The Shopify App Store is the one-stop shop for a wide variety of Shopify Apps, across nine categories and just about every business needs you and your store could possibly have. From bringing in customers with Marketing and Store Design to the daily grind of Store Management and Fulfilment to closing deals with Shipping and after-sales Customer Service, the Shopify App Store has got you covered!
Shopify is a growing e-commerce platform for online retail stores and point-of-sale systems, currently hosting over a million live businesses, with its most recent increase of nearly 200,000 new stores.
The Shopify App Store site is home to a diverse range of stores spanning 19 categories, with the most popular being Apparel, Home & Garden, and Beauty & Fitness: a testament to the advantages of the Shopify model for all businesses with an online presence.
The booming success and growth of Shopify and e-commerce, in general, tends to be a plus for businesses in terms of easy set-up, more international customers, and quicker feedback loops for timely changes. However, it also signifies increased competition in almost every market you can think of. Selling in even the most special niches has become a race to make better products, provide better services, and use better marketing – all while maintaining sustainable profit margins and operations.
Not sure which app to use for your business? Here’s our take on the top-performing Shopify Apps currently available, listed in order of category:
1. Store Design – Apps
When it comes to creating a consumer experience that’s unique to your business and brand, Store Design is absolutely crucial as the first point of contact with a keen customer. With winning visuals and smooth functionality, the effective design will help your store and offerings stand out from the sea of same-old, same-old in the market.
App #1: Judge.me Product Reviews, by Judge.me
Judge.me Product Reviews is a multi-functional app that offers comprehensive sourcing, collection, and presentation of customer reviews on your store’s landing pages, through various customizable page widget options.
This Shopify App allows you to display customer reviews on your site with features such as a Review Carousel, which offers 6 free themes to ensure effective use and aesthetic fit. Judge.me also offers an All Reviews Page and Floating Reviews Tab for easy viewing of your store’s reviews.
App #2: Vitals: All-in-One Marketing by Vitals
Vitals is a Shopify App that offers sellers a collated, full-suite of marketing and sales functions, all accessible through a single dashboard for easier, more efficient access and use.
The app offers various widget options for your store, including SEO improvement widgets such as Product Description Tabs that allow you to add keywords to drive SEO and boost your store’s overall web presence.
Unlike the many free alternatives on this list, Vitals is one of a few Shopify apps that do not have free plan options and is a paid app at $29.99/month, with a 30-day free trial period. As such, it may not be the most cost-effective solution for micro-enterprises and start-up stores.
App #3: EMAIL POP UPS | Opt-In Popups by Rivo
EMAIL POP UPS is a store pop-up app offering a variety of editable, tailored pop-up options, from email to coupons, in line with your specifications in design and timing.
The app, which is available for free, boasts a pop-up style editor for custom design of your pop-ups, as well as options for timing and placement on your store pages and 24/7 live chat support for timely assistance and troubleshooting.
App #4: Form Builder, by POWR
POWR has been a developer on Shopify for nearly a decade, with over 20 total available apps and over 1 million installs worldwide. They offer solutions that impact every stage of a customer purchase journey.
Their Form Builder app is the most robust and versatile, allowing you to gather new contacts, email lists, customer feedback surveys, and wholesale orders, among many others. You can also enable payments for subscriptions, donations, or one-time payments. POWR Form Builder is free to install and use, with upgraded plan options available.
2. Conversion – Apps
In e-commerce, conversion refers to the total number of purchases divided by the total number of sessions on your online store. This is a common measure of store performance on Shopify, which can be easily calculated for evaluation and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). As for what a good conversion rate looks like on Shopify, Littledata’s recent survey of around 4,000 stores found the average rate to be 1.4%, with a rate of 3.2% and above for the top 20% of sellers.
Apps that help drive CRO include those which also performed well in adjacent categories like Store Design and Marketing, such as:
App #1: Judge.me Product Reviews, by Judge.me
As a comprehensive Shopify App with multiple useful features and custom options, Judge.me is a top performer for not only store design, but also shop conversion efforts and CRO.
Standout conversion features include multimedia product reviews in all plans, including the free option, as well as cross-shop synchronization which enhances customer perceptions and helps you convert store page visitors to shop customers.
App #2: Vitals: All-in-One Marketing by Vitals
Vitals excels in multiple aspects, including store design, as explained earlier, as well as conversion and CRO. The app is lauded as a complete set of various business tools controlled through a common dashboard for easy access.
Vitals’ conversion widgets include proven e-commerce methods such as recently viewed and related products displayed for all shop visitors and newer innovations like recorded visitor session replays which collect key information for drop-off points.
As mentioned earlier, Vitals is one of a few apps on the Shopify App Store that do not have free plan options, and charges $29.99/month, with a 30-day free trial period.
App #3: Ali Reviews – Product Reviews by FireApps
If you prefer a more concentrated approach to specific marketing and conversion aspects, such as customer reviews, Ali Reviews may be the focused, end-to-end reviews solution you’ve been looking for!
This Shopify App is lauded for its effective collection of numerous customer reviews from a wide variety of sources, ranging from on-site to an automated email and SMS review requests. For businesses pursuing a more active conversion strategy and keen to work on reviews, Ali Reviews is a perfect fit, offering a generous 7-day free trial for you to test out their paid features, as well as free plan options.
3. Marketing – Apps
Customers and their purchases are absolute necessities for businesses, and consistently attracting new customers and generating more sales is a must for growth. In a world of endless variety in brands, products, and services, however, grabbing (and holding) the attention of consumers isn’t easy, often requiring extensive, omnichannel strategies.
Whether it’s SEO improvement or social media campaigns, free options or premium features, there’s a Shopify App and a range of suitable plans for your every marketing need!
App #1: UpPromote: Affiliate & Referral by UpPromote.com
UpPromote is the top recommended affiliate/referral app. With this all-in-one solution, you can build and manage your marketing campaign with ease. UpPromote is serving more than 90 thousand users globally with over 375M revenue generated.
UpPromote is suitable for all business sizes with the price from FREE to $199.99/ month. Furthermore, UpPromote implements customization upon request for Enterprise customers.
App #2: Judge.me Product Reviews, by Judge.me
Already a winner in-store design and conversion, the Judge.me app is a triple-threat with its marketing widgets, allowing you to reach your target audience with innovative new offerings and continued engagement with your current customer base.
Judge.me’s an extensive range of marketing widgets that covers all sorts of tools to help you seamlessly plan and execute any marketing strategy. These include social media integration for easy sharing of happy customer reviews and curated brand content designed to boost your web presence and reach potential consumers. For your existing pool of happy customers, Judge.me supports various after-sales follow-up flows to keep you in touch with them, and keep them aware of your new product releases or sales events!
App #3: Pinterest by PINTEREST inc
Bring your products to the Pins of your current and potential customers with the Pinterest Shopify App! Available free-to-install on the Shopify App Store, the Pinterest app allows you to upload and publish your product and service catalogs as Pins on the Pinterest site, putting them out there for interested viewers who could easily become keen buyers.
The app also supports regular tracking of your product’s performance on the site through the Pinterest Tag, as well as daily automatic updates to keep your Pins in lockstep with the needs and wants of your target demographics.
As is common when integrating high-volume websites and apps, however, the Pinterest Shopify App may experience delays in syncing your Shopify product catalog for the first time. This may require communication with the app’s technical and customer support for troubleshooting.
App #4: Vitals: All-in-One Marketing by Vitals
Like the Judge.me Shopify App, Vitals is another 3-in-1 offering, with multiple easy-to-use widgets that support popular marketing strategies among its arsenal of tools.
The app allows for customized design and creation of interactive store elements, from pop-ups to Spin The Wheel features, as well as industry-standard automated email lists, generated by purchases from existing customers.
That being said, the app is also one of a few apps that does not have free plan options, and charges $29.99/month, with a 30-day free trial period. As such, smaller, newer businesses should take this into consideration when choosing which app best suits their current needs.
4. Fulfillment – Apps
So you’ve made a sale (after careful store planning, product design and manufacturing, thorough marketing strategies, and much more) and have secured a new customer or the return of a current one. What next?
After your customers place and pay for their orders, the ball goes back into your court to fulfill their orders and deliver your products and services, as advertised. The order fulfillment stage of business involves multiple different stages, especially the process of delivery from both your end and your customers.
Keep track and stay on top of your customer’s orders with the many Fulfilment options available!
App #1: TrackingMore – Order Tracking by TrackingMore
Are you tired of “where is my order” calls? Are you striving to capture all opportunities for boosting sales? Then TrackingMore will be a perfect choice. It makes order tracking simple for you and your customers, helping delight customers and boost sales.
TrackingMore is the most powerful and user-friendly app with many great features like branded tracking page and customer notifications with ETA & featured products. It also provides a thoughtful order panel and merchant notifications that cover everything you need. It is available for free and provides multiple pricing plans with a 14-day free trial period.
App #2: Parcel Panel Order Tracking by UpperCommerce
The Parcel Panel Order Tracking app is a comprehensive tracking tool for your products at each stage of the all-important delivery process.
This Shopify App focuses on shipping and delivery, offering detailed information for both you and your customer, with automatic parcel tracking through over a thousand couriers worldwide, regular shipping notifications, and an effective tracking page for customer information.
App #3: Back in Stock & Restock Alerts by CartBite
Looking to promote recently restocked crowd favorites, or reach potential customers and sales lost due to abandoned carts and once out-of-stock products? This app might be the solution you’ve been looking for!
Top-performing app Back in Stock & Restock Alerts is a focused fulfillment tool that is compatible with just about any brand, allowing for full customization with an efficient and easy-to-use setup to design, create and run your notifications and alerts.
App #4: Order Printer: PDF Invoice Pro by Vify
The beauty of e-commerce and online sales lies in how they have revolutionized entrepreneurship and business growth through drastic changes in marketing, store design, and more. And yet some things do remain the same, with stores on Shopify and other online platforms still requiring the same internal processes and documentation as traditional retail.
Meet those needs with efficient e-commerce solutions like Order Printer, a winning Fulfilment Shopify App which allows you to automate processes like PDF invoicing and customer emails. The app also allows you to customize specific invoices where needed on a POS-like interface, making your workflow more efficient and keeping your documentation accurate.
5. Store Management – Apps
As an entrepreneur and business owner would say, starting your store (even on a convenient and comprehensive platform like Shopify) is hard, from product design to store planning, marketing, and so on. And the only thing harder than getting your store off the ground is keeping it that way, through careful and consistent store management.
While crucial to your business’s growth and success, it often includes plenty of difficult and tedious tasks, from bookkeeping to sales reports and regular marketing and conversion strategies.
Streamline these with the Store Management options, including popular and well-reviewed apps such as:
App #1: QuickBooks Connector by Intuit
Integrating sales data and other key financials from Shopify with the popular business and accounting suite QuickBooks Online has never been easier with the QuickBooks Connector app!
The top-performing Store Management app on the Shopify App Store helps you automate often repetitive but necessary accounting tasks. This includes tracking store revenue, expenses, and taxes, making the process easier and more effective, with reduced manual data entry and room for error.
The app requires an active QuickBooks Online subscription and comes with a variety of plans, free and paid, with its sister app QuickBooks Commerce offering a more complex management solution for larger businesses working with multiple types of data and information.
App #2: Report Pundit by Estore Automate
As your business and its many operations grow and develop, regular and effective reporting is required to keep track of everything, from sales and POS to inventory and taxes.
The Report Pundit Shopify App is a trusted and secure reporting solution, offering both pre-built and customizable reports, as well as quick, live-chat exports for tailored reports on critical shop metrics like revenue and profitability.
Reports can also be automated and delivered via email, with options to export common report formats like Excel to popular platforms like Google Sheets, greatly optimizing the generation and sharing of your store’s many reports.
App #3: Subscription Experience by Loop Subscriptions
Loop is a subscription app that has been created based on feedback from the direct-to-consumer (DTC) community. It enables you to incorporate gamification into your subscription experience and includes a subscription widget that won’t slow down your website, which is a best practice for conversion rate optimization (CRO). You can also embed videos from TikTok or Instagram into your exit surveys within the portal.
The app allows you to automate and customize rewards, discounts, trials, and gifts for subscribers after they have made a certain number of orders. Additionally, you can take advantage of a free white-glove migration service that includes account management and support through phone, email, and Slack.
App #4: Email, Pop Up, Live Chat, SMS by Flowio
While the various Store Design and Marketing options on the Shopify App Store are great for launching new brands or engaging in more intensive outreach strategies, some prefer a more measured, regular option for general store management.
The Email, Pop Up, Live Chat, SMS Shopify App is exactly what it sounds like: a straightforward, regular store design and marketing solution. The app provides many popular e-commerce features like email and exit-intent pop-ups and 24/7 automated chat message support.
App #5: SubBox by OneCommerce
If you want to enable subscription-selling models for your Shopify store, you should give SubBox a try. This robust subscription solution lets you add diverse subscription types to your store just in a few clicks. What’s cool about SubBox is that it lets you create, sell and manage subscriptions easily by automatically creating orders and billing recurring payments without you having to lift a finger. Plus, you can also build your customers a dedicated Customer Portal and use smart email triggers to keep them engaged and informed on their subscription status. SubBox paid plan costs you $5 per month. But if your subscription revenue is less than $1000/month, you can use the app for Free.
6. Customer Service – Apps
While the customer may not be king or always right, they’re certainly indispensable for any business, and keeping and growing your customer base requires quality products, great pricing, effective branding, and of course, winning customer service.
Make sure yours is up to speed with the fast-paced nature of e-commerce transactions and the consistently high expectations of your customers with the innovative solutions.
App #1: Loox Product Reviews & Photos by Loox
The Loox Product Reviews & Photos app offers a dual marketing and customer service option by keeping tabs on satisfaction with their store and product experiences. This includes automatic review and referral requests to leverage your current customer base and referral discounts for improved word-of-mouth promotion.
Loox is available for $9.99/month, with a 14-day free trial period, making it one of the few Shopify apps that do not have free plan options: a point to note for more cost-sensitive micro-enterprises and fresh start-ups.
App #2: Shopify Inbox by Shopify
Shopify’s own Shopify Inbox App is a free, in-house customer communications solution, supporting several engagement and conversion features. Streamline and optimize customer engagement and service with automated quick replies and messages customized to your brand, or tailor your approach with real-time chat and follow-up email options, across store chat and various social media apps.
App #3: Automizely Product Reviews App by Automizely & AfterShip
Automize is a free Shopify App offering a multi-functional suite of widgets for store design, conversion, and customer service.
A popular Customer Service app, Automizely provides bulk importation of up to 500 reviews from the pages of suppliers like AliExpress, as well as review collection from customers through your own storefront, through a ‘Write a review’ button widget.
Automizely also collects key data that drives important insights on customer interactions with your review and feedback content, to better inform strategies and fuel business growth.
App #4: Live Chat,Help Center,FAQ Page by UpperCommerce
If you’ve been looking for a simple and reliable customer service system that can help you decrease time costs and increase your sales revenue. Willdesk is the best option for you.
Live Chat, Help Center, FAQ Page is a powerful, all-in-one eCommerce customer service platform. Deeply integrated with Tracking and FAQ features, it supports users to do logistics and FAQ self-service queries. It also integrates with messenger, CRM, and a variety of other features to assist you in providing personalized customer service and increasing sales. Designed for high performance and born for eCommerce. If you are a new seller, you could try the free plan Willdesk offers.
7. Merchandising Apps
While we covered the top-performing Marketing apps, the sheer range of marketing activities often means that for those seeking a more targeted approach towards specific aspects.
One of the most significant aspects of marketing is merchandising, which focuses on product presentation, in particular the timing and platforms which have the most sales potential.
Unsure how to kickstart your store’s merchandising efforts, or change up your existing strategies? Here are the winning Merchandising Shopify Apps to date:
App #1: Subscriptions by Yotpo
The Subscriptions Shopify App is a merchandising solution targeting product subscriptions for regular revenue generation and recurring orders from an existing customer base.
Free-to-install and include a range of tools from seamless and effective catalog management to quick and easy-to-build subscription plans that automatically integrate with Shopify’s store interface. Aside from smooth installation and use, the Subscription app also provides quality 24/7 customer support to ensure all goes well with your merchandising initiatives.
App #2: PageFly Landing Page Builder by PageFly
Another popular multi-functional Shopify App, PageFly Landing Page Building, provides tools and widgets for improving store design and CRO, in addition to merchandising.
The PageFly app prides itself on offering Shopify store owners absolute control over their business landing pages, products, and blog layouts, with free plans available for the cost-conscious enterprise.
Specific Merchandising features include no-nonsense, minimalist Product Page design and execution, which highlight key products, option swatches, and trust badge integration for a more complete and convincing product presentation to customers.
App #3: Appstle℠ Subscriptions by Appstle Inc.
In the market for a concentrated Merchandising suite of tools, with various options in subscription management, customer engagement, and pricing plans?
Look no further than the Appstle℠ Subscriptions app!
Appstle℠ Subscriptions enables store owners to manage customers’ product subscriptions effectively and conveniently, which access options from both the app portal and the Shopify admin page.
The app also offers several unique features and functionalities, including quick and effective scaling methods from build-a-box, inventory forecasting, and more, with free plans and a 30-day free trial of more premium paid alternatives.
8. Shipping and Delivery Apps
The many functions involved in running a store are often internal and go unseen by customers as they engage with your business. However, there is one particular aspect that is key to the overall order fulfillment process and the main focus of many e-commerce customers: shipping and delivery.
From proper invoicing and documentation to parcel tracking, shipping and delivery are as demanding and complex as other aspects of online retail, as described in the previous sections. Make such difficult and laborious tasks easy and effortless with the selection of Shipping and Delivery options available.
App #1: Order Printer: PDF Invoice Pro by Vify
With its convenience and professional-quality documents, the Order Printer Shopify App is a top performer in both Fulfilment and Shipping, with multiple process automation and customizable invoice templates.
Streamline and make your paperwork and documentation more efficient and accurate at a reasonable cost, with Order Printer’s many plan options, including a free plan and a 14-day trial period for premium paid features.
App #2: AVA PDF Invoice: Order Printer by AVADA
Another popular Shipping & Delivery app specializing in comprehensive PDF invoicing and general documentation support is the AVA PDF Invoice Shopify app.
The app, currently available with free plan options, provides easily customizable PDF templates for a variety of professional paperwork from order forms to packing slips. AVA PDF Invoice also supports synchronization across your stores, by enabling straightforward download and export of documents between emails, customer dashboards, and even POS devices.
App #3: AfterShip Returns Center by Automizely & AfterShip
From the creators of the top-performing Automizely Shopify App, the AfterShip Returns Center is a winning Shipping & Delivery solution.
AfterShip is a suite of easy-to-use returns and exchange tools, including automation of the return and exchange process through a branded returns portal, with options for an expedition by multiple couriers. And with smart return rule-setting options and timely email return updates, you can let the app do much of the daily heavy-lifting while you focus on growing your business.
9. Sourcing and Selling Products – Apps
Sourcing for products and suppliers is another crucial aspect of e-commerce, providing a pipeline of new and exciting offerings to attract new customers and continually satisfy your current loyal base.
Or you may be looking to get your start in dropshipping, unsure of how to begin, and intimidated by the process of sourcing, which requires multiple thorough efforts in business needs analysis, market research, and supplier vetting, among others.
App #1: iCart Cart Drawer Cart Upsell by Identixweb
iCart Cart Drawer Cart Upsell is an excellent Shopify app for increasing AOV and sales. iCart lets your customers add more items to their cart from the options given in the cart.
With iCart, you can show upsells, cross-sells, and time-sensitive offers within the cart drawer and on the full cart page. If you want to skyrocket sales in your store then iCart is the perfect app for you.
iCart is designed in such a way that even a person from a non-technical background can easily manage it. iCart makes cart customization much easier with its drag and drop interface.
App #2: DSers‑AliExpress Dropshipping by DSers
Finding and placing orders with choice suppliers and products at great prices just got a whole lot easier with the DSers-AliExpress Dropshipping app!
This top-performing Sourcing Shopify App supports quick and simple product finding and import, with their Supplier Optimizer tool that provides access to AliExpress suppliers and pricing that fit well with your brand and business needs.
App #3: Pinterest by Pinterest inc
Finally, found the perfect additions to your current catalog, but are not sure how to really integrate and promote them effectively to your target audience?
Transform your newly-sourced, on-theme products and suppliers into attractive Pins with the Pinterest Shopify App! This app allows you to upload and publish your product and service catalogs as Pins on the Pinterest site, putting them out there to catch keen new customers, or build interest from your current following.
The Pinterest Shopify App also supports regular tracking of on-site performance for your products, new and old, through the Pinterest Tag, as well as daily automatic updates to keep your Pins in lockstep with the needs and wants of your target demographics.
App #4: ReConvert Upsell & Cross Sell by ReConvert
After sourcing promising products, you’ve completed that all-important first step on your journey to expanding your catalog or breaking into the often lucrative upselling and cross-selling business model.
What you’ll want to do next is set up and run your upsell funnel systems, including checkout nudge messages and high-converting thank you pages, all compiled into a neat little app like ReConvert.
The ReConvert Shopify App leverages competitive technologies like AI product recommendation engines to bring the effective sale methods of retail giants to you and your business, taking your store’s sales and revenue generation to new heights.
Conclusion
With e-commerce’s potential for rapid growth and profitability comes a range of complex needs and challenges, which all too often make or break your business.
Get the support and help you need with a trustworthy platform like Shopify which allows you to tailor your store to the unique specifications of your brand and market, while also providing extensive and varied solutions through compatible apps.
And while you’re at it, consider the long-term needs of your business: something which is only possible with an abundance of relevant and updated market information. With Koala Apps’s Koala Inspector app, access even the most particular pieces of data you need to evaluate and adjust your business’s overall strategy. From general information to those specific to your closest competitors, get your hands on absolutely everything you need to know about market conditions and norms, including price points, themes, and more!
