Services
E-commerce & Online Sales
Custom Software & Apps
Company
Our company
SpaceMaker
SpaceMaker manufactures a swing adapter that mounts between a vehicle's tow bar and a bike carrier. Two mounted e-bikes swing 90° to the side — full tailgate access, bikes still on. CE-certified, abrasion-resistant steel, compatible with nearly all tow bar carriers for up to two bikes across the DACH market. As a Shopify development agency in South Tyrol, Smart Dato built every section and every line of code.
The starting point
-
Complex product, no guided path to purchase
Two variants, a compatibility matrix, a price over €1,000. Without selection logic, the wrong decision lands with the customer — and wrong orders mean returns.
-
No off-the-shelf solution existed
No Shopify app combined a cinematic scroll experience with a multi-step compatibility checker — without monthly fees or external code. Standard tools meant compromises.
-
The merchant needed control, not dependency
Any solution requiring agency involvement to update wizard questions or animation stages creates a permanent bottleneck. SpaceMaker needed to manage the experience independently, without writing code.
What we built — a three-part guided journey
Three custom Shopify sections built in Liquid and JavaScript on the Grow plan. Animated landing page → product wizard → product detail page.
Scroll-driven cinematic landing page
A 350-frame image sequence on a single HTML5 canvas, mapped frame-by-frame to scroll position — the same technique as Apple's product pages, native in Shopify. A scroll gate pauses at a key moment and only releases on deliberate scroll. All parameters configurable in the Theme Editor. No code required.
Intelligent product wizard — compatible variant, every time
A decision-tree wizard maps vehicle and carrier answers to the correct SpaceMaker variant. Wrong-variant orders are structurally impossible. Out-of-spec customers route to a contact option, not a dead end. Fully configurable by the merchant — questions, options, variant mappings — without developer involvement.
Interactive product detail page
Clickable hotspots reveal specification details on demand. Scroll-video sections deliver in-page motion without external players. Custom product layouts and localized content fields sit directly on the page — no redirects, no third-party tools.
Technology
| Shop platform | Shopify (Grow plan, custom Liquid theme) |
| Animation engine | HTML5 Canvas — 350-frame image sequence |
| Interaction logic | Custom JavaScript state machine |
| Product wizard | Decision-tree configurator — custom Liquid sections |
| Theme Editor configurability | 100% merchant-editable |
| Custom code | ~6,500 lines (Liquid + JavaScript) |
| Live store | spacemaker.ch |
Similar challenges with your online store?
Custom Shopify development for technical products
Most Shopify stores don't need custom Liquid. A food producer selling regional specialities — like our work with Rinner & Speck — launches on a configured Grow plan theme and gets strong results. For straightforward e-commerce, that's the right choice.
The calculus changes when the product creates complexity before purchase. SpaceMaker's swing adapter has a hard compatibility matrix — vehicle size, tow bar type, ball diameter, carrier type, and swing direction all determine which of two variants is correct. A wrong order is a €1,000+ return. The custom wizard pays for itself in prevented wrong orders.
Custom Liquid development also removes the app subscription layer. Monthly Shopify apps mean recurring overhead, external code, and dependencies that can break on updates. Building natively means owning the functionality outright.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a custom Shopify store in Liquid cost?
Custom Liquid development is scoped per project. SpaceMaker involved ~6,500 lines of code — scroll animation, a decision-tree wizard, and a custom product detail page. That's a different engagement from a Grow plan theme setup. Contact us for a project-specific estimate.
Can I manage a custom Liquid store without a developer?
Yes — if designed that way. For SpaceMaker, everything merchant-facing is editable in the Shopify Theme Editor: animation stage ranges, wizard questions, variant mappings, CTAs. Structural changes need development. Content and configuration changes don't.
Why not use Shopify apps for the wizard and animations?
No app matched SpaceMaker's requirements: multi-step compatibility checking, branching logic, scroll-gated animation, and a soft redirect for edge cases — all without external dependencies. Apps are limited to what their developers have built. Custom Liquid isn't. Added benefit: zero recurring app costs.
Does Smart Dato work with merchants across the DACH market?
Yes. Smart Dato is based in South Tyrol and serves Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Italy. SpaceMaker is a Swiss brand built for German-language DACH customers. GDPR compliance, EU payment methods, and CE product requirements were standard in the project scope.