Ecommerce leader Shopify has launched a new app called Shop. The app caters to the needs of both customers and small businesses alike.
Its main functionality is to track the packages bought from the Shopify merchants. If you have used Shopify Arrive for tracking packages, you must be in familiar territory. Shop’s tracking feature is pretty much the same. It tracks the packages efficiently and without any hassles.
Shop was launched on April 30 – most likely to exploit the lockdown-fueled online shopping.
How is it going?
These are still early days. But here is a quick look at the good and bad of the app’s performance so far.
Good things first.
Going Beyond Arrive
Shop does much more than just tracking the packages. Customers can buy items directly from the platform, while retailers can sell the items on the app platform. For those retailers who do not have a full-fledged native e-commerce app, this is a great option.
Shop can leverage close to 16 million existing users of Arrive. More customers are expected once more retailers come to sell the products.
It has some cool and unique features, apart from the usual e-commerce functionalities:
· Product recommendations based on customer activity in both Shop and Shopify
· One-click check-out called Shop Pay
· Totally ad-free experience
· Customized recommendations for small businesses based on customers’ activity during Covid-19 pandemic
The Other Side
Judging by the customer responses on the Google Playstore for Shop, there still got to be some rough edges remaining. The app already has crossed 1 million new downloads. Not all users are happy with what they saw.
The most vocal criticism has come from the existing Arrive users. Some of them feel the old Arrive app was better in terms of tracking packages.
Verdict
This must be a handy new tool for small and retail businesses that do not have an app with technology for live sales and real-time payment and delivery. Customers have yet another app where they get personalized shopping choices and deals.
When the rough edges are ironed out, Shop has the potential to become Shopify’s crown jewel.
