Shopify Unite 2018: Key Changes for App Developers
Shopify Unite 2018 was one of the coolest events what we were lucky to participate in. We met and made contact with lots of people from all around the world. It was really Unite experience.
During the conference Shopify revealed many new features and technical improvements. Here’s a small overview of them with our personal thoughts. Prepare a cup of coffee ☕, fasten your seatbelt 💺, and let’s start our journey to the Shopify 2018 land 🚀.
New App Store
The first Shopify App Store was released back in 2009. It’s obvious that lot’s of things have been changed since then. Our analysis says that there’re about 2500 applications from 1400 developers in the App Store now. It’s quite huge.
And right now across our entire merchant base our merchants have on average six of your apps installed.
– Harley Finkelstein, COO @ Shopify, May 8, 2018
Shopify had over 5M+ searches on the App Store in 2017. They paid $100M to app developers & partners since the App Store was launched and more than half of that payouts happend last year. At the same time, 16% of Shopify app developers haven’t earned anything and about 40% earn almost nothing from their apps.
We want to create more value for our partners than we capture for ourselves.
– Harley Finkelstein, Unite 2016, 2017, 2018..
Having all of that in mind, Shopify’s going to improve the App Store this summer. Let’s see what they announced.
Improved app listings
The app listing is the one of the crucial things in terms of installs. The better page you build, the higher conversion rate you have.
With a new, conversion optimized layout, merchants will be able to quickly understand app’s value and make a decision to install.
All what we need to do is to describe our apps concisely but with all necessary information (screenshots, videos, prices, etc..)
It seems that Shopify wants to reduce the impact of reviews as a primary score for getting new installs. If so, it’s a great news.
Discoverability
Shopify’s going to add several new categories, e.g. Marketing, Inventory Managements, as well as 170 sub-categories. It should help merchants to find exactly what they need and improve the app discoverability. No need to choose between 11 main categories. Set a specific category for your app and be found by the right merchants. Isn’t it cool?
Personalized recommendations for merchants
It was said, that the recommendation system will be improved as well. The new Recommended for you block will be added to the main App Store page.
It looks like Shopify made a big work on improving the App Store. We hope it’ll bring more installs to all available apps as well as open new opportunities for the app developers. We need just continue making great apps. Yeah, sounds easy 😅.
Admin API in GraphQL
Shopify announced the ability to use Storefront API via GraphQL a year ago and this year it became available for the Admin API. GraphQL itself has several advantages and disadvantages but it’s definitely worth to try it.
Pros:
- Ability to reduce the number of Admin API requests which means less traffic and round trips
- Good in pair with React & Shopify Polaris (fetch only what you really need once and throw it through all your components)
Cons:
- Assurance that your query doesn’t exceed the limit (1000 points limitation for the single query)
- Lack of some methods from Admin REST API
You can find an additional information in the Shopify GraphGL official documentation and related Shopify blog post.
Developers Tools
Shopify team is constantly working on improving the tools for the app developers and this year they released the Developer Tools app. The app allows you to make authenticated calls to the Admin API (only REST for now), generate dummy data, view, and customize Polaris components.
Pros:
- Documentation + interactive Polaris & REST Admin API tools in the one place
- Ability to add dummy data to the store via Data Generator
- Ability to easily switch between multiple stores
Cons:
- No GraphQL integration
- Available only for macOS
The app reminds us the Spotlight but specific for the Shopify developers. We hope that they’ll improve it and add more integrations (GraphQL) in the future.
Polaris 2.0
It looks like Shopify puts lots of effort on the UI consistency. They want to have more embedded apps which are looking more like the native. That’s why they’re working hard on tools which should help us with it.
Shopify introduced the Polaris 2.0 with multiple improvements. It includes such new components as:
- Data table component
- Drop zone
- Modal
- App provider
The work isn’t going to stop and now we have a stable 2.2.0 version.
❗️Be careful, the update to the new version can break your styles.
It’s always great to see that the software which you’re depending on is constantly improving but it’s really important to not lose the quality of it in the race of releasing new features. Unfortunately, Polaris has some lacks in this area.
However, we believe that such things will be fixed in future releases.
As usual, you can read more about Polaris 2.0 changes in the Shopify Blog.
Locations & Inventory APIs
Some shops can have multiple locations and it’s a kind of tricky to do inventory management for each of them. Shopify announced multi-location inventory — a bunch of tools for Shopify Plus merchants which give them the visibility they need to optimize inventory and fulfillment decisions in real-time.
How is it related to the app developers?
❗️ After July 1, 2018, apps will no longer be able to use the ProductVariant API to adjust inventory. Additionally, fulfillments and refunds with restocks will require a
location_idat creation.️
What does it mean? We need to use a new Inventory API instead. If a store has multiple locations, all inventory management should be done through the API.
So, if your app is using inventory_quantity or inventory_quantity_adjustment , take a look at the Inventory API and make appropriate changes.
Flow
Last year Shopify announced Flow– the platform for Shopify Plus merchants, which allows automating tasks inside Shopify admin. This year they revealed the Flow Connectors — the way the apps can talk to each other.
Your app can define triggers and actions .Triggers — the data (event) that your app will send to Flow. Your app should be configured for sending it in the appropriate moment, e.g. the email was sent. Actions — the reaction of your app for arriving data from Shopify.
To use the triggers and actions that you create, merchants need to have your app and Flow installed. Triggers and actions are not dependent on each other. Merchants can create workflows with any combination of triggers and actions from Shopify or any app that they have installed that also has connectors.
https://help.shopify.com/api/embedded-apps/app-extensions/flow
Want to integrate your app to another one? Easy! No need to spend a tremendous amount of time on building your own communication protocols. You have a standard solution now. Isn’t it cool?
There’re several apps which have been already using the Flow Connectors.
For more information check out the official Flow and Flow Connectors documentation.
Kit Skills
Kit is a virtual employee that helps store owners sell more using digital advertising and marketing. It was acquired by Shopify in 2016 and since than was integrated into several apps.
This year Shopify introduced a Kit Skills – type of app extension we can build and submit directly within the Shopify Partners Dashboard.
In creating skills for Kit, you’ll be able to capture mobile-centric merchants as app users and engage with them through conversation, without having to become a mobile app developer yourself.
https://www.shopify.com/partners/blog/marketing-tools#kitskills
It should be available this summer. We’re eager to see how it makes the developers life easier.
Transporter
Shopify is constantly growing and trying to extend its presence in the online e-commerce world. There’re lots of merchants who want to migrate their shops from the current platform, e.g. Magento or BigCommerce, to Shopify one.
Exactly for this purpose, Shopify created the Transporter App and Transporter Tools.
We haven’t tried it yet but heard a feedback from several Shopify agencies. We’ve been told, that these tools were built for general cases and you still need to put lots of effort into successful migration. It’d be nice to hear your opinion about it 🤔 . Tell us your thought in the comments below.
GDPR
No more GDPR! We just put this link here.
Additional Announcements
Service Marketplace
Hooray! It seems that it’s a bad news for Upwork and a good one for all local Shopify experts.
Slate V1
We don’t have any experience with developing Shopify themes, so it’s hard to say something about it. If you’re theme developer and have already tried the Slate, please share your opinion with us in the comments below ⤵️.
Shopify Ping
Hm.. 1 more messenger? Will it have the same fate as the Mobile Store Builder? Will see.
Advanced Discount Types
Buy socks, get PS4 pro free. I’m in 😂!
Local Currencies & Payment Methods
Hello Asia, we were waiting for you a great while.
Fraud Protection for Shopify Payments
Sounds good, we hope that it’ll be added not only for U.S. merchants.
Marketing Simplification
Put all marketing things into 1 place? Should be useful. A great opportunity for all related apps.
Tap & Chip Reader
Looks beautiful and super simple. Shopify can create the hardware as well. Great job!
AR/VR
Not sure about AR in the current implementation but using 3D models instead of static product images should definitely improve the buying experience.
Dynamic Checkouts
Easy as it is. Less steps, more conversions.
Abandoned Checkout Tool
Should the abandoned checkout apps worry about it?
Closing Thoughts
Shopify’s really thinking about the future of commerce (not only electronic one). They’re constantly improving their platform as well as relations with developers. It was seen everywhere at Unite. We’re happy to be a part of all of that and hope to have a long collaboration.
Thanks for your work and the great conference, Shopify!
Last But Not Least
Here you can find 24 videos from the conference. If you ask us to recommend you only 1 dev talk from the Shopify Unite 2018, it definitely will be Building Scalable Apps by Adam Archer and Joe Pym. Grab a food 🍿 and enjoy the talk 😎!
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