Shopify has revolutionized the way small business owners can start selling online.
And with so many people looking for ways to make money from home during the pandemic, the e-commerce platform has only gone from strength to strength.
This fact has also seen an increase in quality themes designed specifically for Shopify.
I have tried a few over the past 18 months on a number of my webstores (both for review purposes and trying to find the best fit for my businesses).
One that stood out for its popularity is Debutify. Classed as the number 1 free theme on Shopify, there was nothing stopping me from giving it a go.
What follows is my experience using the Debutify theme, and whether I would recommend it to other Shopify users.
Table of Contents
Dubitify Review Summary
PRICING: 1 Store = Free / Starter = $9.50 / Hustler = $23.50 / Master = $48.50 (per month)
Completely Free Shopify theme ( and 14 day trial on paid plans)- Easy to use and fully customizable
- 1-click install, high-quality user experience
- Fully mobile optimized.
- Complete ordering management system
- Includes e-mail, social media and review management
- Premium add-ons include Chatbox, cart discount, cookie box, coupon pop-up, and trust badge
- Dedicated FAQ page for your store
- SEO ready out of the box
- Excellent YouTube guide videos
- Provides 24/7 live support on paid plans
Free version doesn’t have many add-ons- The monthly cost of a multi-store plan will add up (especially alongside Shopify and dropship software subscriptions)
- Some users have complained about the support turn-around time, this needs to be improved.
My View After Using Debutify for my Dropship Store
I am a big fan of Debutify. The free version is adequate and is a great way to see the potential of the theme. You can certainly launch an e-commerce store using this version.
However, I quickly realized that to access all the really juicy add-ons a paid plan was necessary. I opted for the Hustler plan at $23.50 per month so that all 30 add-ons were at my disposal. At this point, I can safely say that the theme is by far the most powerful I have ever used on Shopify.
The site I have installed it on now competes with some of the biggest players in my niche. The add-ons are very easy to implement and you are given a great level of control over style and placement.
The back-office order processing and administration is intuitive too. It is also 100% optimized for dropshipping which was a real benefit.
In fact, to find fault with the theme I had to start looking online to see what others had experienced. Thankfully for me, I had no issues setting up my store. If you do, some customers have complained about lackluster online support.
This might be an issue if you are a complete newbie, however, due to the ease of use and the number of guide videos on the Debutify YouTube channel, I would recommend that you don’t let this put you off. (Furthermore, on the paid plans the support is a lot faster.)
Overall, Debutify is a fantastic way of taking your Shopify store to the next level. Whether you are a beginner or a veteran webstore owner you will not be disappointed.
What is Debutify?
Debutify is a purpose-built, customizable, and fully-featured Shopify theme designed for use by online webstores. It is best categorized as a webstore theme, and it comes coded with the full range of features needed to successfully manage an eCommerce store.
This theme allows the merchant to brand the theme, i.e customize the theme so that its color scheme is the same as the business brand, while the header and footer of the theme feature the logo of the business.
This theme was developed by Ricky Hayes and Raphael Bergeron for online merchants who sell their products through Shopify. It was launched in 2019 in Canada.
- Related Content: Shopio Review – My Recent Experience Launching a Webstore
Shopify Theme
Debutify allows anyone to build and launch a Shopify store with just a series of clicks and following the instructions presented on the screen during the theme building and customization process.
The theme comes with pre-loaded plugins and add-ons, thus obviating the need for a merchant to configure these plugins. Likewise, the pre-loaded plugins are fully compatible with the theme and do not make the website unnecessarily slow.
Normally, most non-techies who want to own a Shopify store cannot create the store because they do not know how to proceed when they reach the theme building stage, and this increases the barrier to starting a webstore.
Debutify was built with this special category of merchants in mind. It is provided as a free-to-use theme, meaning that anyone can use the theme after downloading it. It also comes with templates that allow for easy theme customization.
For the merchant, this theme provides an easy system to set up the webstore, including setting up common webstore features such as product categorization, order management, and marketing systems.
After the webstore is set up, the theme handles well customer experience on the website through its robust design management system that allows for easy navigation of the website, simple product searching, and easy checkout.
These backend and frontend theme features are explained below.
Freemium & Paid Versions of Debutify
As a freemium theme, Debutify comes in 2 downloadable versions – Debutify-Default (free version) and Debutify (which is the paid version). Each version comes with multiple templates that one can use to style their website.
The theme comes with editable and customizable homepage and product pages. The design of each page can be set by a template. Each template features a customizable navigation and footer menu.
There is also a customizable testimonial section. For page customization, Debutify provides the theme settings function in the dashboard. This allows the merchant to set the color scheme, layout, and page settings in the entire website.
Debutify is an eCommerce-optimized theme and is thus light on web resources and fast in loading. Its product page is designed to beautifully display the image and details of the products on the same page.
Regarding functionality, the theme comes with a customizable search function that can be used as an advanced product filter, as well as an image slider that is to be used to display product images in a slideshow.
It also allows one to set how reviews by customers are to be presented on the website.
The theme settings can be applied globally i.e across desktop and mobile websites or can be set to apply to either the desktop or mobile display. This allows one to make the theme responsive to mobile displays.
The theme also provides a quick view, which allows the visitor to view a snippet of product details.
eCommerce Features
The main features available in Debutify are:
Product Videos
Debutify allows the merchant to embed a promotion video for a product on a product page. This video can be a link to a YouTube video, a link to another video hosting platform, or a video player that plays a promotion video hosted in the server of the webstore.
Chatbox
This provides chat functionality and is directly plugged into the messaging platform of the website. One can design it as a support chatbox or informational chatbox that allows a visitor to subscribe to a newsletter, or learn more about the product being viewed. If the visitor interacts with the chatbox, the merchant receives a notification.
Add-to-Cart
This allows the visitor to easily add a product to the shopping cart. It is displayed as a button next to the product, and can even be customized to appear beside each product in a product listing.
It also allows the merchant to set a sticky add-to-cart bar that remains as a floating bar on the website when the user scrolls down a page. This bar also comes with a Buy Now button that allows the customer to start the purchase process with a single click of the button.
Delivery Time
This add-on allows the webstore to estimate the delivery time of a purchased product to the customer based on provided address and location details. This estimated delivery time is then shown to the customer. This add-on serves to increase trading transparency.
Cart Discount
This is a form on the checkout page that allows the customer to enter the coupon code so as to redeem a discount when making a purchase.
Cart Goal
This is related to shipping. It serves to show the amount that the customer needs to spend so that (s)he can benefit from free shipping.
Cookie Box
This allows the website to be compliant with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Coupon pop-up
This pop-up appears when a visitor is viewing a product page, and it shows him/her that a discount is available through a coupon code. This pop-up makes the webstore more appealing to customers.
Newsletter pop-up
This is a special add-on that appears when a visitor scrolls a webpage, and it allows him/her to subscribe to the newsletter provided by the webstore.
Trust Badge
This allows the merchant to add a confidence badge to the checkout page. It serves to assure the customer that (s)he is dealing with a reputable webstore.
Order Processing & Inventory Management
Order Management
This is provided as an integration with the checkout system used by the website. It allows a customer to select a product, add it to the cart, and then pay for it. There are addons that provide information about estimated delivery time and coupons/discounts.
Inventory Management
This theme comes with plugins that support inventory management. These plugins show the number of products available, as well as the quantity of each product brand that is in stock.
Relatedly, when a product is sold out, the product page lists the product as unavailable for purchase or sold-out. The merchant has the option to hide this sold-out notification.
One of the key domains of inventory management is product categorization and cataloging.
Cataloging and Categorization
Cataloging simply means listing all the product brands sold by the webstore.
Categorization allows for brands to be grouped into a product class due to shared qualities eg different brands of kids’ clothes can be grouped together as kid apparel, and kid apparel is then used as a menu item in the navigation menu.
Integrations
Debutify supports integration with the Live View, which shows the number of visitors currently on the page. It also allows for integration with a customer relationship management (CRM) system, as well as integration with channels for email marketing and multi-channel marketing. It also supports social media integration.
Additionally, Debutify integrates with systems for promotion management, shipping management, returns management, and review management.
Customer Data Security
This is provided by the Shop Protect feature of the theme. Apart from encrypting communication between the website and external data servers, it also locks and protects theme customizations, thereby preventing anyone from copying the theme. It also enables the website to be GPDR-compliant.
- Related Content: Dropship Software Comparison: Dropified vs Oberlo
Additional Features
Mobile Access and High-Conversion Design
A high-converting theme is any website theme that provides a good user experience and easy-to-understand UI that allows a visitor to navigate the website, and choose any of the offered items (or in the case of Shopify, choose a product) and then pay for it.
In other words, the theme is designed to optimize conversion rates.
Debutify is a responsive mobile-ready theme and comes with optimized search functionality that provides 2 key services – search service and product finder.
This allows a visitor to easily find a product, and then use the cart to checkout and pay for the product.
Dedicated FAQ Page
Debutify comes with a dedicated page for frequently asked questions (FAQ). A webstore that fills this FAQ page appears professional and dedicated to its customers. It also allows the webstore to provide a helpful guide for its customers. Ultimately, this serves to build customer confidence.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Debutify comes with a mega menu and drop-down menus that make website navigation easy for the visitor, as well as cleanly present the store’s keywords to search engines.
Search engines give more weight to menu items, and by allowing the merchant to use keywords as menu items, then the webstore can be scored highly by popular search engines, especially Google.
Evidently, Debutify serves to make the website optimized for crawling and indexing by search engines.
Training and Live Support
Debutify comes with multiple add-ons which can make using the theme difficult for a novice. To manage this, Debutify offers training on how to use the theme, and there is also 24/7 live support provided for users. Even so, the training offered by Ricky Hayes is charged.
Debutify Pricing Plans
Debutify comes with 4 service plans – a free service plan for the default template, and 3 paid plans. The free plan provides a license for one webstore, but does not provide committed customer support, apart from the support that one gets in the Facebook group.
This section focuses on the paid plans. For each of the 3 paid plans, there is a 14-day free trial provided. One can also upgrade to a higher plan, or downgrade to a lower plan after using a specific plan.
Starter Plan = $9.50/mo
This is the cheapest plan that provides a license for one webstore along with full customer support. The theme also comes with integrations, and the merchant can add up to 5 add-ons of his/her choosing.
Hustler Plan = $23.50/mo
This is the mid-tier plan, and it comes with all the features of the starter plan. This plan provides a license for one webstore, and the merchant can add up to 30 add-ons of his/her choosing.
Master Plan = $48.50/mo
This is the premium plan that comes with all the features of the Hustler plan, along with licenses for 3 webstores. The merchant also receives priority support, along with full mentoring and access to advanced courses.
Likewise, one has access to all add-ons and can install any of them, including add-ons that are still at the beta testing stage. Moreover, this plan comes with a product research tool.
Pros & Cons of Debutify
- Simple to use Shopify theme purposely designed for webstores.
- The customizable theme comes with an editable homepage, product pages, testimonial section, navigation bar, and footer menu.
- Offered as a freemium theme with both free (Debutify Default) and paid (Premium Debutify) versions.
- The beginner-friendly theme can be installed in a single click (a 1-click install theme).
- The responsive, low-latency theme is mobile optimized.
- Comes with an order management system, as well as an inventory system that supports product categorization and cataloging.
- Provides integrations for e-mail marketing, multi-channel marketing, social media integration, promotion management, shipping management, returns management, and review management.
- Premium version comes with multiple-add-ons, as well as allows one to install new add-ons including a Chatbox, cart discount, cookie box, coupon pop-up, and trust badge, as well as a customizable sticky add-to-cart bar.
- Comes with a dedicated page for frequently asked questions.
- Serves to make the website optimized for crawling and indexing by search engines.
- Offers training on how to use the theme.
- Provides 24/7 live support for users who have subscribed to any one of the paid plans.
- Each paid plan comes with a 14-day free trial.
- Free version doesn’t have many add-ons
- The monthly cost of a multi-store plan will add up (especially alongside Shopify and dropship software subscriptions)
- Some users have complained about the support turn-around time, this needs to be improved.
- Related Content: Making Your First Shopify Store Using the Debutify Shopify Theme
