile version would still be as snappy and users won’t see a noticeable difference.
Why is speed testing important?
Speed testing a Shopify theme before committing to it is extremely important as this affects the entire user experience. Additionally, by using PageSpeed Insight’s core web vitals, you’ll see how themes perform in a multidimensional facet.
The speed test results also speak volumes as regards a theme’s code architecture. And as you witnessed, the Shopify Shine theme is well-designed not just in terms of looks, but in terms of back-end architecture.
Wrapping It Up…
There are more than 200 choices in the Shopify theme store. But at the end of the day, you can only choose one for your online store. As such, choosing a theme is one of the most important decisions you’ll make early on in your ecommerce journey.
Not all themes are the same. And as we’ve proven in this article, the price is not the main criterion that defines whether a theme would be good or not,
It all boils down to the features, architecture, and speed. And although the Shopify Shine theme is not perfect, it has successfully proved itself worthy of consideration.
To recap, here are our key takeaways from this review:
- Price - for only $210, the Shine Shopify theme is amongst the most affordable ones in the Shopify theme stores.
- Speed - the Shine theme has a clean code architecture, resulting in highly responsive performance for both mobile and desktop users.
- Design - this theme takes a different approach in terms of design. It’s not intimidating, but at the same time, it isn’t lackluster.
- Premium features - in our comparison with the Prestige theme, which is way more expensive than the Shine theme, we saw that their features are almost identical.
With all these in mind, the Shopify Shine theme is definitely a bargain, isn’t it?
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