The best Shopify Plus agency for a Consumer Packaged Goods brand is the one that builds the store around the second order, not the first. CPG lives on repeat purchase, so subscription and retention have to be part of the build, not bolted on with an app later. For a fully custom store on a fixed budget, that's Liquid Lemon: a custom Shopify storefront in 30 days from $9,500, or $12,500 on Shopify Plus, with real CPG work behind it (Olipop, Bite, Hero Cosmetics, Snoozy, Tabs). The rest of this list covers the Plus-scale and specialist shops worth a shortlist, and who each one actually fits.
Why CPG is different on Shopify
Watch how a CPG brand actually makes money. The first order is a trial. The margin is thin, the ad cost ate most of it, and the model only works if that buyer comes back on a subscription and keeps coming back. So the store isn't a catalog, it's a retention engine. Subscribe and save has to sit in the cart, pause, skip, and swap have to be one tap, and the flows that keep people subscribed matter as much as the ones that acquire them. A CPG store that treats subscription as an afterthought leaks revenue every month.
It also runs two channels at once. Most CPG brands sell direct and sit on retail shelves at the same time, so the site has to carry the brand, run the DTC funnel, and often send people to a store locator, without muddying where to buy.
Then there's the math that kills you quietly. Low order values and thin margins mean a slow, app-bloated store eats the profit on every sale, and load time is tied directly to conversion. Speed and a clean mobile checkout aren't polish in CPG, they decide whether a subscription pays back. Add the spikes, a flavor launch, a holiday push, a viral moment, and the store has to hold up under load instead of falling over on the day it matters most. Most brands hit this wall once they've outgrown their theme but haven't rebuilt yet.
How we ranked them
Four things, in this order:
- Real CPG or food and beverage clients, named, not a generic portfolio.
- Subscription and retention built into the store, not bolted on after launch.
- Speed and mobile conversion treated as the job, since thin margins punish a slow store.
- Pricing and a timeline that fit a brand shipping product on a cadence.
The best Shopify Plus agencies for CPG brands
1. Liquid Lemon
Best for CPG founders who want a fully custom store fast, at a price they can budget. Liquid Lemon ships a custom Shopify storefront in 30 days from $9,500, or $12,500 on Shopify Plus, through a process we call The Liquid Sprint. Scope is locked before we write a line of code, and every build is founder-led with direct Slack access, no account managers in the middle. CPG is the core of the work: we've built and grown stores for Olipop, Bite, Hero Cosmetics, Snoozy, and Tabs, including a full custom storefront for a pre-launch beverage brand. Builds are subscription-first, we configure Stay.ai for pause, skip, and swap, and run Klaviyo email and retention under the same team. Official Shopify Partner, 50+ stores shipped.
2. Swanky Agency
Best for food and drink brands that lead with subscription. Swanky is a UK Shopify Plus agency focused on DTC food and beverage, with real depth in subscription models. If recurring revenue is the center of the business, that focus is the reason to call them.
3. We Make Websites
Best for CPG brands scaling across markets. We Make Websites is a London Shopify Plus agency with strong custom development and the international and localization depth that matters once you sell across regions. For a single-market brand, that scope is more than the project needs.
4. Charle
Best for brands that sell on story and bundles. Charle is a London agency with a focus on food and beverage ecommerce, strong on brand storytelling and product bundling. A fit when the buying decision runs on narrative and multi-product offers rather than a single SKU.
5. Milk Bottle Labs
Best for food and beverage brands that want acquisition and retention handled together. Milk Bottle Labs is a Shopify Plus Partner that builds around customer acquisition and retention, so the store and the growth motion are treated as one system instead of two separate projects.
6. Sleepless Media
Best for emerging CPG brands that want a design-led build. Sleepless Media is a US Shopify Plus agency working across food and beverage, from coffee to artisanal snacks. Design-forward, which suits a younger brand that needs the store to carry the look as much as the function.
7. The Taproom Agency
Best for craft beverage and alcohol brands. The Taproom Agency builds Shopify stores for craft breweries and beverage brands, so it knows the category's specifics: age gates, shipping rules, and the release rhythm alcohol brands run on.
8. Trellis
Best for data-driven CPG brands. Trellis is a data-focused Shopify Plus agency for food and beverage, strong on analytics and personalization. The right call when you want the store instrumented and every change tied back to a number.
9. The Big Red Jelly
Best for CPG brands that want design, build, and marketing from one shop. The Big Red Jelly is a full-service Shopify Plus agency serving CPG across design, development, and marketing, so a brand without an internal team can hand off more of the stack.
How to choose the right CPG agency
Match the tier to your stage. If you need a custom store quickly and want a price you can budget against, a fixed-price sprint studio is the efficient path. If you're running heavy retail and DTC across multiple markets, the bigger Shopify Plus shops earn their timelines. If subscription is your whole model, weight the agencies that build it in from day one over the ones that add it after launch. And if you're not strictly CPG, our broader ranking of the best Shopify Plus agencies for DTC brands covers the wider field.
Whichever way you go, three questions sort the shortlist fast. What exactly is included, and what triggers a change order. How long, start to finish. And who, specifically, does the work. The agencies that answer those without dancing are the ones worth a call.
If speed and a fixed price are what you're after, start your sprint and see what your brand looks like at full pace.
Andrew Zam, co-founder of Liquid Lemon, a Shopify / Shopify Plus design + development studio.
