Shopify Blog - Home

Automate your workflow

2009-07-06T15:00:00Z

As a Shopify merchant processing a high volume of orders, it may become tedious to log into your Shopify admin and manually fulfill and close each order. On that note, Shopify now supports automatic fulfillment of orders!

This may be especially useful for high volume sellers, merchants using fulfillment services, or merchants looking for a more automated workflow. Simply go to the Order Processing section of your Payment preferences to enable automatic fulfillment or automatic closing of orders.

AdWords Credits for Shopify Stores

2009-06-30T20:41:00Z

Effective use of Google’s AdWords program has been the single biggest predictor of success for new Shopify stores. Virtually all successful stores on our platform use it.

We talked to Google about this and they came up with a great incentive program:

We will be able to provide all Shopify customers with free credit for their newly created AdWords accounts. Depending on the type of store you have, you will receive either a $25, $50 or $75 credit to get started.

To get started, you can get your key in the marketing section of your admin or wait for the emails regarding the promotion that we will start sending out in the coming days.

AdWords is a great tool for helping you bring your products to market. You can get your ads running in minutes, reach a targeted audience directly right in the moment when they are actively looking for a related search term and easily track your ROI.

Installing a Shopify App in 5 Easy Steps

2009-06-30T12:31:00Z

So you’ve heard about the App Store and heard about all the great things you can do with it, but have yet to install an app for yourself. Well, here’s an easy step-by-step guide for installing your first app.

Step 1: Go to the App Store, and choose the app you’d like to install.

Step 2: Click the Install button.

Step 3: Enter your store’s address to authenticate the app.

Step 4: Confirm the installation of the app.

Step 5: Use the app.

Usually the application you install will modify your admin interface in some way to help you use it. Once the app is installed you’re ready to go!

Video Game Nation

2009-06-26T15:25:00Z

Baby Melons

2009-06-22T15:27:00Z

Planning ahead...

2009-06-17T22:14:00Z

- Dev team, writing story cards for next Shopify iteration.

Build and deploy a Shopify app in 8 minutes

2009-06-11T19:15:00Z

Are you a developer with an idea for a Shopify app that’s been buzzing around in your head for a while but haven’t known what would be involved in implementing it? Here’s a screencast we just uploaded that shows you each step involved in the process of getting a Shopify app online for anyone to use.

After signing up as a Shopify Partner, you’ll need Rails, Git, and a free Heroku account to follow along at home.

Update: The process for using API credentials in production have changed since the screencast was recorded. Instead of running shopify.yml through ERB, the shopify_app plugin now always looks for the environment variables for your credentials before resorting to shopify.yml. So shopify.yml should go in your .gitignore file as soon as you use the plugin’s generator, and then you’ll never have to worry about accidentally including live credentials in your code.

Amnesty International

2009-06-11T16:15:00Z

Shopify App Store and API Officially Launched!

2009-06-02T16:21:00Z

Shopify is proud to announce the release of the Shopify Platform!

For the occasion of Shopify’s third birthday, we are officially announcing two major releases that will make Shopify better than ever – the Shopify App Store and the Shopify API!

Shopify App Store

The Shopify App Store is another very exciting project that is also released today. It benefits two different groups of people: Shopify storeowners, and Shopify developers.

Shopify storeowners now have the opportunity to add applications to their Shopify store that will allow them to do all sorts of things they have been unable to do before. From custom invoices and sales reports, to pretty much anything else you can imagine! Here’s a sampling of the first few applications that are available:

Pixel Printer – an application that makes printing invoices simple
PowerReviews App – a full-featured customer reviews application
Fetch – easy-to-use application for selling digital goods
Mapify – live geolocation of your customers’ purchases
BaseSync – tool for syncing a store’s products to Google Base

In order to browse and purchase new apps, you go directly to the App Store, browse for the application that you want, and then simply click Install and presto!

In the near future, application developers will even be able charge for their apps using Shopify’s billing system. This is a big win for users, as any app charges will be included in their regular Shopify bill; and it’s a big win for developers, who won’t have to write custom billing code for their apps.

Check out the App Store right now to see all the great things that are on there, and keep your eyes peeled for the new apps that will be released in the future!

Shopify API

The Shopify API has been in the works for a long time and is finally ready. We’ve worked closely with many pre-launch partners that have made the API very robust and we are proud of the final result. The Shopify API will allow developers to create tools that integrate directly with Shopify, and to create applications which will then be sold or offered for free in the App Store.

The API is documented to make it easy for developers to create new applications to be integrated into the Shopify App Store. Interested in becoming a developer and earning recurring revenues from your apps? Check out our Partners page to sign up!

You can also check out our press release about this here

nestliving

2009-06-01T16:35:00Z

The Brewery Shop

2009-05-26T13:00:00Z

Alpine Exposures

2009-05-22T13:00:00Z

Wellsprings Store

2009-05-19T13:00:00Z

PupLife

2009-05-15T13:00:00Z

Shopify Integration with PowerReviews

2009-05-13T11:36:00Z

Shopify is proud to announce a partnership with PowerReviews!

We’ve been hard at work since January working on an integration of PowerReviews Express™ with the PowerReviews team, and we’re very happy to announce that the integration is now complete and ready to be used by any Shopify store.

PowerReviews provides an excellent integrated product review system, called PowerReviews Express for your Shopify store. PowerReviews Express is specifically designed for small and medium-sized businesses, and the current integration with Shopify means it’s going to be easy to include product reviews for your products.

Some great features of the Shopify and PowerReviews Express integration include an at-a-glance review summary that makes product research easier, a feature that builds confidence with verified reviews, and the ability for customers to find reviews from people just like them.

Having customer reviews for your store has been shown as a way to increase sales significantly, and the integration process is very easy as well.

If you want to learn more, go here to see a screencast and learn more about PowerReviews.

And here you can request a great white paper that shows some of the benefits of having a review system.

Want to give Shopify and PowerReviews Express a try? Sign up here for your 30-day trial account and see what it can do for your store.