10 Ways To Grow With The Commerce Inspector
November 11, 2021
What is the Commerce Inspector?
The Koala Inspector is a Chrome extension that lets you spy on any Shopify store with a single click. It reveals the products, traffic sources, ad campaigns, apps, and themes behind any store you're curious about, so you can make smarter decisions about what to stock, how to advertise, and where to find suppliers.
Running a Shopify store without knowing what's working for your competitors is like flying blind. The Koala Inspector gives you the data to close that gap. It's been ranked number 1 Commerce Inspector by:
Here's what it can do and how to get the most out of each feature.
Install and use the Koala Commerce Inspector in just 2 easy steps!
Step 1: Install the Koala Commerce Inspector Extension 
Step 2: Search for the Shopify store of interest, click "Track Shop" and start taking advantage of the features with the Commerce Inspector 
10 features Commerce Inspectors offers
1. Track any Shopify store
Tracking a shop gives you fast updates whenever a competitor changes their product lineup, pricing, or ad strategy. You can track any Shopify store and get details on traffic sources, ad campaigns, apps, and more. Turn on "Send email Notifications" so you don't miss a product change.
2. Structure
The structure tab shows you which Shopify apps and themes other stores are using. If a top competitor's store converts well, this tells you exactly what's running under the hood so you can benchmark your own setup against it.
3. Product insights and statistic
Stop guessing which products to carry. The product insights tab shows you what's new and best-selling in any Shopify store, along with the highest, lowest, and average price across those products. You can see when a product was first listed, when it was last updated, and how many products the store is selling. Use this to build a niche around what's already moving.
4. Ad Campaign
Paid ads are one of the biggest budget drains for new store owners. The Koala Inspector lets you see exactly what ad campaigns your competitors are running, so you can study what's working before you spend your own money on creative.
5. App Discounts
Koala has partnered with a set of top Shopify apps to give users discounts on tools that are genuinely useful for running a store. If you're already using the Inspector to see which apps your competitors rely on, this is a fast way to pick them up at a lower price.
6. Shop Traffic
The shop traffic tab shows competitor monthly visits, which countries drive their traffic, and which social channels they're active on. Checking this regularly tells you where a store is investing its acquisition budget, which channels are worth testing for your own store.
7. Favorite Products
Build a shortlist of best-selling and new release products from any Shopify store and keep them in one place. When you've made your picks, export the CSV file and import it straight into your store.
8. Find Retailer
Pick any product and the Inspector pulls up every retailer currently selling it. This saves a lot of time when you're trying to source a product, compare pricing across suppliers, or verify that a product isn't already oversaturated by checking how many stores carry it.
9. Export CSV
Downloading products to your store takes three steps: export the CSV from the Koala Inspector, save the file, then import via your Shopify admin. Each file includes product name, price range, and best-seller status. It keeps your inventory aligned with what's trending without manual data entry.
10. Upgrade now!
Koala Inspector keeps pricing simple. The Free plan gives you 15 tokens/month and basic store analysis. Premium at $22/month gets you 220 tokens, tracking for up to 50 Shopify stores, and VIP support. If you need more tokens for a heavy research month, one-time token packs are available: 10 for $3.99, 25 for $6.99, or 100 for $11.99. Pack tokens never expire.
Pros Commerce Inspector
- Reveal running ad campaigns
- Get insight on apps competitors are using
- Get insight on competitor product launches
- Check out product statistics
- Find the retailers any Shopify store are using
- Best-selling products of competitors
- Reveal stores' app usage
- Find out competitor traffic
Cons of the Commerce Inspector
- The free plan gives a limited number of credits, which limits how many stores you can track
- Even on the paid plan, monthly credits put a ceiling on research volume
- Email notifications for store changes can pile up quickly if you're tracking many shops at once
The free plan is a solid starting point, but if you want to track competitors on an ongoing basis and dig deeper into their data, the upgrade is worth the cost.
Final comments
Online retail keeps growing, and more competition means it's harder to stand out on instinct alone. The Koala Inspector gives you the data layer to make research-based decisions about products, ads, and traffic instead of guessing. Whether you're just starting out or running an established store, knowing what's working for the stores ahead of you is one of the fastest ways to close the gap.
