🛒 Shopify Plugins: ChatGPT, Virtual Shopping Experiences, Building in Public
In this Trends.vc Report, we talk about virtual shopping experiences, personalizing customer support, how to get featured by Shopify, boosting sales and more.
💎 Why It Matters
Shopify has 1,750,000 merchants and only 8,000 apps.
🔍 Problem
Each merchant has unique needs that Shopify can’t fulfill on its own.
💡 Solution
Shopify apps fill unaddressed needs by allowing merchants to customize their stores.
🏁 Players
Shopify Apps
- BlogHandy • Build a SEO-optimized blog for your store
- Stackend • Add social features such as live shopping, user profiles and more
- Klaviyo • Smart email marketing and SMS automation
- Bevi Design • Animated pop-ups
- Rewind Backups • Backup your store’s items, themes and more
- Tidio • Live chat and chatbots for customer support
- DSers • Place orders, find suppliers and import products from AliExpress
🔮 Predictions
- Shopify stores will use ChatGPT for personalized customer support. This will boost engagement, conversion and sales.
- Rep AI is a ChatGPT-powered sales bot.
- Yuma adds ChatGPT to customer support tools.
- Youness Idbakkasse and Kinane are building Store Copilot, an AI shopping assistant.
- Shopify stores will use AR to offer virtual shopping experiences. They will help customers see if the product fits their looks and needs.
- LUV+CO lets you try on makeup with Auglio Beauty Try-On.
- Forno Piombo lets you fit their ovens in your space with LEVAR.
- GIALLO JEWELRY, Yasèmia and SO SVN let you try on jewelry with mirrAR.
- Shopify stores will use gamified referral programs to boost engagement and retention.
- AsherKate uses Growave for its referral program with points and weekly missions.
- Sculpted by Aimee uses Smile for its referral program with reward points and tiers.
- Eyefood Factory uses Gameball for its referral program with points, levels and badges.
☁️ Opportunities
- Build lots of Shopify apps to boost your chances of success.
- Arpit Roy is bootstrapping Zegsu with 8 Shopify apps.
- Yung is running OneCommerce with 14 Shopify apps.
- Marouane is growing Royal Apps with 4 Shopify apps.
- Alex Hardy has 4 Shopify apps that make $35,000 MRR.
- John Speed built 5 Shopify apps with 8 more on the roadmap.
- Offer custom development services to help customers get apps that fit their needs.
- Youness Idbakkasse builds custom Shopify apps.
- Beni builds full-stack web and mobile Shopify apps.
- Union Works builds smart and simple Shopify apps.
- Zachary McClung builds simple and complex Shopify apps.
- Build in public to boost your reach, sales and trust.
- Gil is building Checkout Blocks in public.
- Sam is building BeSure Checkout Rules in public.
- Mathieu Gesbert is building Checkout OS in public.
🏔️ Risks
- Platform Risk • Shopify apps are subject to Shopify’s outages and policies.
- Competitor Risk • You’ll have to convince customers that your app is better than competitors.
- Compatibility • Shopify apps can conflict with each other. This can break store operations such as order processing, inventory management and more.
🔑 Key Lessons
- “Built for Shopify” and other achievements help you build trust. They signal that your Shopify app is easy to use, safe and performant.
- Optimize your listing to boost your reach and growth.
- Staff Picks can boost your reach. Shopify picks apps that follow app guidelines and offer great customer support. Mukul Chaware says Appointo was picked by Shopify 2 weeks after launch. This helped them get feedback and iterate fast.
🔥 Hot Takes
- Those who copy successful paid apps and offer freemium alternatives will grow faster with less risk.
- Excessive customization leads to confusion and poor customer experience. Merchants want to be able to quickly set up the app and do the job.
- Free Shopify apps devalue the marketplace and make it harder for paid apps to survive. Why would merchants pay for your discount spin wheel if they can get it for free?
😠 Haters
“Shopify updates its API every 3 months. I don’t want to deal with constant maintenance.”
Shopify gives you 9 months to adapt your Shopify app. If you fail to do so, Shopify will switch your app to the oldest supported API version to lower the chances of breaking your app.
“Shopify can take me out of business by building similar products. Sidekick can kill all AI-powered apps.”
That’s part of the platform risk. While ecosystems help you grow, nothing stops them from adding their own tools.
“Competitors can see the reviews to spot the pros and cons of my Shopify app. This makes it easier to compete with me.”
You can’t stop copycats but you can build an unlisted app. Though this will lower your reach and social proof. Stop worrying about competitors and focus on building an app that is so great your customers will feel dumb switching to anything else.
🔗 Links
- Building a Report on How to Launch and Grow Shopify Plugins • The tweet behind this report.
- How to Build a Shopify App • In-depth guide on building Shopify apps.
- Stair-Stepping with Plugins • Benefits and risks of building on existing ecosystems.
📁 Related Reports
- Ecosystems • Build services, SaaS apps and digital products to extend and improve platforms
- Competitor Risk • Index into an existing market instead of trying to create one
- Micro-SaaS • Solve a specific problem for a specific group of people
- Million-Dollar, One-Person Businesses • Find your highest point of leverage
- Product-Led Growth • Build a product that sells itself
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