Shopify and the Power of Platforms • Hacker News Board

Re: Shopify and the Power of Platforms

#171

Post by melenaos » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 4:16 AM UTC

kumarm wrote: post #104

melenaos wrote: post #103

I am Shopify app developer and I earn my living from 3 published apps in the Shopify marketplace. I can answer any question you may have.

Thank You. 1. Do you see the Market for shopify apps growing? Any indications would be helpful from your experience. 2. Best way to get started on Shopify apps for developers?

New stores open every minute but at the same time some others close, if you have a good placement in the marketplace listings then new people use the app and if you can keep them, you will grow a decent monthly revenue.

Shopify is missing many things and the apps are there to fill those gaps, Shopify doesn't replicate the apps functionality to drag them out of the game so yea, there is much space left for new apps.

Shopify has a great resource of information on how to get started here: https://developers.shopify.com/app-development

You may find an API library for your preferred language in this list: https://help.shopify.com/en/api/tools/supported-libraries

Re: Shopify and the Power of Platforms

#172

Post by melenaos » Sat, Jul 13, 2019, 4:25 AM UTC

yhoiseth wrote: post #128

melenaos wrote: post #103

I am Shopify app developer and I earn my living from 3 published apps in the Shopify marketplace. I can answer any question you may have.

Do you have any ideas for Shopify apps you'd like to share?

If you need inspiration you can navigate through the marketplace.

I have released such a 'borrowed idea' app before 4 months and i barely have 15 users on it. It's not much but it's more than nothing, it took me less than two months to develop it and about 6 months to release it (slow app verification procedures and stupid bugs).

https://apps.shopify.com/

Re: Shopify and the Power of Platforms

#173

Post by aussiegreenie » Sun, Jul 14, 2019, 8:12 AM UTC

DenisM wrote: post #135

Townley wrote: post #2

> Shopify is giving merchants an opportunity to differentiate themselves while bearing no risk if they fail. In addition to this being a great position for Shopify, this is an amazing thing for merchants compared to Amazon's offering; it's the critical difference between "We'll sell your stuff" and "We'll empower you to easily sell your stuff" that leaves power and agency in the hands of individual companies. Semi-re…

What about traffic though? Amazon gives you traffic, user reviews, used confidence.

Amazon has a HUGE fake products problem.

The brand is damaged and getting worse. People already avoid Az and it will only get worse.

Re: Shopify and the Power of Platforms

#174

Post by thirdsun » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 5:32 PM UTC

unixhero wrote: post #161

nickjj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a big difference is Shopify's core product has a bunch of really useful things to help sell things. You don't need plugins or third party apps written by other developers to get a superb selling experience (note: I don't work at Shopify but I used the platform a few years ago and even wrote some custom apps / templates for it). The benefit is the core product is insanely battle hardened and you can depend on…

You didn't mention Magneto, Prestashop ir WooCommerce in your comment.

I used all of them and it’s really no comparison. Shopify is leagues ahead of them - for non-tech-savvy users and developers alike in my opinion.

Re: Shopify and the Power of Platforms

#175

Post by thirdsun » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 5:38 PM UTC

jasonlotito wrote: post #30

_csoo wrote: post #4

Shopify is just the next closed-source iteration of WordPress and Magento. WordPress has one of the largest platforms and they've taken over (and open-sourced) blogging, content management, learning management systems, and ecommerce. They and Magento are better examples of a platform than Shopify. In the long-term, "platforms" like Shopify lose because they don't have nearly enough developers. They have ~3000 "apps"…

My wife had an Etsy store before moving to Shopify. I'm a developer, and we still moved to Shopify. We went with Shopify because out of the box, it had everything you needed, even things you don't think you need. ecommerce is more than just accepting payments and a shopping cart. Shopify is, in effect, a curated experience. Other options required a lot of effort to setup to run at least as easily as Shopify was out o…

Yes, and even if want to get your hands dirty or need custom features they offer extensive developer tools and great documentation - we use their API a lot and it’s a joy to work with.

Re: Shopify and the Power of Platforms

#176

Post by thirdsun » Tue, Jul 16, 2019, 5:53 PM UTC

workinnow wrote: post #109

joking wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you seem to forget about the credit card rates, which are the 2.9% of your sales. I don't know in other countries, but where I live you can get the same conditions than for a physical pos terminal from a bank with around 1% rate. a 2% of your sales can easily grow to something that you can optimize.

2.9% is the rate for their $30 a month plan, their $300 plan is 2.4% which leaves you within 1% from most of the cheapest payment processors while getting a ton more 'value' IMO.

In europe it’s even 1.8% on their $300 plan.