Shopify Debut Theme Review

Shopify Debut Theme Review
Is the Debut theme good as a start for your Shopify store? Do its features help? When to use it, and when to look for an alternative like the ones below?

After reviewing tens of other themes, I’m writing this honest Shopify Debut theme review in order to help you know if you should consider this theme or if you should get an alternative.

Debut Theme Review Summary

  • Name: Shopify Debut Theme
  • Website: www.themes.shopify.com/themes/debut/styles/default
  • Founders: Shopify
  • Quality & Support: 8.5 of 10
  • Features & Ease of Use: 9 of 10
  • Design & Flexibility: 8 of 10
  • Value for Money: 10 of 10
  • Testimonials: 8 of 10
  • Price: $0.
  • Recommended? Yes

Overall EcomCents.com Rating: 8.7 of 10

Summary: Debut is a good Shopify theme for small catalog stores and brands, and for local businesses who have physical locations and want to share the directions to their location on the map.

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3 Unique Things about Debut

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Comes from Shopify with Free Updates

Having a free theme usually comes with many issues and vulnerabilities, as they don’t get regular updates.

But Debut is different, because it was created by Shopify itself, and they issue regular updates for it, which helps you keep your store remain reliable and secure.

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Good Features

Most free Shopify themes come with very basic features, and that’s fine, but Debut has adopted some of the features that even not all paid themes offer, as you will see in the following section.

Clean Theme for Small Catalog Brands & Stores

Most third-party themes focus on serving stores with large catalogs and many categories of products.

It is rare that you find a theme that is clean and good for small catalog stores and one product brands, such as the Debut theme.

Top Debut Theme Features That Help Your Store

Home Page Video

Video can increase engagement on ecom stores, and can help with storytelling that boosts sales for brands with medium-to-high ticket products.

And Debut allows you to embed a video on the home page of your Shopify store with ease.

Debut Home Page Video
Few free themes like Narrative Shopify theme and Debut that have this feature.

Customer Testimonials

Another great feature to boost sales is the ability to add customer testimonials from your existing customers.

This increases the trust in your brand and store, and helps in convincing the new visitors to buy from your store instead of going to search for the same product on Amazon with many customer reviews.

Currency Selector

Another great feature to increase trust and familiarity by allowing the shopper to select the currency they are used to paying with, so that they se the prices with it.

Currency Selector Debut Theme

Pickup Availability

This is a great feature for Debut theme if your business has a physical location like a shop, restaurant, or even just a pickup location, and you want to share the map with your store’s visitors and make it easier on them to reach it, instead of losing them or having long phone calls trying to help them find the exact location.

Debut Theme Location Map
They click the “Get Directions” button, and the map will open in a new window.

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This nice feature helps in boosting the conversion rate and in increasing the average order value on your Shopify store, as it allows you to show other products on the same product page that someone is browsing.

These could be either alternatives to the same product, complimentary products, or just related products that you know they might be interested in buying.

Recommended Products Debut Theme

Buy-it-Now Button

This button on the product page allows the shopper to add the product to their cart and head directly to the checkout page all in just one click, similar to the 1-Click Buy button on Amazon, which helps reduce the number of steps in the customer’s journey, and thus, increase the conversion rate.

Debut Theme Buy-it-Now

Ajax Cart

Another cool feature of Debut theme that helps reduce the number of steps, which shows a small pop-up when the shopper adds a product to the cart, and they can click the “View Cart” button for faster order completion.

Debut Theme Ajax Cart

Social Buttons

These buttons can be used for two things:

  • The ones on the product page allow the shopper to share the product they liked on their social media accounts, which gives your store free exposure.
  • The ones in the footer of the store allow you to lead people to your social media accounts so that you keep the connection with them, increase the engagement and the trust, and promote to them later at a lower cost or for free.

Email Signup Field

This signup field allows your store’s visitors to join your email list, so that they can receive special offers and promotions later, and it gives you a way to repeat advertising to the same people at a lower cost and with more effectiveness.

Debut Shopify Signup Form

Mega Menu

This menu allows you to show all collections and sub-collections in one view under one tab on the top bar, instead of having the shopper to click on every tab.

This Debut feature helps the customers reach the product they want faster instead of getting bored going from one page to another.

Predictive Search

A very cool feature that auto completes the product name when someone is typing in the search field, and on top of that, it shows the suggested product image so that the shopper finds what they want faster.

Debut Theme Predictive Search

Product Filtering

Another great feature of Debut theme for faster product search, which allows the customers to sort products on your Shopify store using certain criteria such: product size, material, brand, color, …etc.

Debut Theme Styles & Demo Stores

Debut theme comes in two built-in styles that you can choose from, and you can further customize it to your own brand and industry:

  • Default: Customized for selling bags.
  • Light: Customized for selling furniture.

To explore Debut theme demo stores with these two styles, you can select the style you want on the Debut theme on the Shopify theme store, and then click the “View Demo Store” button to open the demo in a new tab.

Debut Shopify Theme Demo

Debut Theme Example Shopify Stores

There are may Shopify stores that use the Debut theme, I found the Cuitisan store that sells stainless food containers, and it looks really good and professional.

Debut Theme Example Store

Debut Theme User Reviews

There are many user reviews for the Debut theme on the Shopify theme store, and some are praising the quality of the theme, while some are complaining about the lack of the features or the functionality of the slideshow on the mobile devices.

The overall rating is not high, but taking into consideration the fact that it is a free theme, and after browsing demo and real Shopify stores that are using Debut, I believe that it is a great theme, especially that it has some really good feature that even many paid themes don’t have.

Debut Theme User Reviews

Shopify Debut Theme Price & Free Download

Debut is a free Shopify theme, and you get free updates when you download it from the Shopify theme store.

Debut Theme Price

If you think that Debut is a good choice for your store based on the features and templates I listed above, then go ahead and get it.

But if you think that it lacks some features that you need for your Shopify store, or that you need a theme for a larger catalog, then the following section of this Debut Shopify theme review is for you.

3 Top Alternatives to Debut Theme

Debutify – Premium with a Free Option

Debutify is a theme that costs a monthly fee to get all the premium features and support, but the nice thing is that it offers a free plan with some really good and useful features that can help your store’s conversions.

Check out my review of Debutify theme to learn more about it and see where you can get it for free.

eCom Turbo – Premium at a Good Price

eCom Turbo is a paid theme that comes with lifetime free updates despite the one-time payment, which is great.

It has many sales-boosting features, and it is good for larger catalog Shopify stores.

The downfall is that it doesn’t come with built-in styles to start with, like it is with Debut.

But overall, it has a great value of money.

Read my review of eCom Turbo theme to learn more about it.

Flex – #1 Overall Shopify Theme

This is a pricey theme and might not be for you if you were still starting or on budget, but it is the number one Shopify theme as it offers the following:

  • Created and maintained by a company that is owned by Shopify itself, which ensures regular updates and high quality.
  • One-time payment for lifetime free updates.
  • Tons of features that can help your brand and store’s conversions.
  • 14-Day money back guarantee, which is unique when it comes to paid Shopify themes.
  • 13 Built-in styles to choose from, and you can switch from one to another anytime.

You can read my Flex by Out of the Sandbox theme review to learn more and see if the exclusive discount code is still there.

Pro’s & Con’s of Debut Shopify Theme

Pros:

  • From Shopify itself, and comes with regular updates for free.
  • Many sales-boosting features that are usually exclusive to paid themes.
  • Built-in styles available to save you time and effort.
  • Good for businesses that have physical locations and want to add the map to their online store.
  • Clean theme that fits small catalog stores.

Cons:

  • Not a high rating from users.
  • Not highly customizable.

Who Is Debut for?

Debut theme is good for Shopify store owners who sell a few products, and want a clean theme with many features that can help boost the conversion rate.

Also, it is great for businesses that have physical locations and want to add a map on their Shopify store.

Debut Theme Support

The Debut theme is maintained by Shopify itself, which means that it gets regular updates in order to keep it compatible with all the changes on the Shopify’s infrastructure and keep your store free of bugs and security issues., and that’s great.

There’s a good documentation on how to use the theme that you can reach from the “Support & Documentation” tab on the Debut download page on Shopify’s theme store.

Conclusion – Is The Debut Theme Good?

Sure.

Debut theme is one of the best free Shopify themes out there, it gets regular updates from Shopify itself, comes with many premium features that could help conversions on your store, and has built-in styles to help you save the time and effort when starting out.

Debut is good for small catalog stores and brands, and for businesses with physical locations.

If you think that it doesn’t fit your brand’s needs, then the alternatives I mentioned earlier are for you.

I hope that my unbiased Shopify Debut theme review was helpful and insightful for you.

If you still have any question, please, let me know in the comments’ section below and I will do my best to help you out 🙂

Shopify Debut Theme

$0
8.7

Quality & Support

8.5/10

Features & Ease of Use

9.0/10

Design & Flexibility

8.0/10

Value for Money

10.0/10

Testimonials

8.0/10

Pros

  • From Shopify with Regular Updates
  • Sales-Boosting Features
  • Built-in Styles to Save You Time
  • Good for Businesses with Physical Locations
  • Clean Theme for Small Catalog Stores

Cons

  • Not a High User Rating
  • Not So Customizable

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