Staying ahead of the curve in e-commerce is necessary for online store owners. As part of a team of seasoned e-commerce experts at POWR, we’ve witnessed the industry's incredible growth and transformation firsthand.
It is undeniable that Shopify will continue to be a driving force for e-commerce businesses worldwide in 2024. (You can see statistics below to support it)
I have not listed an app from every category on Shopify (because I didn’t want this article to take an hour to read), but I did select the ones I believe any Shopify merchant should consider.
Click below to go directly to an app or app category.
Shortcuts:
- Essential Store Optimization Apps
- Enhancing Customer Experience Apps
- Streamlining Operations Apps
- Marketing and Conversion Apps
- Store Design & Customization Apps
- Finance Management & Security Apps
If you are new to e-commerce or just new to Shopify, let’s review a few statistics you should know about the platform first.
Why is Shopify such a big deal in e-commerce?
They are a game-changer in the world of e-commerce for several important reasons. Here are my top 5 why I think Shopify is a big deal:
- Explosive Growth: Shopify has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years. At the beginning of 2024, over 7 million businesses are powered by Shopify, compared to 1.7 million businesses in 2021. Talk about explosive!
- Massive Sales: As of September 2023, Shopify-powered businesses collectively generated over $6.65 billion in total sales in the previous 12 months – a gain of +26.81% from a year earlier.
- Global Reach: Shopify isn't just popular in one country; it's a global phenomenon. And while the platform thrives in the US, it supports businesses in over 175 countries.
Source: Style Factory Productions
- App Ecosystem: The Shopify App Store is loaded with over 8,000 apps to enhance and expand your online store's capabilities. This vibrant ecosystem only grows larger by the day.
- Supportive Community: Shopify has a thriving community of more than 11 million users, entrepreneurs, and experts who share knowledge and support one another.
Shopify takes the tricky parts out of starting an online store and lets you focus on your lemonade (or whatever amazing product you want to sell).
It's like having a superpower for e-commerce, and these statistics show just how much it's grown and why so many people love it!
Essential Store Optimization Apps
The quest for a successful online store starts with effective store optimization. You’ll want to look for apps in the analytics and search engine optimization (SEO) categories. Here are the ones I like.
Booster
Booster has designed this app to tackle page speed issues and assist online sellers in avoiding missed sales opportunities.
When you hover your mouse over a link, they instruct the browser to pre-load that page quietly in the background. The result is a significantly quicker loading time.
Key Features
- Achieve Nearly Instant Page Loading: Make your website pages feel like they load almost instantly, keeping your visitors engaged.
- Mobile Page Speed Enhancement: Enhance page loading speed on mobile devices, even on slower connections or older devices.
- Native Shopify Integration: This app is built natively for Shopify and is fully compatible with Online Store 2.0, ensuring seamless integration.
- Quick Installation: Increase your page speed in less than a minute with our hassle-free, no-code installation process.
Utilizing advanced browser preloading technology, this app can boost your second-page load speeds by up to three times, ultimately leading to improved add-to-cart conversions.
Tapita
With just one click, Tapita optimizes both SEO and page speed, ultimately benefiting your Google rankings and enhancing the experience for your customers.
If you've been grappling with a sluggish website and a low Google ranking, Tapita is your ideal SEO companion.
It offers an extensive suite of tools, including (but not limited to)
- Speed booster
- Image optimizer
- SEO audit
- Sitemap generator
- Page indexer
What sets Tapita apart is its team of experts, always ready to go the extra mile to assist you and provide valuable advice.
Key Features
- One-Click SEO and Page Speed Optimization: Effortlessly enhance Google rankings and customer experience.
- Expert Support: The team of experts behind Tapita will help you overcome challenges and offer valuable advice to boost your website's performance.
- Seamless Growth: With Tapita, you can expect significant improvements in your website's SEO and page speed, increasing conversions and sales.
Airboxr
Understand how profitable your brand is within your spreadsheets.
Airboxr helps you assess revenue, marketing, and operational metrics with a single click, right within your regular spreadsheets.
It pulls data from all your sources (Shopify, Meta ads, Google Analytics, Klaviyo, etc.) and gives you live and updated spreadsheets with critical metrics.
Airboxr has a library of over 100 best practice reports, so you can plug into how top-tier DTC brands run their shop.
With Airboxr, you can
- Automate ongoing profitability analysis.
- Build customer segments based on purchase history.
- Get an in-depth analysis of marketing, sales, product, fulfillment, and retention.
- Get CPA, CAC, LTV, AOV, and MER on your business within a single dashboard.
- Analyze best-selling products, design bundles, and identify seasonal trends.
Supported integrations include Shopify, Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, Google Ads, Klaviyo, Google Sheets, Tiktok Ads, and Xero. Support for Amazon Seller is coming soon.
Try Airboxr for free.
Peek!
Peek! is a valuable tool for any online store owner looking to improve their website's performance, enhance the user experience, and gain valuable insights into customer behavior.
It simplifies the process of recording sessions, conducting surveys, and analyzing data, making it an essential asset for online businesses.
- Session Recording: The app records user sessions, giving you a clear view of how customers interact with your store, like browser type, session length, visitor location, and timestamps.
- Behavior Insights: Analyzing these recordings provides the insights you need to help identify what's working well on your site and what's not, allowing for more targeted improvements.
- Improved User Experience: Watching full session recordings helps you better understand your user experience (UX). Optimizing your UX can be instrumental in converting more visitors into customers.
- Insightful Analytics: Easy-to-understand analytics and e-commerce-specific segmentation remove a lot of the guesswork, like understanding why certain pages don’t convert very well.
Overall, Peek! appears to be a valuable tool for any Shopify store owner looking to enhance their site's performance and build a stronger connection with their customers.
Enhancing Customer Experience Apps
Happy customers are the lifeblood of any e-commerce business. Explore how enhancing the customer experience through these apps can turn one-time shoppers into loyal fans.
Contact Form
Nothing says customer experience like providing an easy way for customers and shoppers to get in touch with you for answers to their questions.
Contact Form is a user-friendly tool that lets you create professional, custom contact forms for your business with ease.
It's designed for simplicity, allowing you to gather information without requiring coding skills or developer expertise.
Key Features
- Conditional Logic: Tailor your forms to different customer segments with conditional logic.
- Instant Alerts and Syncing: Receive email alerts for new responses and sync them with Google Sheets.
- Centralized Contact Management: Keep all contact information and responses organized in your POWR dashboard.
- Interactive Forms: Create multi-step, interactive forms for a better customer experience.
- Autoresponders: Set up quick, automated responses to engage customers immediately.
Simplify contact and lead collection to grow your contacts effortlessly. With integration options like Mailchimp and Zapier, you can seamlessly automate your entire contact flow.
HelpCenter
HelpCenter is a customer service platform that enables businesses to offer self-service support and real-time assistance, turning customer inquiries into sales opportunities.
It combines various tools like FAQ pages, help centers, and chat widgets to provide instant answers to common customer questions, reducing the workload on support teams.
Key Features
- Customizable FAQ Page: Build a branded FAQ section using 12 templates that fit your brand.
- Enhanced Article Features: Enhance your help articles with ratings, multiple language translations, and optimization for search engine results.
- Integrated Help Widget: Implement a help widget on your site with contact, order tracking, and FAQ features.
- Centralized Helpdesk Ticketing: Manage inquiries from email, live chat, and Facebook Messenger in one unified place.
- Real-Time Communication Tools: Engage customers directly with live chat options and automated chatbots.
By using HelpCenter, businesses can streamline their customer service process, ensuring that customers receive the information they need promptly and efficiently.
It not only improves customer satisfaction but also helps in boosting sales by addressing queries and concerns quickly.
WeGifts
WeGifts stands out in the Shopify ecosystem as a premier gift card management app, offering features that enhance the merchant and customer experience.
Key Features
Shopify-Specific Integration: Tailored exclusively for Shopify stores, WeGifts ensures seamless integration and compatibility, providing a smooth operational flow.
Customizable Gift Card Designs: Offers a variety of design templates and personalize them to reflect your brand's identity, making each gift card unique and appealing.
Intuitive User Interface: Designed with user experience in mind, store owners and customers enjoy an easy-to-use interface that simplifies managing and purchasing gift cards.
Effective Gift Card Management: Streamlines the creation, distribution, and tracking of gift cards, making the management process efficient and hassle-free.
Enhanced Customer Engagement: By offering personalized and attractive gift cards, WeGifts helps increase customer engagement and loyalty.
Analytical Insights: Provides valuable insights into gift card performance, helping you understand customer preferences and tailor your marketing strategies accordingly.
Global Reach: Supports multiple currencies and languages, making it suitable for stores with an international customer base.
WeGifts is not just a tool; it's a comprehensive solution that empowers Shopify store owners to elevate their gift card offerings, ultimately driving sales and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Fontify
Fontify is a versatile app that simplifies changing fonts on your website, whether you want to use Google Fonts or your custom fonts.
Fontify makes applying these fonts to your entire webpage or specific sections easy. This tool will enhance your website's visual appeal and consistency effortlessly.
Key Features
- Google Fonts Integration: Instantly change to any Google Font with GDPR compliance.
- Custom Font Uploads: Easily upload and use your custom fonts.
- Selective Application: Apply fonts to your entire site or just specific elements.
- Broad Compatibility: Works seamlessly with all Shopify themes and apps, including The4 themes and EComposer.
- Multi-Language Support: Supports separate fonts for different languages, enhancing the global appeal of your site.
Fontify is the perfect solution for giving your online store a professional and consistent look, saving you time and effort in website customization.
Its user-friendly interface and flexibility make it ideal for businesses of all sizes.
Multi Wishlist-MyAppGurus
MyAppGurus's Advanced Multi-Wishlist app is an all-inclusive tool that offers multiple capabilities to your customers. It allows them to save their preferred products and experience swifter checkouts.
By leveraging this outstanding tool, your customers can create their Wishlists from your site, which helps them to keep a close track of their products.
They must tap on the Wishlist icon to conveniently manage their preferred items. Ultimately, this app facilitates better customer management and boosts conversions.
Key Features
- Public Wishlist: Encourage other visitors to wishlist products by revealing the number of customers who have wishlist products in your ecommerce store.
- Product Allowance: Add the wishlist feature to your ecommerce store for chosen or every product.
- Wishlist Icon: Match the Wishlist icon to the design and look of your store to craft a consistent brand identity.
- Move to Cart: Leverage the 'Move to Cart' option to let your customers immediately add the products they wish listed to their shopping carts.
- Multiple Wishlists: Enabling multiple wishlist options helps customers organize their choices and name them according to their preferences.
Want to make the customer journey easier? Try out this app today to organize your favorite products in a centralized location.
Streamlining Operations Apps
Efficiency is the key to running a successful online store. Dive into these apps that can help you streamline your operations, from managing inventory to fulfilling orders seamlessly.
ShipTurtle
