Shopify on Wednesday made significant changes to the design of the Shopify App Store. It switched from the company’s native green to the elegant black, a noticeable change besides tweaking the content flow and format of the app pages.
Moving on from its three-point description, the new Shopify App Store describes apps with the help of a title, a description and a few bullet points mentioning its features.
“The Shopify app store redesign is here. It’s our biggest release of updates ever. We’ve rethought the entire experience from top to bottom. The redesigned app store is more personalized, has more relevant content and helps get the right apps in the hands of the right merchants,” Shopify president Harley Finkelstein tweeted about the big change.
The @shopify app store redesign is here. It’s our biggest release of updates ever.
— Harley Finkelstein (@harleyf) December 6, 2022
We’ve rethought the entire experience from top to bottom. The redesigned app store is more personalized, has more relevant content and helps get the right apps in the hands of the right merchants. pic.twitter.com/sb0ekQXjWu
Describing the change, Finkelstein added that the new layout will help merchants discover apps much more efficiently. He pointed out three benefits of the new Shopify App Store layout.
- Merchants on App Store: For the first time, Shopify has featured its merchant partners along with apps on the app store. Finkelstein explained that it helps “highlighting merchants and the apps they use to run their businesses”.
- Highlighting Features: The new layout of the app page has less content but is relevant because it describes the features of every app in the best way possible.
- Better Categorisation: Shopify has also categorised its apps in a better way to help merchants discover the most useful app for their business. Describing the new category pages, Finkelstein said that they “educate merchants on key challenges & how apps can make Shopify better for them”.
Concluding the Twitter thread, the Shopify president said more changes are about to come as the company’s pledge to make Shopify App Store “the best app marketplace in the world”.
We’re not done.
— Harley Finkelstein (@harleyf) December 6, 2022
This is the first big step forward for the app store and we’ve got more in store as we build the best app marketplace in the world.
Got questions? Reach out to @ShopifySupport 👊
“We’re not done. This is the first big step forward for the app store and we’ve got more in store as we build the best app marketplace in the world. Got questions? Reach out to Shopify Support,” he tweeted.
Major Changes
Apart from the changes that are quite noticeable, Shopify also made some changes that can be missed if you fail to observe carefully. Earlier, Shopify used to provide a free trial of 14 days to merchants. The new design came with Shopify’s new three-day trial policy. After the free trial of three days, merchants have to pay $1 per month for the basic plan for the first three months.
Rick Watson, an eCommerce Influencer and Strategy Consultant and founder of RMW Commerce Consulting, reviewed the changes made by the Canadian e-commerce giant. He took to LinkedIn to post the changes he observed within the new app store.
Shopify App Store New Design’s Review
- Neat Design: Watson found the new design cleaner than the previous one. “The design is cleaner, and it is useful to see Shopify building on strength rather than expanding into new areas that are not core to their offering. One of Shopify’s greatest strengths continues to be the breadth of developers on its App Store,” he explained.
- Regular Updation: Watson opined that the new layout needs to be updated from time to time. “This can quickly turn into a weakness if these are not well-presented, verified to be working, and up to date,” he said.
- SEO Friendly: The new design also adheres to the principles of search engine optimisation (SEO). “It’s also clear they focused on SEO in this release. Lots of contextual links, cross-linking, speed, and moving information above the fold,” Watson said.
Review of The New Home Page
- Apps in Focus: The new home page of the Shopify App store has all apps in focus. Under one of its section titled “More ways merchants use apps,” the Shopify App Store share case studies that make these apps more prominent than ever.
- Better Personalisation: Watson explained how the new home page changes as per the requirements of every merchant. “The company has indicated that if you are logged in, this page will be personalized to the merchant,” he noted.
Category Page Review
- Beginners Friendly: Watson observed that the new layout of the Shopify App Store’s category pages is easy to understand for beginners. “More “how-to” content for beginners from their blog is integrated here,” he said.
- Promoting Solutions: According to Watson the new category page layout also promotes the solution offered by Shopify. It means “more content pushing you to Shopify solutions, like Shopify Fulfillment Network (naturally)”.
Review of The New App Page
- Promoting Merchants: Unlike the old design, the new design of the app page not just promotes the app but also the merchants that use these apps. “Partners can have their logos featured next to their App Name,” Watson observed.
- Focus on Pricing: The new layout also makes the pricing of the app more prominent as it is featured “right below the name of the app”.
- Image/Video Placement: Watson observed that the new imagery and video placement is better than before as it has been moved “above the fold”. Earlier, the imagery was lower on the Shopify app page.
- Precise Text: Watson loved the app descriptions that come with bullet points. It helps merchants know about the app, “without having to “expand” descriptions to read them”.
- Tight Layout: The new layout is quite tight as app reviews and other important details are featured in a cleaner way.
- New Badges: Shopify also announced new badges for the apps on the Shopify App Store. Watson explained a badge titled “Speed” as “based on app performance scores / Lighthouse score”, and another badge titled “Popular with businesses like yours”: as “Trying to personalize the app store based on the viewer”.
Watson described the third badge titled “Built For Your Business” as “An attempt to be Shopify’s “carrot” for apps to stay up to date. i.e., work with the latest themes, configurable in Shopify admin, etc. There may be others”.
Competition Remains Though
The e-commerce expert added that only the partner page of the app can help them earn these badges. Watson also reviewed small changes made by Shopify on its app store. He noted that the privacy policy and the support tab are placed much better than before
“You still have “competing apps” on your app page, but that’s a marketplace! It’s not “your page” completely. How long until you can target ads on competitor app pages?”
Watson concluded with someone else’s observation. “It appears there used to be an “all app” page which was removed, according to at least one user,” he said.
Initial Hint
In September, Shopify announced redesigning of its app store in an email shared with Shopify Partners. Seeking help from app developers, Shopify wrote: “We’re redesigning the Shopify App Store this year, and we need your help bringing it to life.”
The new Shopify App Store aimed at making app building and installation easier for its merchant partners. The redesigned Shopify App Store promised to provide merchants with exact solutions to grow their business and to help app developers get discovered by the right audience.
“We’ve spent the last year researching and experimenting with the best ways to help merchants discover the right, high quality apps for their unique needs, and we’re excited to tell you more about what’s coming,” Shopify added in the email.
