Turbo charge Shopify with apps
When it comes to using Shopify for your Ecommerce solution the gurus at Shopify really have thought of most things to ensure a great experience for both you and your customers. Shopify's out of the box solution allows for most new businesses to create a great looking store that has the ability to sell a range of products quickly and easily.
There are however some situations where you may need to rev up your Shopify store to undertake tasks that standard out of the box Shopify does not offer.
There are commonly three ways of tuning your Shopify store to add additional features which are as follows :
Upgrading to Shopify Plus - Shopify Plus is the Enterprise version of Shopify, for an additional monthly fee Shopify provides additional features such as multiple storefronts for different regions, wholesale functionality and enhanced discount setups etc
Custom code - Shopify allows access to the code for most areas of the site, this can allow developers to customise not only the look and feel of the site, but also certain functions that aren't available with standard Shopify.
Installing Shopify Apps - This option is by far the most common and easiest route to upgrading your Shopify store which is explained below in a little more detail.
So you have your shiny new Shopify store that has hopefully been built by one of our Shopify experts, you now decide that you may like to offer subscriptions - very handy if you are selling food & drink, cosmetics and any items that your customers may have to regularly replenish. Or perhaps you would like to add an interactive stockist locator, maybe even a locked page with products available for wholesale. If you don't have the time, knowledge or budget to either write custom code or engage an expert to write code for you then head to the Shopify app store as they will likely have an app that suits your needs.
Shopify apps are usually written and developed by third party developers from around the world and marketed for specific tasks. I.e if you are looking at offering a wholesale pricing portal for your trade customers you may look at Wholesale Club or Wholesale Gorilla. The app providers will usually offer a free trial, followed by a monthly fee which is added to your monthly Shopify fee.
Shopify apps can be a great way of transforming your store to a whole new level of features at a reasonably low cost. With that in mind it is worth delving into the flip side as to why our team of Shopify Experts here at Insider Media Group will always suggest that less is more, and to keep the amount of apps installed to a minimum.
As mentioned above Shopify apps can really transform your store to new heights of functionality, however it is always worth considering the negative aspects of installing apps before you start. Apps are, as mentioned, usually designed and built by third party developers. Even though the apps will have to undergo rigorous testing and compatibility with Shopify before they are allowed to be marketed on the offical app store they are not necessarily tested against other apps. To expand on this you may want to install a wholesale app to your store to offer wholesale pricing, in addition you may want to offer regular product subscriptions to some wholesale customers. At face value this would seem easy, i.e install a wholesale app, and then install a subscriptions app. The reality is that these two apps may not 'play nicely' with each other thus not work within Shopify. With that in mind it is worth testing your app framework before committing and launching these features to your customers.
In addition to app compatibility it is also a useful exercise to only install apps that you will actually use. This may seem obvious but you would be amazed at the amount of stores our Shopify developers assist that have a list of apps installed that are as long as your arm. Not only will these apps often cost money to install but also, and more importantly, too many apps can slow down the performance of your Shopify store.
If you are interested in what apps could be of benefit to your Shopify store, and if you would like advice on app compatibility then please contact our team of Shopify Experts here at Insider Media Group