With the significant growth that Shopify has seen since its launch in 2006, more and more business owners have chosen the platform for their online stores.
Just three years after the launch, in 2009, Shopify introduced its API, along with a dedicated App Store. This was a turning point for the business, clearly differentiating it from other companies offering similar platforms by providing developers with the resources for creating applications dedicated to Shopify stores that they can then offer to the business owners through the App Store.
Ten years after the launch of the Shopify App Store, the variety of apps available is huge, catering to every online store owner need. The categories available cover areas from finding the products to sell, the places on which to sell them, designing a beautiful and efficient store, to marketing, sales and conversions, inventory management, shipping and customer support, finances, productivity and reporting.
This may sound overwhelming, but by sorting through the myriad of available categories and group them into bigger sections, three major sections result, which we will discuss in more detail below. These are basic apps that every Shopify user should have installed, logistics and back-office apps and, last but not least, marketing apps.
Basic Apps That Every Shopify User Should Have Installed
These applications, in our opinion, few Shopify users should start without. These apps include Shopify’s very own Kit (an AI that helps you create marketing), Shopcodes (enable QR codes), and Fraud Filter (helps avoid fraud by identifying suspicious orders). Plug-in SEO and Bulk Image Edit are also on the list for optimizing the user’s SEO workflow and quickly allowing you to edit all the images on your store at once.
In the end, it’s a business owner’s task to find the basic apps without which the store cannot function and the above are but a few of the ones available. However, everyone should keep in mind that no matter the particularities of the store they are operating, the App Store more than offers you the basic tools to get well on the road towards e-commerce success.
Logistic and Back-Office Apps
These apps are designed to help and optimize logistics and back-office workflows. They range from apps dedicated to finding products to sell to apps dedicated to shipping. There are also apps for automating workflows and staff management to apps dedicated to customer support and ticketing.
Apps like ShipStation and ShipBob will optimize the shipping process from labeling to order tracking all through finding the best available carrier with the best possible rates.
Apps are also available for providing users with tracking services for packages, making knowing when the package is and when will it arrive an extremely easy process.
The business owner that has seen large growth and is a bit scared about the inventory management nightmares that can come along for the ride will find a huge help comes from apps like TradeGecko. For users selling subscriptions or any other recurring billing items, applications like ReCharge and Bold Subscriptions will come in handy.
Business owners looking to provide their customers with an awesome customer support experience will for sure like apps such as the Facebook Messenger — Live Chat that allows the store to interact with its customer via traditional chat channels, as well as dedicated store chat applications like Tidio Live Chat, which also comes with chatbot functionality and marketing automations.
Marketing Apps
The online store is open, everything is in place and functioning properly, inventory and shipping are both managed in a professional and efficient manner, customer support is on top of its game but, as everyone knows, without proper marketing all of the above can be rendered useless quite fast.
Fortunately, for the online business owner that wants to do a proper job in marketing his or her venture, the Shopify App Store offers all the necessary resources one might need. From SEO, SEM, analytics, content marketing, and affiliate programs to ads and retargeting, contests, giveaways, email marketing and discounts every little thing is covered by an app.
From apps like Social Photos that use the tremendous power of Instagram to drive sales towards Shopify stores to content curation tools like Pocket, there’s something for everyone on the App Store when it comes to marketing.
But, as any marketing specialist will agree, one of the key ways to improve sales is customer retention and, furthermore, upselling. Getting is new customer will always be much more difficult than already is a customer and upselling him on products that he might need. So, does the Shopify App Store offer something for businesses looking into upselling to existing clients? Yes, it does. DataCue Upsell Recommendations, available on the App Store at is the top choice in this case, providing users with an easy set-up doable in less than 15 minutes, after which it will get well on its way towards increasing sales, conversions, as well as providing useful tips for improving the store on which it runs. The application relies on personalized recommendations as a tool for growing sales and conversion ratios. Sell more by showing them what they want.
Apps that take advantage of the conversational commerce trend that seems to grow over the past years are also available, one of the most used being the Messenger Channel, which uses the power of Facebook Messenger to drive customers towards the store.
There is something for every Shopify store owner and his needs on the App Store. It all just comes down to identifying the needs of the business and then choosing the right app for it!
