eCommerce Entrepreneurs Blog
Read about successful online stores, the best eCommerce apps, marketing strategies, store design, and much more on KeepShoppers' blog.
Shipping, suppliers & fulfillmentHow to Decrease the Losses From Out-of-Stock Products on ShopifyOnline retailers are losing out big time when it comes to lack of stock, to the tune of some $22B USD.
So how do you stop your store from leaking money from out-of-stock products and notify them when it’s back?
Here are a few ways:
Keep Your Customers up to Date With Out-of-Stock Items
The best way to avoid disappointing your loyal customers, and reduce the chance they’ll seek out a competitor’s services, is to notify them as early as you can.
Here are a few do’s and don’ts when recovering out-of-stock revenue:
Don’t delete out-of-stock product pages. Instead, put a notification on the page to let them know the product is out of stock.Don’t let customers reach the checkout page before being notified that an item in their cart is out of stock.Do collect customer emails to be able to notify them when a product is back in your store.Do offer substitute items that may satisfy what they're looking for.
How to Let Your Customers Know a Product is Back in Stock
For Shopify users, there are a few different apps that can be used to send back-in-stock notifications, emails, and SMSs. One of the best is Back In Stock: Customer Alerts.For other e-commerce platform users, there are many automated email and SMS alert applications, tools, and software that can be set up to notify your customers of back-in-stock products. Something like Privy or Klaviyo will do the trick.
The Bottom Line
We all know that, as a customer, there is nothing worse than finding out a highly anticipated item is out of stock. With this in mind, it’s highly important to possess the right marketing know-how and a solid back-in-stock strategy to limit this disappointment. That way, you are sure to halt leaking profits while also limiting the potential of turning away customers who are hungry to splash their hard-earned cash in your store.
Shopify marketingCapitalize on These Benefits of Email Marketing!Every e-commerce business should be doing email marketing. Since you don't have a traditional brick-and-mortar store for people to visit, communication with your customers is even more important. For some stores, email marketing may even be the only line of contact customers have with them. Sure, they may have other platforms, but there's no guarantee that all your customers engage with you on all your platforms. Are you now starting to see why email marketing is a must?
Let's take a deeper look into some of the important benefits you can enjoy if you successfully implement email marketing guidelines:
Benefit 1: Communication
Email marketing opens up a channel for you to communicate with your customers. Communication is so important because it helps you understand how your customer is experiencing your brand. You can take it one step further by using your marketing emails to send out surveys. This feedback and interaction are critically important for the organic development of your business. Therefore, make the effort to grow your mailing list and collect emails.
Benefit 2: Personalization
Personalization is the ability to add your client's name and other personal details on your marketing emails. Research has proven without a doubt that personalized emails are read more than emails that are not personalized. One of the first opportunities to implement this is with a warm welcome email. It makes the client feel like the email is specifically compiled for them as an individual and not just a generic email that has been sent out to all your customers at once. Therefore, if you choose to use templates as a starting point, make sure you edit the email templates before sending them to your email list.
» Engage customers with the best Shopify apps with ready-made email templates
Benefit 3: Targeted Communication
You get to communicate with your target market. These are the people who currently buy from you, have bought from you at some point, or are still planning on buying from you. They're the ones who subscribe to your emails.
Benefit 4: Boost Sales
Since you're communicating with people who already believe in your brand and your products or services, marketing special deals and discounts, new ranges and collections will be much easier than trying to attract new customers. This crowd is already loyal to your brand, so you'll be fishing in a pond full of fish!
Benefit 5: Cost-Effective Marketing
Email marketing is extremely cost-effective. Many pay for a copywriter and designer to develop professional emails, while others pay for data analysis. All in all, these costs are low compared to the reach you will get from the emails. Even if the customers don't bite, you're staying visible and maintaining your brand presence.
Benefit 6: Direct Customers to Your Website
Marketing emails are excellent tools for directing your customers to your website and social media platforms. This will promote a multi-channel presence, which again will build your brand presence.
Benefit 7: Build Credibility
If you consistently deliver on the promises and promotions you market to your customers, you'll build credibility. How does credibility help you? If something goes wrong, your customer will give you the benefit of the doubt. Customers are also more likely to tell their friends about your business if they feel it's credible. Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful ways to grow your business free of charge.
Benefit 8: Build Long-Term Customer Relationships
If you have an effective marketing strategy, and your timing and frequency are spot on, you will nurture loyal customers that swear by your brand over the long term. Loyal customers support and develop your brand's longevity.
Benefit 9: Data and Metric Analysis
One of the most important benefits of email marketing is gathering and analyzing data. You can follow your customer's sales journey to see, for example, where they abandon carts on your store or interact with links. You can measure your email marketing performance which will help you to improve on future emails and adjust your marketing strategy.
Benefit 10: Build Excitement and Authority
Marketing emails can be used to create a build-up to the launch of a new product or collection, or perhaps a massive sale or just crazy deals and discounts. While getting excitement going, you can also build your authority by being the first to release the latest trends or valuable information from your industry.
Shopify marketingHow to Edit Email Templates on Shopify You may be wondering what these Shopify email templates can do for you as an e-commerce business owner. Let's get straight to the point: they can boost customer loyalty, customer retention, and, in the end, your bottom line.
This includes creating a good first impression with welcome emails, keeping customers informed of similar products with after-purchase upsell emails, or re-connecting with inactive customers with win-back emails. Emails can be sent individually or you can email all your customers at once depending on the situation.
Shopify specifically crafted ready-to-use templates to help business owners who may need a little assistance with putting their own emails together. Regardless of what you sell and the industry you're in, your business needs to optimize visibility to build your brand. These templates will help you do this, but consider modifying them before sending them out to clients.
Reasons for Modifying Shopify Email Templates
Why would you need to modify these Shopify email templates? Here are some of the more significant reasons:
Keep your customers up to date with the status of their orders
Give your customers personalized information about the sales process. In other words, keep them in the loop every step of the way.Add your own personal touches
Connecting with your audience and standing out from your competitors by adding your own personal touches are some of the core elements of successful email marketing campaigns. As you get into modifying these templates, you'll be able to make changes that enhance functionality and style.Give your clients a seamless experience
These emails need to be modified to optimize the sales experience for your customers. Give them only the information they need to seal the deal. All your communication also needs to have the same consistent look and feel to represent your brand accurately. The content and the overall look both add to a seamless customer experience.Build trust
You'll build trust with customers who have a seamless experience. Your customers will recognize your emails and feel "safe" knowing that you deliver on your promises.Build loyalty
When you build trust, you build customer loyalty at the same time. Building customer loyalty is important for increasing customer retention.
How to Customize Existing Shopify Email Templates
Here is a step-by-step guide to help you to modify your Shopify email templates:
Step 1: Choose the email template that you want to edit.
Go to Settings and click on Notifications.Click on the email you want to modify. Copy and paste the HTML into your code editor and edit the template as you see fit.Open your new template using receipt-inlined.html in your editor as well so you have them side by side. You can use the Shopify template as a reference.
Step 2: Upload the necessary files that you will need for the modified template.
Upload your logo and social media iconsIf you have any specific visuals and images that you would like to include in your template, you need to upload those as well. Open your new email receipt template.Replace any image references with the Shopify URLs. The naming conventions will change accordingly. Let's look at a quick example: img/logo.png will become //cdn.shopify.com/files/1234/logo.png.
Step 3: It's now time to customize your template.
Insert the Shopify Liquid Variables into your template. Change the pre-header text and remove the unsubscribe link.Update your social media icon links and your content.Replace all the user- and shop-specific variables with liquid variables.
Step 4: Copy your email template and take it into Shopify (copy and paste the template code).
Step 5: Test your template by previewing it in your browser.
Step 6: As your last step, you need to do your final test.
You can do this by sending out a test email. If you're happy with the test email, you're ready. Just remember to get a few colleagues to help you check the email too. We often miss things when we've been working on the same content for some time.
Editing Templates Is a Skill You Will Always Use
If you're a Shopify e-commerce business owner, you already understand the importance of giving your customers exactly what they want, staying visible, staying true to your brand, and making the customer's journey as smooth and easy as possible. These templates are essentially cookie-cutter solutions. In the beginning, you can rely on them to help your business grow. However, as you move from beginner to professional and proficient, you must learn how to use these tools in a way that suits your business, and not the other way around.
» Discover the best Shopify apps with pre-made email templates
Shopify appsHow to Choose the Best Shopify Apps for Your StoreThe right blend of Shopify apps can make or break the success of a Shopify store. The trouble is, with so many great apps delivering so many awesome functionalities, it’s sometimes hard to decide between them all, which often creates a tendency to install too many.
Too many installed apps can cause serious problems, such as conflicting app functionality and slow page-loading speeds. Not to mention increasing expenses from paid premium plans.
To avoid these potential problems, here are the things you should consider when choosing the best apps for your Shopify store:
Reviews
When deciding whether or not to integrate a Shopify app into your store, pay close attention to the app’s reviews. A quick read through other Shopify users' experiences can be invaluable knowledge and may save you many hours of headache later on.
Customer Support
Next, head to the app’s support listing. Within this section, you’ll find the app developer’s email and privacy policy. And if included, you’ll also find an FAQ section, the developer’s phone number, and a customer support link. If all of these are listed, it’s a good sign that a support team is happily waiting to help out if anything were to go wrong.
Pricing
The majority of businesses are often working on a relatively limited budget. The trouble with this is it can often create a tendency to search for solutions that don’t cost any money. And although there are many awesome free Shopify apps, the best mindset to take when selecting an app is whether or not it fixes a problem rather than if its services are free of charge.
Store Characteristics
And lastly, but of no less importance, determine your store’s specific characteristics. Factors that may determine this are a business’ marketing niche, its area of specialization, and its audience’s appetite.
For instance, depending on your marketing niche, some audiences may be particularly mutinous when it comes to pop-ups. This can ultimately hurt your store’s bounce rate and negatively affect sales and conversions. On the other hand, an app that displays recent store orders to prospective customers could be a far more effective strategy and work to strengthen customer FOMO, ultimately boosting sales.
The Bottom Line
Remember, choosing just the right set of apps is very important. Getting it wrong can lead to a whole bunch of headaches, but getting it right will significantly help your business on its way to success.
» Increase your business's sales with the best Shopify apps
Shopify appsManage Your Shopify Store Like a Pro Using Egnition’s 3 Must-Have AppsAny online store that wants to maximize its potential and get the most out of Shopify should have third-party Shopify apps installed. Egnition is one of the leading third-party Shopify app developers with an average of 4.8 stars from hundreds of reviewers.
When choosing the best Shopify apps for your store, why have only one when you can have three? That's why we've made a list of three of Egnition's must-have apps that will help boost your store's efficiency and drive more sales.
» Looking for more apps to increase your store's functionality? Browse these recommended top apps for every Shopify store.
1. Multi-Store Sync Power
If you're an expanding business and use multiple Shopify stores to target different customers, it may be difficult for you to keep track of each store's stock and products. Multi-Store Sync Power solves this issue by synchronizing inventory and products between stores, letting you make changes in one store that show up in all the other stores.
So, whenever there's a new order or another change in inventory, Multi-Store Sync Power automatically syncs this information between stores. This synchronization is two-way, letting you make changes from anywhere you want. If you create a product or collection in one store, it can sync instantly with other stores with custom product pricing rules.
Key Features
Automated inventory updatesEasy configurationCreate and update productsTwo-way syncCustom products pricing
Pricing
Multi-Store Sync Power is available with all features in the following plans:
Bronze: Free for up to 25 productsSilver: $5.99/month for up to 100 productsGold: $10.99/month for up to 1,000 productsPlatinum: $15.99/month for up to 5,000 productsRhodium: $25.99/ month for over 5,000 products
2. Out-of-Stock Police
Have you ever run out of stock and lost sales as a result? Out-of-Stock Police is the perfect tool to help you keep track of inventory and proactively order products to avoid stockouts.
Out-of-Stock Police does more than just manage out-of-stock inventory. The app lets you manage collections to push low-stock items to the bottom and even hide products so that customers can't see them. You can set low stock thresholds to let you know when a collection has reached a custom stock limit. Out-of-Stock Police also improves SEO by still showing out-of-stock products on Google and eventually hiding them completely if they've been out of stock for a while, reducing bounce rates.
Key Features
Custom low and out-of-stock notificationsTag and hide out-of-stock productsBoost organic traffic and SEOPush sold-outs to the bottomIn-depth inventory statistics
Pricing
Out-of-Stock Police is available with all features in the following plans:
Bronze: Free for up to 49 products and 99 collectionsSilver: $4.99/month for up to 499 products and 99 collectionsGold: $9.99/month for up to 4,999 products and 99 collectionsPlatinum: $14.99/month for up to 9,999 products and 299 collectionsRhodium: $19.99/month between 10,000 to 24,999 products and 499 collectionsPalladium: $26.99/month for over 25,000 products and 500 collections
3. Bestsellers reSort
Ever struggled to sort your large inventories and keep track of what's going on? As Shopify stores get larger and more profitable, they're often harder to manage. Bestsellers reSort saves you time and improves sales by giving you powerful tools to create automated sorting rules so you can organize your products in innumerable ways.
The possibilities are virtually endless. You can sort by best-selling products, showing you which products need attention because they're the most profitable. New products can be sorted to the top of collections to test their performance. You can also analyze products depending on their revenue and sales. Product lists are organized by creation dates, views, tags, inventory numbers, featured status, and much more.
Key Features
No-limits configurationCustom sort ordersAutomated sorting rulesROI analysisComplete sorting control
Pricing
Bestsellers reSort is available with all features in the following plans:
Bronze: Free for up to 49 products and 99 collectionsSilver: $6.99/month for up to 499 products and 99 collectionsGold: $12.99/month for up to 4,999 products and 99 collectionsPlatinum: $ 16.99/month for up to 9,999 products and 300 collectionsRhodium: $22.99/month for up to 24,999 products and 499 collectionsPalladium: $34.99/month for over 25,000 and 500 collections
Which Egnition App Is Best for Your Shopify Store?
Choosing the best apps for your Shopify store isn't easy. If you're managing multiple stores, it's best to use the same apps across all your stores to keep the user experience consistent. And while one app is good, it's even better to have several that integrate well (if they're made by the same developer) so that you can access all the features you need for success.
The Final Verdict
Give your Shopify store the feature boost it needs. Egnition's Shopify apps will help you save time and money so that you can focus on building your business instead of wasting time on managing your store's backend manually.
» Want to learn more? Visit Egnition's website for more app information
Shopify appsShopify Discount Apps: How to Revolutionize Your Online Store in 2023Like most shoppers, many e-commerce buyers love a good deal. If you own an e-commerce store, offering discounts to secure a sale is a tested tactic to appeal to the 83% of consumers who use discounts when shopping online.
However, with so many strategies available, including on-site discounts, couponing websites, email signup forms, and abandoned cart emails, choosing the right way for your store to offer discounts to customers can be difficult. If you're a Shopify merchant, using a Shopify discount app may be the perfect solution for delivering the right discount at the right time to increase your sales.
What Are Shopify Discount Apps?
Shopify discount apps integrate with your e-commerce store and allow you to offer various discounts to your customers, helping you maximize sales, provide customer support, and build customer loyalty.
Example:Let's say you want to increase your Shopify store's average order value (AOV). To do so, you can use a discount app to offer a 10% discount to any customer who spends more than $75 in your store and 20% off for anyone who spends over $125. This form of tiered discount will reward your customers for spending more, urging them to place bigger orders.
Discount apps offer a variety of sales options, including bulk pricing, percentage and dollar-off coupons, product bundling, fixed value, BOGO, free shipping, and tiered pricing discounts.
When deciding between the different types of discount apps for your store, it's important to recognize what types of discounts work within your margins and how you plan to use them.
» Easily create your Shopify customer reward system in a few steps
Why Are Discounts Important for Your Online Store?
Attracting new customers
When shoppers first discover your brand, you need to establish a level of trust to convince them to purchase your products. Offering welcome email discounts to new subscribers or providing on-site discounts to shoppers are common customer acquisition strategies to help you achieve this goal.Encouraging repeat purchases
Discounts can be an excellent way to generate repeat purchases and build customer loyalty. Incentivizing customers through order confirmation and post-purchase emails along with suggested product upsells, can encourage your shoppers to grab that add-on or complementary item, increasing your customer retention. Clearing out excess inventory
Excess inventory can take up valuable warehouse space and drain cash flow. Offering discounts on these extra items can help you clear out your obsolete inventory and provide extra cash to grow your business. Take, for instance, excess post-holiday inventory—offering your shoppers discounts on these items as part of your yearly clearance sale can boost your bottom line.
3 Shopify Discount Apps to Optimize Your Online Store
When choosing the right Shopify app to offer discounts in your e-commerce store, you need to understand the types of discounts and features it offers and how they can complement your business.
Here are three discount apps for Shopify that can help you increase sales and run your store more efficiently.
1. Order to Discount
Order to Discount is a Shopify discount app that provides customers with personalized discounts or vouchers for refunds, creating a first-class shopper experience to improve your store's customer satisfaction. With this app, you can easily generate discounts as part of your complaint management process, auto-generate various discounts from defined rules, and email them to customers.
Key Features:
Create personalized offers from any orderChoose from various types of discountsEasily create and adjust email templates
Plans and Pricing:
While there is a free trial, there is no free plan. However, the paid plan is very affordable, with no discount limitations.
Use Case:
With Order to Discount, you can automatically send personalized discounts to customers who made a customer service complaint based on predefined rules. This type of customer care can help increase customer loyalty and directly influence repeat purchases in your store.
» Read our full Order to Discount review for more details
2. Bulk Discounts Now
Bulk Discounts Now is a discount app that allows your brand to create bulk pricing and display the information on the checkout page. Seeing the savings, your customers can be encouraged to buy in bulk, helping increase average order value. The display tables are easily customizable with no code requirements.
Key Features:
Create percentage and fixed-amount discountsCreate tiered volume discountsApply discounts on specific products and variantsCompatible with Shopify's Currency Converter
Plans and Pricing:
While there is a free plan, its functionality is very limited. There are three paid plans to choose from based on your Shopify subscription level. You can also test the app for free for 14 days.
Use Case:
Using Bulk Discounts Now to increase customer AOV by encouraging volume-based purchasing in your store is a smart option in various situations—for example, when you're selling disposable products or want to reduce excess inventory.
3. USO: Discounts & Promotions
Whether on a POS or e-commerce site, USO: Discount & Promotions is a discount app that allows Shopify stores to mix and match discounts to create a customized discount strategy for increasing sales. Whether with product bundles, BOGO, upsells, or volume discounts, stores can easily test nine different offer types to see what converts shoppers and increases revenue.
Key Features:
Combine multiple sales into a single discountCreate custom badges, popups, and bannersBoost revenue with post-purchase upsells
Plans and Pricing:
The app has a free trial and is free for development stores. There is one premium plan available at a relatively affordable price.
Use Case:
USO: Discount & Promotions is great for businesses that want to test incentives across different segments of customers. The app allows you to suggest discounts on the order confirmation page to encourage repeat purchases, provide free gifts for customers who spend over a specific amount, and offer BOGO to in-progress shoppers—all designed to increase AOV and generate repeat orders.
Which Is the Best Discount App?
When choosing the best discount app for your Shopify store, it's essential to consider which aspects of the app matter the most to your customers and business goals.
Customer service is a major factor in building customer loyalty, so you should consider a discount app with a customer service component. If the ability to send emails from the discount app is important to you, look for an app that allows for it. Finally, make sure the app you choose provides flexibility and offers multiple types of discounts that appeal to different customer needs.
Taking these factors into consideration, Egnition's Order to Discount app stands above the rest as the best Shopify discount app to help you increase sales, AOV, and customer loyalty.
» Optimize your Shopify store's management with Egnition's apps
Revolutionize Your Online Store With Shopify Discount Apps
Businesses rely on discounts and offers to drive first-time and repeat sales, increase average order value, unload excess inventory, and keep customers satisfied. When used effectively, your discount strategy can boost your e-commerce store's bottom line, giving you an edge over your competitors.
If you're searching for a Shopify discount app to help you increase sales and AOV, as well as provide exceptional service to your customers, be sure to try out the Order to Discount app and reap its benefits for your store.
» Use Order to Discount to boost your customer retention
Shopify appsSimple Sample Data Review—Test Data Solution for Shopify Dev StoreGenerating sample data for your Shopify store is essential to ensure everything is running smoothly before launch. Without an extensive list of test data, your visitors could have a less-than-ideal experience.
The more data you have to analyze the better, but generating large quantities of test data can be a long and tedious task when done manually. Even with Shopify's development store, you're limited to only using free or partnered apps, and you'll need to manually add each item and collection.
Simple Sample Data is an app by Egnition that makes generating sample data as easy as a single click. The app can be used on both development stores and paid stores, where it will generate products with images, orders, customers, and smart and custom collections.
ProsFree and paid versions availableSingle-click data generationCompatible with dev and paid storesOutstanding customer supportConsFree version only available for dev stores
Pricing
Simple Sample Data has only two pricing options: a free version and a single, paid version. Both plans include all the features of the app and are only limited by where you can use them.
Free PlanPrice: FreeFeatures: Access to allStore type: Only dev storesPaid PlanPrice: $0.99 (once-off)Features: Access to allStore type: Dev and paid stores
Customer Support
Egnition is well known for their outstanding customer support, and have been praised time and time again.
The Egnition team offers a 24/7 hour support channel, 365 days a year. To reach them you can simply make use of the dedicated support icon on each of their apps, or email them at [email protected].
Egnition apps are constantly updated as the team takes note of customer responses and takes measures to improve quality, usability, and customer satisfaction.
Who is Simple Sample Data Best for?
Whether you're a website designer working on a new theme or store and need dummy data to run tests, or an app/theme developer who is tired of constantly manually importing CSV files into each new project, Simple Sample Data can help you:
Add custom products and collectionsGenerate dummy ordersTest run your theme/app for issues before launchDelete test data with a single click
Features
Simple Sample Data was created to save developers and online store owners time by quickly and automatically generating test data for products, collections, and orders, thus saving time and effort.
3 Data Themes
Three data themes that include images and full details are available to use which make development stores look and feel real.
Clothing and brand products: Supports products with multiple variantsPaintings: Supports single product variantsToys and novelties: Supports single variant products.
Streamlined Data Generation
With a single click, Simple Sample Data will populate your store with test products, collections, and customers without the need to import CSV files manually. Once you're happy with your test, the data can be removed with another single click.
Custom Options
The app gives you full customization of the data that you wish to produce. You can choose to populate all the data, or simply generate customers, products and collections, or add orders. Furthermore, you can change the theme and customize your collections.
Ease of Use
Simple Sample Data is one of the easiest ways to generate test data for your online store. Because you don't need to upload CSV files, you will save valuable time.
With a single click to generate or delete data, you don't need to be a developing expert to get the most out of this app.
Although the app is relatively new, which limits the available reviews, Simple Sample Data still holds a 5-star rating on the Shopify app store.
Bottom Line: Is Simple Sample Data Worth It?
If you're an app or store developer, or simply test running a new theme or online store, manually adding sample data can burn through your valuable time.
Simple Sample Data takes all this work and turns it into a single click, thus providing you with extensive sample data, with little to no effort.
Available both on the Shopify development store and paid stores, this app is a no-brainer.
Shopify apps3 Apps to Analyze Dummy Data: Streamline Your Shopify Store DesignAs e-commerce store owners, we've learned the hard way that it's better to test your Shopify store with dummy data before going live. It's so much better to work out all your issues and experience every possible disaster in a development store than with a real, paying customer.
Before you start worrying—dummy data doesn't have to be a manual process and doesn't require coding. Just use an app!
Our Top Picks at a Glance
Simple Sample Data - Best overallSafetyTest - Best for testing processesRewind Staging - Best for staging stores
1. Simple Sample Data: Best Overall
KeepShoppers Score: 9.9
Key Features
Test extensive dummy data with one clickIncludes 3 data themesFree for developers
The Simple Sample Data app by Egnition allows you to easily install dummy data onto your store, including products, customers, and orders. You can use this dummy data to test your store's functionality, design, and checkout process without using real customer information.
Why We Liked It
Simple Sample Data is our best overall choice because it's so user-friendly and completely customizable. With just one click, our development store was instantly populated with dummy data. But what we really liked was that we could choose what data we wanted to use, and the app delivered each time. No glitches or hassles, and we could delete the data again just as easily.
ProsFree plan availableAffordable paid plan availableEasy to use and customizable3 built-in themes give an immersive experienceExcellent customer serviceConsProvides a less detailed experience for stores that don't use the built-in themes
» Read our Simple Sample Data review for more details
2. SafetyTest: Best for Testing Processes
KeepShoppers Score: 9.7
Key Features
Automatic testing every 12 minutesImmediate email notification if a problem is detectedLive test previews
The SafetyTest Shopify app allows you to test your store's order and checkout processes and payment gateway safely and securely. It tests everything automatically and immediately notifies the shop owner if it detects any problems.
Why We Liked It
SafetyTest is focused on a single task and does it really well. The automation element of this app is really attractive—and quite a stress reliever! Where other apps require you to manually check your processes, SafetyTest looks after your order and checkout processes in the background. Suddenly, we had time we didn't know what to do with.
We also really liked that the app keeps a really good record of its tests and gives a fairly detailed description if something is wrong, so you know where to start looking.
ProsFree plan availableHands-off automated functionalityDetailed feedback and reports from testsConsOnly works for orders and checkouts
3. Rewind Staging: Best for Staging Stores
KeepShoppers Score: 9.5
Key Features
Copy all of your store data to the staging storeEasily carry your changes over to your live storeCreate and test up to 100,000 products in your staging store
Rewind Staging allows you to create a separate, isolated copy of your live store, known as a "staging environment." You can use this staging environment to confidently test changes, updates, or new features without affecting the live version of your store.
Why We Liked It
Are we seeing double? We've never worked with both a live store and a permanent development store, but we can get used to this. We love the app's user-friendliness! It's so easy to create the staging store and then carry any changes back over to the live store. The app gave us more control, flexibility, and safety. The customer service was also very responsive.
Pros7-day free trialTest new functionalities without impacting your live storeEasily carry information over between the staging and live storeExcellent customer serviceConsAdditional costs if you want to set up more than 1 storeMonthly cost can be expensive
Don't Be a Dummy!
If you were worried about dummy data being time-consuming and complicated, we hope you can see now that an app will make the entire process a breeze (and even fun!). You can quickly analyze customer behavior, product performance, pricing strategies, and more to accurately understand your store's performance.
Optimize your Shopify store in no time and get the best results by unlocking the power of dummy data analysis.
KeepShoppers Methodology
Here’s how we analyzed the dummy data apps on our list.
We scored each of them based on ease of use, number of functions, value for money, customer reviews, customer service, and more. We also took into account the time and resources required to make the best use of the app—more feature-rich solutions are usually more complex and require a greater time investment to learn.
Our team aimed to examine the range of options that work for different users, as each company will have different needs and use cases.
Shopify inventoryHow to Sort by Best-Selling Products in ShopifyIt is important to organize your products in your Shopify store in a way that makes shopping easy and streamlined for your customer. Even though your store is not physical, a messy and complicated layout will put your customers off the same way it would if they visited a messy physical store.
» Struggling to structure your Shopify store? Use these tips to effectively organize your Shopify products
Can Products in Shopify Be Sorted?
Yes, you most certainly can sort products in Shopify, and you have a wide variety of ways that you can sort your products:
Manual order selectionBest-selling productsHighest to lowest pricesLowest to highest pricesAlphabetical order from A to ZReverse alphabetical order from Z to ANewest to oldest dateOldest to newest date
» Can you sort products on Shopify automatically? Discover how to change the default sort settings on Shopify
Benefits of Sorting by Best-Selling Products in Shopify
Sorting your products according to the best-sellers in a Shopify bundle tells your customers which products are popular with your other customers. Shopify has tracking functionality that can tell you which of your products are your biggest sellers, and sorting by these provides numerous benefits, such as:
Attracting new customers
Many times, users go onto a Shopify store just to have a look at prices or deals. When they get exposed to your best-sellers, they may buy a product they had no intention of buying when they logged on.Showcasing your range
Sorting by best-selling products will give your customers a broad and wider view of the different products you sell—especially if you have a multi-location inventory.Building trust
Your customers will trust a product that has been trusted by many others. Competitive research
You can scope out your competitors' best-selling products and their prices.
Can Best-Selling Products Be Hidden?
Yes, they can. And also for very good reason. In the same way that you expose your customers to your trusted best-sellers, you could also be exposing your competitors to ideas for them to expand their product lines. This means that you have to think carefully about which of your best-sellers you are willing to release into the public eye. This makes inventory forecasting essential.
There are two methods that you can use to hide your best-sellers:
1. Use Javascript
This method involves using Javascript to pick up if a user is sorting your collection by best-selling. If they are, you then redirect them to your full collection. It is quick to set up if you are comfortable editing theme code. There is one big disadvantage though: Javascript can be disabled in the web browser pretty easily, revealing all your best sellers.
2. Customize Your Shopify
This method involves creating a custom version of your Shopify All collection. This will show you all your products in one collection, making it very easy for your competitors to view your entire collection in one go. In fact, it is the first place most competitors will go, which makes efficient Shopify inventory management a much-needed skill. You need to modify your All collection so that viewers only see what you want them to see, and they see your products in the order that you chose for them.
» Want to hide out-of-stock items? Follow this easy step-by-step guide to hide out-of-stock items
How Do You Sort by Best-Selling Products?
As you can now see, sorting by best-selling products may be used from three different perspectives: the shop owner, the customer, and the competitor. As a shop owner, you need to have an understanding of which of your products is on your best-selling list. As a competitor, you would also want to scout out your competitors' best-selling list so that you can keep up with trends. As a customer, if you like a brand, you may want to see what the brand offers in full—what other customers like. Each perspective has its own method.
You are a competitor
Go to the built-in best-selling sort for all Shopify collections. Then insert the URL parameters, sort_by=best-selling, to the collection URL. You can also see all the products in the store: /collections/all—and when you combine the two, you get the top sellers of all the products: /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling.You are the store owner
If you are happy for your customers to view your best sellers, you can show a Sort by drop-down menu on your collection pages. You will need to review and change your theme settings to get this implemented and working. You are a customer
Simply sort your search using the drop-down menu. Happy shopping!
» Need extra help with your Shopify store? Take a look at the top apps every Shopify seller needs
Make Use of Third-Party Apps
As an e-commerce business owner, manually sorting products can be a tedious task, especially if you are short on time. Fortunately, Shopify stores have access to a number of apps that make it easy to sort products with a single click. For example, Egnition's Bestsellers reSort was designed to use an extensive set of rules to automatically sort and organize products within collections. Another app by Egnition, Out-of-Stock Police, allows you to push and/or hide products that are temporarily out of stock without losing organic traffic.