Shopify
Shopify Interview Questions and Answers
Shopify Interview Preparation – Question & Answer Guide (Beginner → Advanced)
This document is designed in LMS-style for beginners and professionals preparing for Shopify roles (Frontend, Backend, or Full‑Stack). Each question follows:
SECTION 1 – Shopify Fundamentals (Q1–Q10)
Q1. What is Shopify and how does it help businesses build e-commerce applications?
Explanation:
Shopify is a fully managed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) e‑commerce platform that allows individuals and companies to create online stores without worrying about servers, security, or scaling. It provides built‑in features such as product catalogs, payment gateways, tax calculation, shipping integrations, and order management. From a developer perspective, Shopify becomes powerful because it also exposes REST and GraphQL APIs, supports custom themes, and allows third‑party app development. Businesses benefit because Shopify handles infrastructure while developers focus on building user experience and business logic. This separation of concerns makes Shopify extremely popular among startups and enterprises.
Syntax (Admin API – REST example):
GET /admin/api/2024-01/products.json
Example:
// Fetch product list from Shopify Admin API
fetch('/admin/api/2024-01/products.json')
.then(res => res.json()) // convert response to JSON
.then(data => console.log(data)); // print products
Interview Tip:
Always explain Shopify as both an e‑commerce platform and a developer ecosystem.
Q2. What are Shopify Themes and how do they work?
Explanation:
Shopify Themes control how a storefront looks and feels. A theme is made using Liquid templates combined with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Themes decide layout, typography, colors, and product presentation. Merchants can customize themes visually, while developers can deeply customize structure and logic. Themes pull live store data such as products and collections using Liquid objects. This allows dynamic rendering without exposing databases.
Syntax (Liquid):
{{ product.title }}
Example:
Interview Tip:
Mention that themes are presentation layer only; business logic lives in apps.
Q3. What is Shopify Liquid and why is it important?
Explanation:
Liquid is Shopify’s templating language used to safely render dynamic data on storefronts. It contains objects (product, cart), tags (loops, conditions), and filters (formatting). Liquid runs on Shopify servers, not in the browser. It prevents direct database access, ensuring security. Developers use Liquid to display products, handle conditions, and loop through collections.
Syntax:
{% for product in collections.frontpage.products %}
{{ product.title }}
{% endfor %}
Example:
Interview Tip:
State clearly: Liquid is server‑side, not JavaScript.
Q4. What is the difference between Shopify Admin API and Storefront API?
Explanation:
The Admin API allows developers to manage store data such as products, orders, customers, and inventory. It requires private authentication and is used mainly by apps or backend services. The Storefront API is public-facing and used by custom frontends to fetch product data for customers. Admin API is for management, Storefront API is for shopping experiences.
Syntax:
POST /api/2024-01/graphql.json
Example:
query {
products(first: 5) {
edges { node { title } }
}
}
Interview Tip:
Remember: Admin = internal operations, Storefront = customer UI.
Q5. What is a Shopify App and why are apps important?
Explanation:
Shopify apps extend store capabilities beyond default features. Apps can add subscriptions, reviews, loyalty programs, or analytics. They communicate with Shopify using APIs and Webhooks. Apps require OAuth for authentication. Public apps are listed on Shopify App Store while private apps are internal tools.
Syntax (Node.js install route):
app.get('/auth', shopify.auth.begin());
Example:
const shopify = new Shopify({ apiKey, secret });
Interview Tip:
Always mention OAuth + API scopes.
Q6. What is a Shopify Store and how is data organized?
Explanation:
A Shopify store contains products, collections, customers, orders, and settings. Products can have multiple variants. Collections group products. Orders store transaction data. This structured model allows Shopify to scale millions of stores while keeping data consistent.
Example:
Product → Variants → Inventory
Interview Tip:
Explain hierarchy: Store → Products → Variants → Orders.
Q7. What are Shopify Plans and how do they affect development?
Explanation:
Shopify offers Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Plus plans. Higher plans unlock features like custom checkout and automation. Developers must understand plan limitations when building apps. Shopify Plus enables checkout customization.
Interview Tip:
Mention Shopify Plus for enterprise.
Q8. What is Headless Shopify?
Explanation:
Headless Shopify separates frontend from backend. Developers use React/Next.js with Storefront API while Shopify manages commerce. This provides full UI freedom and better performance.
Example:
fetch('/api/graphql')
Interview Tip:
Say: Headless = custom frontend + Shopify backend.
Q9. How does Shopify handle payments?
Explanation:
Shopify supports Shopify Payments and third‑party gateways. Checkout is PCI compliant. Developers rarely handle card data directly, improving security.
Interview Tip:
Emphasize hosted checkout security.
Q10. What is Shopify CLI?
Explanation:
Shopify CLI is a command‑line tool for creating themes and apps. It simplifies authentication, development servers, and deployment.
Syntax:
shopify theme dev
Interview Tip:
Mention CLI for local development.
SECTION 2 – Products, Collections & Checkout (Q11–Q20)
Q11. How does Shopify manage products and variants internally?
Explanation:
Shopify stores products as core entities that can contain multiple variants such as size, color, or material. Each variant has its own price, SKU, barcode, and inventory quantity. This design allows a single product to support many options while remaining organized. Inventory is tracked at the variant level, not the product level, which is important for stock accuracy. Developers interact with products through Admin APIs to create, update, or delete them programmatically.
Syntax:
POST /admin/api/2024-01/products.json
Example:
{
"product": {
"title": "Cotton T-Shirt",
"variants": [
{ "option1": "Small", "price": "499" },
{ "option1": "Large", "price": "599" }
]
}
}
Interview Tip:
Always explain that inventory lives on variants, not on products.
Q12. What are Shopify Collections and why are they important?
Explanation:
Collections group related products together for easier navigation and marketing. Shopify supports manual collections (merchant-selected products) and automated collections (rule-based). Automated collections update dynamically when products match conditions like price or tag. Collections improve customer browsing experience and SEO. Developers commonly use collections to build category pages.
Syntax:
{{ collection.title }}
Example:
{% for product in collection.products %}
Interview Tip:
Mention both manual and automated collections.
Q13. How does Shopify Checkout work technically?
Explanation:
Shopify Checkout is a secure hosted flow that handles customer details, shipping, tax calculation, and payment processing. Merchants do not manage sensitive card data directly, which ensures PCI compliance. Developers usually redirect customers to Shopify checkout rather than building it themselves. Shopify Plus merchants can customize checkout using extensions.
Syntax:
window.location.href = '/checkout';
Example:
document.getElementById('buyBtn').onclick = () => {
window.location.href = '/checkout';
};
Interview Tip:
Highlight that checkout is Shopify-hosted for security reasons.
Q14. What are Product Metafields in Shopify?
Explanation:
Metafields allow developers to store custom data on products, orders, or customers. They are commonly used for extra attributes like size charts or technical specs. Metafields follow namespaces and keys for organization. This feature helps extend Shopify’s default data model without breaking compatibility.
Syntax:
POST /admin/api/2024-01/metafields.json
Example:
{
"metafield": {
"namespace": "custom",
"key": "material",
"value": "cotton",
"type": "single_line_text_field"
}
}
Interview Tip:
Say metafields are used for custom structured data.
Q15. How does inventory management work in Shopify?
Explanation:
Inventory is tracked per variant and per location. Shopify automatically reduces inventory after successful orders. Developers can update inventory via APIs or webhooks. Multiple locations are supported, making Shopify suitable for warehouses and retail stores.
Syntax:
POST /admin/api/2024-01/inventory_levels/set.json
Example:
{
"location_id": 123,
"inventory_item_id": 456,
"available": 20
}
Interview Tip:
Mention multi-location inventory support.
Q16. What is a Shopify Cart and how is it managed?
Explanation:
The cart temporarily stores products selected by customers before checkout. Cart data exists in session or cookies. Developers can modify cart behavior using AJAX APIs. Cart operations include add, update, and remove.
Syntax:
POST /cart/add.js
Example:
fetch('/cart/add.js', {
method: 'POST',
body: JSON.stringify({ id: 123, quantity: 1 })
});
Interview Tip:
Explain that cart lives client-side until checkout.
Q17. What are Discount Codes and Automatic Discounts?
Explanation:
Shopify supports discount codes entered by customers and automatic discounts applied by rules. Discounts can be percentage-based, fixed, or free shipping. Developers create discounts using Admin API. These features help marketing and conversions.
Interview Tip:
Mention both code-based and automatic discounts.
Q18. How does Shopify handle taxes?
Explanation:
Shopify calculates taxes automatically based on store location and customer address. It integrates with regional tax rules. Developers can also use third-party tax services. Taxes are finalized during checkout.
Interview Tip:
Say taxes are calculated dynamically during checkout.
Q19. What is Shopify Shipping?
Explanation:
Shopify Shipping provides carrier integrations and label printing. Rates are calculated in real time. Merchants can manage fulfillment directly from admin. Developers usually access shipping data through orders API.
Interview Tip:
Explain real-time carrier rates.
Q20. How do Orders flow in Shopify?
Explanation:
Orders are created after checkout completion. Each order contains customer info, items, taxes, and fulfillment status. Webhooks notify apps when orders are created. Developers use this to sync ERP or CRM systems.
Syntax:
POST /admin/api/2024-01/orders.json
Example:
app.post('/webhooks/orders/create', (req,res)=>res.sendStatus(200));
Interview Tip:
Mention webhooks for order sync.