Shrimpton Agency

01/29/2026

“How are you using AI?”

We've probably been asked this in every new client conversation for the last 6 months. And it’s almost never the real question.

What they actually mean is:
What can AI do for my business—and can you tell me how to use it without hiring anyone?

It's a fair question. AI has been marketed as a miracle: faster, cheaper, smarter, and somehow able to replace entire teams if you just prompt it correctly. The reality is much less dramatic—and much more useful.

First, AI isn’t a strategy. It’s a tool. And it’s rarely the tool.

Most of the time, getting AI to actually work for a business involves stitching together systems. One platform triggers an AI to generate something. That output gets passed to another service. Algorithmic logic checks it, reshapes it, routes it somewhere else, triggers more AI prompts and output, and eventually turns into something real—content, creative, data, or a live feature.

A lot of that isn’t AI at all. It’s just software.

AI is best at very specific things: pattern recognition, summarizing, classifying, generating drafts, transforming inputs into outputs, and it really loves code, (I guess it loves itself). It’s great when the task is clear and the rules are tight. It’s terrible at judgment, taste, and knowing when to stop. Which is why letting it run unchecked is how brands end up looking, sounding and behaving like everyone else.

The value doesn’t come from “using AI.” it comes from knowing where it fits—and where it absolutely doesn’t.

The companies doing this well aren’t trying to replace their teams. They’re trying to get more out of them. Same people. Same hours. More output. More experiments. More launches. More room to grow without burning everyone out.

That’s the part that gets missed.

AI doesn’t eliminate work. It compresses it, improves it and validates it. And that extra time gets reinvested into expansion, not headcount reduction.

Because AI on its own isn’t impressive.

What your teams can build with it is.

See the full article here https://www.shrimpton.agency/articles/how-are-you-using-ai

01/26/2026

Too often, conversations about conversion start in the wrong place.

We were recently asked to show how our UI work at Shrimpton Agency directly increased AOV and ROI. It sounds reasonable — but it’s also a loaded question. It assumes UI designers and developers are responsible for fixing deeper brand issues changing layouts, CRO tweaks, and app add-ons.

That framing is flawed.

When brands struggle to convert, the reflex is tactical: redesign the site, add upsells, inject urgency, cross-sell harder. But those moves usually compensate for something more fundamental — a lack of brand clarity, desirability, or conviction.

Conversion doesn’t start with the interface. It starts with desire.

A brand people genuinely want doesn’t need to shout or manipulate. The website simply becomes a clear expression of something customers already want to buy into.

A perfect example of this, and a brand cited as aspiration by our clients more than any other is MERIT beauty.

They don’t chase conversion — they attract it. A resolved aesthetic, confident restraint, beautiful photography, and zero desperation. The result? Trust, higher AOV, and customers who already decided “yes” before hitting checkout.

Build a brand people must have. The conversion will follow.

Read my full article here https://www.shrimpton.agency/articles/a-masterclass-in-brand-driven-conversion-merit-beautys-minimalist-approach

01/21/2026

A few of our favorite clients from 2025.

In 2025, we worked across hospitality, beauty, food & drink, CPG, apparel, education, charities and non-profits, inter-agency collaborations — and just about everything in between.

From blue-chip companies to single-owner startups, from mind-numbing Drupal builds to blazing-fast Shopify themes, the work we do is never boring — and neither are our clients.

What keeps your agency work inspiring?

01/14/2026

As we reach the 1 year anniversary of the Los Angeles fires, we'll be closing our fund raiser gallery at the end of January.

A huge thank you to all who purchased prints and contributed donations to the fund. With your help we were able to donate over $14,000 to those most affected in the Altadena community.

If you haven't purchased a print yet, you can still do so and we'd appreciate your support.

Shrimpton Agency has joined forces with photographer Franck Bohbot to raise funds for the families most affected by the Los Angeles fires. All profits will be donated directly to the GoFundMe campaigns created to support these families in their time of need.

01/05/2026

🚀 We’re launching the BETA of VENDR 🚀

Today, we’re introducing VENDR — our multi-store Shopify theme framework built to solve one of the hardest problems in Shopify and Shopify Plus e-commerce: running multiple Shopify stores without duplicating code or slowing teams down.

VENDR lets us manage multiple storefronts from a single codebase, with clean store-level overrides, modern tooling, and deployment workflows designed for scale.

It ships with enterprise commerce features baked in, out of the box — including performance-first architecture, SEO/GEO-ready foundations, internationalization, subscriptions, BOPIS, GWP, Quantity Breaks all at the theme level, leveraging only Shopify first party patterns, staying true to our core mantra -- "Don't break Shopify".

Built on Shopify 2.0, Vite, Tailwind, Vue 3, and TypeScript, VENDR is designed for developers, agencies, and brands who care about long-term maintainability and growth.

👉 We’re opening an invite-only BETA and are looking for developers, agencies, and brands who want early access to contribute to the project and help shape what comes next.

Comment or DM us if you’d like to be involved.

Enterprise-grade multi-store Shopify theme framework built for scale, performance, and operational efficiency. Manage multiple storefronts from a single codebase with modern development tools.

12/11/2025

Really excited about the launch of https://shrimpton.studio, our Creative Production & Location agency headed up by our co-founder SARAH COBB.

We live in 365 days of sunshine, so this was the obvious next step in our agency's evolution.

SHRIMPTON STUDIO leads every frame—from concept to final shot—so brands can harness Southern California's iconic light, landscapes, and mood without moving a full crew. Crystal-clear pools framed by palms. Accessories against the endless desert. Collections in mid-century Woodland Hills, where Charles Du Bois architecture sets the stage. Every location is curated, every detail art-directed, every shoot unmistakably Californian.

If the winter weather is getting you down, contact https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-cobb-shrimpton-85223a7 about your next Southern California production.

11/18/2025

Had the opportunity to visit our client whilst in NYC the other week.

Their intersection of Art, Craft and Fashion is truly unique.

Seeing first hand the kind of machinery they've amassed over a the 6 year period it took them to perfect their first go-to-market bag was astonishing.

Few brands can attest to this level of commitment to their process and product. This truly is

10/16/2025

09/29/2025

Another successful Shopify launch, , meaning "to nourish" in Italian, was created with one goal in mind: to provide the highest standard of nourishment so both you and your hair can truly thrive. Founded by Salon and Haircare stalwart, MARIO TRICCOCI, Nutrire's streamlined product offering of a 3 Step system delivers the perfect cross-sell / up-sell combination for a DTC brand launch.