A Shopify Plus and B2B agency for Chicago industrial, DTC, food-and-beverage, and retail-plus-ecommerce brands. Remote-first, Central Time overlap, same-day response Mon-Fri 9-6 CT.
Digital Heroes is a remote-first Shopify Plus partner for Chicago and Midwest brands — our staffed HQs are New York and Delhi, not Chicago, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we know cold is the Midwest commerce context, which is different from the coasts: a heavier B2B mix, logistics-centric operations (Chicago is the US rail and trucking hub), stronger value-price positioning, and omnichannel retailers running physical stores and Shopify together. We run Central Time, Monday through Friday 9 AM to 6 PM CT — the most-overlapping US zone with both coasts — with same-day response, and we fly in for kickoff, launch week, and quarterly reviews across The Loop, West Loop, and Chicagoland.
The Chicago landscape leans B2B-heavier and logistics-forward than the coasts. Five categories dominate, each with operational patterns distinct from coastal metros. We integrate Shopify Plus B2B and the Shopify Admin API deeply, since Chicago B2B and retail-plus-ecommerce categories demand that work upfront.
Chicago is the Midwest B2B commerce hub. Manufacturers, distributors, industrial-supply brands selling to other businesses. Shopify Plus B2B patterns (company accounts, NET-30, catalog pricing, dealer portals) are central. ERP integration with NetSuite, SAP, or mid-market Microsoft Dynamics is the norm. See our B2B ecommerce build for Chicago brands for the methodology.
Chicago specialty food makers, craft-beverage brands, subscription coffee roasters, gift-basket DTC. Weekly-shipment subscriptions on Recharge, bundle merchandising for the gift-heavy Q4 holiday season, and Midwest-fulfillment logistics from Chicago 3PLs that ship to coastal customers in 3-to-5 days on standard ground.
Chicago furniture brands, home-accents retailers, kitchen-goods DTC. Multi-SKU catalog management (2,000 to 20,000 SKUs), white-glove delivery via Midwest 3PLs, and the furniture ecommerce build for Chicago brands for larger pieces. Showroom-plus-online retail integration via Shopify POS Pro.
Chicago brick-and-mortar retailers running unified online-plus-retail operations. Shopify POS Pro integration, multi-location inventory sync, omnichannel loyalty programs, and unified reporting. Chicago's downtown retail corridors (Magnificent Mile, State Street) create more of this pattern than coastal metros.
Chicago streetwear, athletic apparel, and accessories brands. Smaller than the LA or NYC fashion scene but with distinct Midwest operational patterns: heavier wholesale mix, stronger value-price positioning, and a customer base less influenced by drop-calendar mechanics. See our fashion ecommerce build for Chicago brands.
We do not maintain a Chicago office, and we will not invent one — our staffed HQs are New York and Delhi. Central Time is the daily operating rhythm: Monday through Friday 9 AM to 6 PM CT with same-day response. CT is the most-overlapping US zone with both coasts (one hour behind the East, two ahead of the West), so Chicago clients get a broader working-hour band with their national customer base than coastal metros do. Async Slack plus weekly Zoom standups, Loom videos for complex reviews; emergency coverage 24/7 across our Delhi and Sydney offices.
Chicago work is often logistics-aware in a way coastal work is not. Midwest fulfillment centers ship to coastal customers in ground-rate windows that make cross-country shipping work economically; most of our Chicago clients run fulfillment out of Chicago-area 3PLs or their own warehouses. That shapes how we build: shipping-rate calculators, multi-location inventory, regional-pricing logic for shipping-cost-inclusive margin modeling.
When in-person matters — kickoff, launch week, a quarterly strategy session — we fly into Chicago, and that travel is built into the engagement scope. Sessions run across The Loop, River North, West Loop, Fulton Market, Lincoln Park, plus Evanston, Oak Park, the North Shore, and the western suburbs (Oak Brook, Naperville) by arrangement. Reach the team at +1 (646) 847 1584 or book a 30-minute Chicago call.
Every Chicago engagement — new build, B2B ecommerce, replatform, or retainer — runs the same five phases. We fly in for the kickoff and launch week; the build runs remote on a weekly CT-time cadence, ERP integration scoped from week one.
We fly in for the kickoff at your office. Brief, KPIs, ERP + 3PL + catalog audit, B2B account model, Chicago market positioning.
Wireframes, B2B + catalog UX, PDP + checkout comps, dealer-portal flows, prototype. Weekly CT-time review calls.
Liquid + JS, Shopify Plus B2B config, NET-30 + catalog pricing, NetSuite/SAP ERP connector, POS Pro, Core Web Vitals pass.
We fly back in for launch week. QA matrix, ERP sync validation, staging sign-off, DNS cutover, dealer-onboarding support.
A/B tests, dealer-portal expansion, AOV + reorder-rate lifts, monthly review. Quarterly in-person strategy in Chicago for retainers.
We scope Chicago engagements into four shapes before any contract — Shopify Plus new build, Chicago B2B ecommerce, replatform, and Midwest retainer — so the brand picks the shape matching its stage. A scoped, fixed-price quote follows the discovery call within 48 hours.
Shopify Plus new build runs 12-16 weeks for Chicago DTC and B2B brands at $2M to $30M revenue. Chicago builds often include retail integration (Shopify POS Pro) from day one in a way coastal builds do not, plus ERP connection scoped at kickoff.
Chicago B2B ecommerce runs 14-20 weeks for manufacturers, distributors, and industrial brands moving online sales onto Shopify Plus B2B — company accounts, NET-30 terms, tiered catalog pricing, approval workflows, ERP integration with NetSuite or SAP. Chicago carries more of this work than any other US metro. See our Shopify B2B development for Chicago brands.
Replatform to Shopify Plus runs 14-18 weeks for Chicago brands moving off Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, or a legacy custom platform — URL-redirect preservation, customer-data migration, subscription continuity, wholesale-account migration. Chicago replatforms frequently include ERP-connection rebuilding, which adds 2-4 weeks over simpler DTC cases. See our Shopify migration for Chicago brands.
Midwest retainer is an ongoing monthly engagement for Chicago brands above $5M revenue running both DTC and B2B with a continuous roadmap and limited in-house engineering — a dedicated pod on CT-overlap rhythm, quarterly in-person in Chicago.
Real reviews from real clients on a third-party platform we do not control. Verified credentials: Shopify Premier Partner, Upwork Top Rated Plus, DUNS 650878346, UN Global Marketplace Tier 1.
the kind of operator we work with in Chicago
Most operators we work with in Chicago are B2B manufacturers and distributors moving dealer orders onto Shopify Plus B2B with a NetSuite or SAP connector, Midwest food-and-beverage brands on weekly subscription, or omnichannel retailers unifying POS and online. Not a testimonial — a description of who typically books a call from this page.
"We are not a Chicago agency. We are the Shopify Plus B2B partner Midwest manufacturers and DTC brands choose for the engineering — remote-first from NY and Delhi, on Central Time, on a plane when a launch demands it."
The questions Chicago operators ask most before booking: whether we are really in Chicago, how the CT overlap works, what scope fits their stage, who we work with, whether we come in person, and how fast we turn a scoped quote.
No, and we will not invent one. Digital Heroes is a remote-first agency with staffed HQs in New York and Delhi (plus satellite offices in London, Sydney, and Lucknow). We work with Chicago brands on Central Time, Monday through Friday, with same-day Slack response during overlap, and we fly into Chicago for kickoff, launch week, and quarterly reviews. The honest version: a remote Shopify Plus partner that knows the Midwest B2B and DTC market, not a local Chicago shop.
We run Central Time for Chicago clients, Monday through Friday 9 AM to 6 PM CT, with same-day Slack response inside those hours. CT is the broadest-overlap US zone, so a Chicago brand selling nationally gets working-hour coverage with both coasts. Production emergencies are covered 24/7 by our Delhi and Sydney offices, so a late message gets picked up within 1-2 hours regardless of the clock.
Four shapes. A Chicago Shopify Plus new build runs 12-16 weeks. A Chicago B2B ecommerce build (company accounts, NET-30, ERP connector) runs 14-20 weeks. A replatform off Magento, BigCommerce, or a custom cart runs 14-18 weeks. A Midwest retainer covers monthly senior engineering capacity. We scope the shape and return a fixed-price quote within 48 hours of the discovery call — no published price tiers because scope drives cost, and Chicago B2B builds carry more ERP-integration work than coastal DTC.
Our typical Chicago fit is operator-led brands above $50K monthly revenue with a real growth roadmap and a named operator we can talk to weekly — B2B manufacturers and distributors moving dealer orders onto Shopify Plus, Midwest food-and-beverage on subscription, home and furniture brands, and omnichannel retailers unifying POS and online. We work across Shopify Plus, custom web platforms, mobile apps, and brand identity. We are wrong for pre-revenue concepts that have not validated product-market fit, and we will say so on the discovery call.
Yes — we fly into Chicago for kickoff and launch week on builds, and retainers add quarterly in-person strategy sessions in Chicago. That travel sits inside the project budget on the original quote, never as a surprise line item. Sessions run at your office or across The Loop, River North, West Loop, Fulton Market, plus Evanston, Oak Park, and the western suburbs by arrangement.
A 30-minute discovery call books typically within a week of first contact. A written scope plus fixed-price quote returns within 48 hours of that call. For Shopify Plus B2B builds or replatforms we layer a 5 to 7 business-day technical-discovery phase before the quote becomes binding, because the ERP and dealer-account integration surface drives timeline more than visible design does.
Same-day response Mon-Fri 9-6 CT. We fly into Chicago for kickoff and launch. Scoped quote within 48 hours.
No sales pitch · we'll tell you honestly if Chicago isn't the right fit · scoped quote inside 48 hours
We build for the operator-led brands that define Chicago's commerce — names like Equilibria, Hanahana Beauty, Pear Nova and Filtrous — founder-run businesses that outgrew their templates and needed real engineering.
Independent Chicago businesses cited as market context — not Digital Heroes clients.
We work remotely with Chicago brands across the metro, from our New York HQ team with daily 9–1 ET overlap. Coverage spans The Loop, River North, Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, Logan Square, West Loop, Fulton Market and Gold Coast, across zip codes 60601, 60654, 60614, 60622, 60647, 60607, 60661, 60610, 60657, 60611.
Account Manager · Beauty & Fashion · New-york · 7 posts on the site
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