The Shopify Partner journey

How did TheGenieLab become a Shopify Partner almost a decade ago? One could say it was a vision and good foresight to become a Shopify Partner in early 2013. We have seen the platform grow, and offer more eCommerce features, and it is today a dominant Online Store platform today. Back in the day, Shopify occupied under 5% market share, whereas Magento, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce were the big platforms of choice. A cloud-based eCommerce platform was a new tech in those days, and today Shopifys' market share is at 32%.

https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/ecommerce-platform-market-share-in-usa

The Shopify Platform

Shopify allows you to build your website and get your domain pointed to it - after all, they have added easy-to-use functionality with a website builder, themes to choose from, and has made the payment options a click away to connect with. With Shopify's order receiving and processing, and additional marketing functions like Shopify Email marketing, the tools you get out of the box are significant. This spans from a start-up to large businesses that operate globally. The tools offered are tiered in the approach of default functionality, industry best practices captured in the Shopify Apps store, and of course, Custom Shopify Apps, or Private Shopify Apps - all of which operate in all the tiered Shopify Plans offered. To get the customization executed, a Shopify expert from the Shopify Partner program is where the best skillset can be found.

The Shopify Partner Program

There are 4 main categories where a Shopify Partner can best assist a Shopify store owner in their quest to better their store, and enhance their visitors' experiences. The tools and resources of the Shopify Partner by the Shopify team are leveraged to achieve these results.

Development: The Shopify Partner Program is primarily purposed to assist store owners to customize and set up their stores to their business model, and when it comes to features and processes Shopify Development is a key component. Shopify Development not only creates functionality but also helps identify Shopify App Store capabilities that may be compatible with the online stores' goals. App Development is the other end of the Shopify Development spectrum, using Liquid and the Shopify API as their primary Shopify tools.

Designers: With Shopifys' Theme 2.0, Augmented Reality (AR), and various other visualization tools, the Shopify eCommerce platform is one of the most capable of selling products. Anything from branding to designing UI/UX experiences, Shopify Designers can definitely push the envelope on presenting your Brand, Products, and Social Media integrations in the best light.

Digital Marketing: Shopify Store owners have a significant amount of tools to use for their audience to engage with your products and your brand. Shopify gives you the ease of collecting email addresses to give your audience noteworthy announcements, the use of live chat to assist customers to select and check out, SEO for search engines to promote you, all of this on a smartphone since responsive themes are friendly to mobile devices.

Affiliate Marketing: Shopify Partners offer SEO services, Digital Marketing strategies and can assist you with the business model you are looking to implement. Affiliate marketing programs can consist of solving specific marketing challenges, business goals, and strategies that make your marketing efforts pay off.

Shopify Partner Resources

Most importantly, when engaged with a Shopify Partner that has the status of a Shopify Expert for a long duration, you have on-tap their experience with a multitude of businesses applying their business models online. The person that is your contact can easily advise you on Shopify Apps that deliver well, or to an SEO expert that can drive your site's traffic. Even when it comes to adding affiliate links to drive an affiliate marketing business, affiliate sites can drive passive income to the business. All of these resources can apply to your online store, and help with your conversion strategy.

Shopify Experts and qualifications

Developers and Business managers have the Shopify Partner Academy to sharpen their skills and earn certifications in Business Fundamentals, Shopify Theme Development, Shopify App Development, and Product Fundamentals. You have the Shopify Knowledge base and the community of web developers to network with and increase your knowledge. This can extend beyond Shopify when it comes to IOS and Android Developers building Apps interfacing with their Shopify Stores.

Measuring your success with your Shopify Partner

While a lot resides on the business and its leadership, the Shopify Partner has to be well invested in executing correctly the business model, the marketing funnel, and the UI/UX for a good user experience on your online store. When projects are completed, the Shopify Partner gets reviewed by the business on how they accomplished their goal. As an example, TheGenieLab gets its reviews here: https://www.shopify.com/partners/directory/partner/thegenielab

Summary:

A lot of online store owners go their own way and achieve success by learning and becoming eCommerce champions for their business. However, that requires them to be experts in what they sell, as well as their Store's technology. In order for the business to focus on their products, supply chains, and logistics, the Shopify Partner focuses on the Shopify Store, and how to best deliver the desired experience. If you would like to enquire further on how we can assist your needs, feel free to enquire at wish@thegenielab.com