Hi there,

This is the first post recap of latest Shopify news happened during this week. From week to week we’ll be doing observation Shopify market with themes, apps, services, and discussion around it. The goal of this weekly Shopify news series is giving you valuable information and insight into the market. Since this post is the first one in this series, we’re looking for your constructive feedback. We’re open and take into account via chat box you see at the bottom right area of the browser screen. As for now, let’s discover the latest news around Shopify platform.

 

Shopify Latest News. What’s happening in this week?

• Ecommerce Survey 2017: The Trials & Tribulations of a Booming Industry [Data] - get to know insight about Shopify blog readers.
• How Shopify is Building a $389 Million Brand with Content - understand the whole Content Marketing plan of Shopify.
• [Video] - Building Great App User Interfaces with Polaris // Ryan Frederick and Dominic McPhee - practical advice of using Polaris design system for building Shopify apps.
• Meet the Winners of Shopify's Build a BIGGER Business With Tony Robbins - learn more about the winners of contest including Gymshark, Skinnymixers, BestSelf Co., and other.
• [Podcast] - The Business of Fashion: Using Personas & Calendars to Grow - learn with marketing the fashion Shopify store.

 

What’s happening on Shopify Forum? Trending posts for this week.

Shopify Ecommerce forum is active as always with hot discussion things around Shopify. After walkthrough across the forum, I’ve stumbled upon the interesting topic “How to level-up from traffic < 1000 users @ month?” In this topic, the author arises the questions with feedback to its Shopify store.

 

It’s the frequently debated topic in all time. When we are just getting started with online business and have limited knowledge with selling online the feedback is crucial. The author was aware of Google Analytics and Hotjar service which is great. Both tools allow you to understand better who visit your store and what they are doing. When you finish the Google Analytics setup, you’ll have the really clear picture about who is your target audience and how did they found your website. In my opinion, it’s essential task to do after you finish the design and content’s part. Let’s move on…

Instagram is the promising social channel to acquire potential customers. The question was with the time to post on Instagram the best from Scott Luscombe. If you take a look at the date of the post, you’ll notice it was about a year ago. However, it’s still getting the attention from Shopify communities, and new comments from other Shopify merchants came up. One clear thing that there is no universal time to post on Instagram. Instead, you better test with the posting and check Google Analytics report with the traffic coming from Instagram. We sell different products, and our customers are different, so better not guess and instead experiment more…

With Instagram posting, Shehla Meezan shared an interesting experience with posting in morning, lunch and night time. Her shop in the fashion industry.

 

 

Reading further the Shopify forum there is really the hot topic related to Facebook targeting option which helped one Shopify merchant to generate 2,700% ROI. Facebook Ads is one of frequently used tactic to drive traffic to your online store. The crucial thing that matters in this ads channel is targeting your customers. Better you know your customers, more precise you’ll target to the right customers and get sales. In this post you’ll learn the case study from Startup Drugz store owner sharing the personal experience of running Facebook ads. He used the retargeting option of Facebook plus “Upcoming birthday”. And it resulted in the massive sales and further generation of 2,700% ROI. Just take a look at the store’s owner shop.

 

Shopify Community on Social channels - Facebook.

From Shopify Partners Facebook group Lauren Brown went with the first Facebook live with video from Shopify HQ during the lunch time. She recorded the video with Lauren Helstab - Shopify Partner manager, and she answered to any questions left in the comment section of that post. It was interesting to know Shopify is focusing on understanding Shopify partners challenge and give solutions or at least direction to solve the problem. Especially noticeable thing is the Shopify Training Partners camp. On the video following questions got attention:

• How do I find clients?
• Tips & advices for new Shopify partners
• When the Shopify support multi currency?
• How the partner program works?
• And other

To listen to all answers from Lauren and get valuable information for Shopify partner join the official Shopify Partner Facebook group. Right now the group has reached over 2,700+ members, and it’s just 02 months! A quite fast growth rate and I believe it’ll get more attention from Shopify partners.

 

The most engaged topic on the Facebook group was the standard practice of charging clients. The got attention from Shopify experts, and they shared thoughts about that. To summarize, if the budget for the project is about $2,000 so there is 100% upfront payment. If the budget is above that number, there are 02 scenarios. The first one is 50% upfront and the second scenario is 30 - 50 - 20. Usually, when Shopify experts build the website from scratch for a client the payment phase is divided to the 1) wireframe and design, 2) development and testing and 3) finalizing latest things before the official shop’s launch.

 

3 Featured Shopify Apps on the app store

Vwala: Referral Marketing - “(vwa-la) is a fully automated referral marketing solution that seamlessly integrates into your online store with minimal setup and maintenance”.  

Unique Selling Points:

• Increase your sales and promote your brand by leveraging the potential of social media referrer / influencer marketing
• Fully automated referrer URL and discount code management with product specific promotions
• Easy install. 14 day risk-free trial. Get up and running today!

App Information:

• First Review: July 23, 2017.
• Rating: 4 reviews
• Free Trial: 14 days.
• Learn more about the Vwala Shopify app.

Crowdfunder: DIY Pre-Order Crowdfunding - Shopify app that allows you to build crowdfunding system like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and other crowdfunding system based on Shopify store.

Unique Selling Points:

• Run Your Own Crowdfunded Pre-Order Sale
• Automatic Installation + Fast US-based Support
• Free 7-Day Trial, Then Just $19/mo, No Hidden Fees

App Information:

• First Review: Dec 8, 2016.
• Rating: 23 reviews.
• Free Trial: 7 days.
• Learn more about the Crowdfunder Shopify app.

 

SEO Image Optimizer by Booster Apps - with this Shopify app you can add automatically ALT HTML tag.

Unique Selling Points:

• Gain more traffic and sales from Google Image Search!
• One click install - get set up in less than 30 seconds. Set and forget!
• Over 50,000 Shopify Stores trust us with their SEO

App Information:

• First Review: May 17, 2016.
• Rating: 4054 reviews.
• Free
• Learn more about the SEO Image Optimizer by Booster Apps

 

Final words

Well, the first recap is done, and we’re looking for your feedback if you see something interesting or noticed that some news is not covered in this blog post. Just let us know via chat box then we’ll take into account your opinion. The weekend is coming, and it’s a good time for going outside from daily routine and get fresh business ideas for the coming week. Enjoy your time and see you next week with the next Shopify news recap.