Starting your eCommerce business venture on a robust Shopify store is no doubt a great idea. Today, app development is highly in demand in the market as users prefer to use apps over websites for their online shopping. Shopify store development allows you to build amazing Shopify apps that your users would love. But, how can you create a Shopify app without any hassle? To make things easier for you, here are 7 important tips for Shopify app development. Keep reading on!
How to Get Started with Shopify App Development
Before you make your decision to hire Shopify app developers for your eCommerce project, here are some important tips to follow:
- Take a Deep Look at the Shopify Ecosystem
Gaining a good understanding of the Shopify ecosystem helps you in several ways during the Shopify app development cycle and in the business operating on Shopify. The Shopify ecosystem comprises Merchants, the Shopify Program, and the Shopify App Store.
- Merchant
A merchant is a person or company that runs an eCommerce or retail business.
- Shopify Partner Program
Shopify Partners are also known as Shopify Experts. The Shopify Partner Program is an assembly of Shopify development companies, app developers, designers, and QA engineers approved by Shopify.
These experts are highly skilled and specialized in eCommerce development and can provide reliable Shopify support services. As a Shopify store owner, you can approach a reputed Shopify app development company to leverage the experience, knowledge, and skills of the development team.
These experts are skilled and specialize in eCommerce, and can help in many ways. As a Shopify merchant, you can leverage the expert’s knowledge and skills in building your eCommerce store or app.
You can hire Shopify developers who can help you build an app or online store, or provide guidance on Shopify development.
- Shopify App Store
Talking about the cost, earlier the Shopify App Store would take a 20% share of the first 1 million dollar revenue generated by developers. Shopify will take a 15% revenue share when the income exceeds $ 1 million.
Therefore, it is essential to know and understand the Shopify ecosystem and get Shopify support from them.
- Validate Your Shopify App Idea
It is the primary factor you need to consider right from the beginning of the Shopify app development process. By validating your app idea, you can grab the right goals and success for your business.
Idea validation requires you to have a proper POA to reduce costly mistakes during the app development. You must also include the hypotheses, probabilities, and other feasibilities and challenges that you think might be helpful in the process.
Furthermore, you can perform a careful analysis of your competitors as well as your prospects. Doing this will help you understand the real picture of the market and the demand for your app solution amongst target users.
- Design Your Shopify App
An app design that reflects your brand identity and purpose makes the user experience more familiar, and the user interface more appealing and intuitive. Therefore, you must ensure that your Shopify app design is user-friendly, accessible, and elegant. A pleasant user experience can help you win more customers and higher user retention rates.
You can use Shopify Polaris to design your app effectively. It is an open-source design system used by both in-house and third-party developers to design and build a Shopify app. This platform can accelerate the Shopify app development process while adhering to web accessibility standards and creating a more familiar app experience.
- Build Your Shopify App Or Outsource Your Project
Shopify offers numerous tools, technologies, resources, and other things required to build Shopify apps. Unless you are a professional Shopify developer, it would be difficult for you to leverage Shopify APIs, design and development tools, and other resources. You might even take two weeks to a year to develop a Shopify app if you’re the only developer.
Another option is to find a reliable Shopify app development company and outsource your eCommerce project. Hiring a company will give you access to a competent team of Shopify app developers who will develop and deliver a bug-free product. They will not only help you build a Shopify app but also suggest ideas and features to add to your app and integrate them into your Shopify store.
- Explore Shopify Libraries
Shopify offers Node, Python, and Ruby libraries, along with several other libraries, such as PHP. These are built and maintained by the Shopify community members. If you’re considering using third-party services, you should select libraries accordingly.
- Leverage Tools for Shopify App Development
With Shopify development, you get free hosting. So, you can build your own app or store and it can be hosted on the Shopify hosting platform. You just need to purchase the domain. You can build your Shopify app using the tech stack and programming language of your choice and host it on Shopify’s hosting.
- Ensure Security for Your App
If your store is on the internet, it is exposed to cyber-attacks by hackers who are looking to steal your data. As an eCommerce business owner, you must take the security of your business app or store very seriously. You must use proper security integration in your Shopify app to prevent hackers from stealing and accessing your data without your permission.
Of course, there are numerous security tools available online for strengthening your Shopify app’s security. You can also use multi-factor authentication, or restricted network features to keep your store data safe and secure.
If you want to add more advanced security features to your app, it’s wise to hire Shopify developers with vast experience and expertise.
Wrapping Up
So, these are some essential tips that you must follow to avoid costly mistakes and build your Shopify app without any bugs and hassle. Shopify is a highly popular eCommerce platform because it is a complete suite and is easy to use. The platform offers everything you need to build Shopify apps easily as long as you are familiar with the app development process.
If you’re less tech-savvy and looking for third-party Shopify support services, you should find an ideal Shopify partner for a
