Shopify is one of the best digital platforms to create, manage, and design your business online. Shopify allows you to customize your store with numerous themes and template options. Additionally, Shopify apps play an important role in the functionality of your business; they add advanced features to your store.
Thus, if you are looking for ways to develop Shopify apps, you have reached the right location. In this blog, we will explore the basics of the Shopify app, its types, every bit of the Shopify app, such as things to avoid while creating it, and finally, the process of developing a Shopify app. So, let's start exploring the blog post.
Understanding Shopify Apps
So, Shopify apps are different from the Shopify platform. They add advanced features and capabilities to your online Shopify store. They allow you to customize your digital store in your own way. These apps are made to enhance your business functionality. Apart from designing your store with advanced features, they make advancements in these sectors of your store, such as improving marketing, managing inventory, streamlining checkout processes, and providing better customer support.
Popular Examples of Shopify Apps
There are multiple Shopify apps available, but these are the prominent ones, including Oberlo, which is made for dropshipping; SEO Manager—an app to optimize your website with SEO; and lastly, Mailchimp, the best app for email marketing. These apps can significantly improve your website's performance with automated tasks facility.
Now, we will delve into the multiple types of Shopify apps.
Exploring Different Approaches to Developing Shopify Apps
Multiple kinds of Shopify apps are methods or approaches to effectively create useful apps for your store. Thus, there are three basic types of apps available.
Public Apps: These apps are created for Shopify store owners and are available on public platforms such as Play Store. You can easily download this app to handle your inventory effectively and for marketing.
Custom Apps: Custom apps are specially designed apps. They are made for a specific owner and company. These apps are not available on public platforms. Shopify app development companies or developers create this app to fulfill the need for a specific purpose.
Private Apps: These apps come between the line of custom and public apps. They are not fully customized and are sometimes available for public download. These apps are made to provide a few additional features that are not available on public apps.
Thus, these were the different Shopify apps or methods to create them. Now, we will introduce the category of Shopify apps.
Creating Shopify Apps: Standalone vs. Embedded
The apps you want to create can be categorized into these two different groups. The first standalone apps are free from Shopify admin and have their own interface. On the other hand, embedded apps are part of Shopify admin. They are incorporated into them and provide a seamless user experience. Choosing the app type depends upon your purpose and requirements.
The Advantages and Benefits of Custom Shopify Apps
Using custom apps provides multiple benefits. They tailor their functionalities based on your requirements, provide efficient business processes, and enhance user experience in your store. Additionally, they perform some tasks on their own, such as integrating existing systems and aligning with a store’s brand. Apart from this, you can also generate revenue by taking charge of app usage.
Now, when you decide to create a Shopify app by hiring a Shopify developer or yourself, there is something to consider.
Key Considerations for Building Shopify Apps
When you create a Shopify app for any purpose, always keep these things in mind: your target audience, business niche, reputation, market demand, and competition. Additionally, implement these elements, including user-friendliness, security, and scalability. Maintain regular monitoring of your app and check the updates to improve its performance. Therefore, let's discuss the important concepts of creating Shopify apps.
Essential Concepts for Building a Shopify App
It consists of three different basic concepts, including:
Identify a Clear Problem or Need:
First, you have to identify the problem your store is facing. Clearly define what you expect from the app you are creating. It can be anything, including simplifying inventory management, improving customer engagement, boosting sales, etc.
Prioritize User-Centric Design:
Now, when you have defined your problem statement or need, work on your app functionality. It should be user-friendly, where users don’t struggle to navigate. Make your app user-centric.
Focus on Robust Development:
Thus, your app should meet the Shopify coding standards and best practices. Write clean, efficient, and secure code for your app. You must ensure that your app is stable, scalable, and capable of performing multiple tasks during peak periods.
So, these were the three concepts of Shopify app development that you must adhere to.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Developing Shopify Apps
In this section, we will mention the things you need to take care of while developing a Shopify store.
Ignoring Merchant Needs:
The first thing you need to do is understand the store owner's needs. If you don’t take it seriously, you will develop an app that doesn’t suit their need. Thus, seriously take care of their requirement and the specific features they want in the app. Otherwise, it will be like a fashion store without a specific category.
Neglecting User Experience:
How people feel while using your app is foremost, as it can impact your brand reputation. Your app should not be confusing, slow, or outdated. It must work seamlessly and provide an engaging user experience.
Lack of Testing:
Never approved the app without checking its performance. Critically check all the buttons, features, and everything that is placed into it. Otherwise, you will create an app where the button doesn’t work and pages don’t load properly.
Ignoring App Guidelines:
To develop an app for the Shopify store, you need to follow its rules and guidelines. For instance, if the app you have created doesn’t offer the mentioned work, such as it was designed to manage inventory, but now it is not working properly, your app may be removed from the Shopify app store. So, make sure your created app amends the guidelines.
Overcomplicating Features:
Don’t create an app that provides multiple unnecessary features, as it might confuse users and make things complicated. Integrate necessary and important features that are really owners search for.
So, these are the things you need to know before making the app. Now, we will delve into the process of creating a Shopify app.
Building a Shopify App: A Step-by-Step Guide
In this section, we have broken down the process into simple steps.
Conceptualization and Research:
First, conduct market research to identify the specific problem or need that your app will address. Research the market trend, potential competitors, and the target audience.
Planning and Design:
You have to create a detailed plan for your app creation and development. Define the scope of your plan, its features, functionality, and what else you want to add. Additionally, create a list of timelines, budgets, and resources.
Setting Up Your Development Environment:
To proceed further, you need to set up a development environment known as Shopify Partners or Shopify Development Stores. It involves installing necessary tools and getting access to Shopify’s API and documentation.
Coding and Development:
After that, write the code for your app and follow the Shopify coding standards and best practices. Ensure everything is as you planned.
Testing and Quality Assurance:
It's time to test your app on various devices and browsers to fix all the bugs. Ensure that your Shopify app performs all the tasks you want.
Documentation:
After that, you need to create documentation for your app so users can easily use it. It involves a guide on installation, manual methods, and performing instructions.
App Submission:
If you have created the app for public use, send it to the Shopify app store. You must ensure that the app matches with policies and guidelines. Additionally, if you have created a custom app, send it to the owner or use it yourself.
Marketing and Promotion:
Now, it's time to market your app. Choose the right strategy, such as social media marketing, advertisement, email marketing, campaigns, and more.
Customer Support:
If you have created a public app, you need to provide customer support to fix their issues. Additionally, if it is a custom app, provide support to your client. A positive customer support experience enhances user engagement.
Continuous Improvement:
When your app is in the market, you need to monitor it regularly to match the market trends and make extra improvements. Add features that become necessary for your users, fix bugs, and fulfill the owner’s needs.
Thus, by following this step-by-step process of all development, you will build an app that stands out from others. However, the app development task is complicated, and you need to check everything regularly to fix the issues.
Therefore, hire Shopify developers who can develop the app as per your requirements. MakkPress Technologies is the best Shopify app development service provider. MakkPress Technologies has the best record in creating custom-based and public apps for Shopify stores.
Conclusion
In this blog, we have briefly explained the concept of Shopify, different types of Shopify apps, things you should keep in mind while developing the apps, three fundamental concepts, mistakes to avoid, and finally, how to develop an effective Shopify app by following the simple process.
Thus, the Shopify app is now becoming the spot of business success by providing solutions to streamline problems. Therefore, create a Shopify app with MakkPress Technologies and solve your e-commerce store problem today.
