In this third installment of our five-part series on essential Shopify apps, we focus on streamlining operations. From automation to shipping/fulfillment and importing/exporting, we’ll cover essential app categories that can help you maximize efficiency and improve your overall shopping experience.
1. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
What It Does: ERP apps integrate and automate various business operations, such as finance, inventory, and project management, providing a holistic view of the business. While these are not Apps they fully integrate with Shopify.
Examples:
- Oracle NetSuite: NetSuite is a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform that provides businesses with a comprehensive suite of integrated applications to manage various operational functions. It encompasses financial management, customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce, inventory management, and more, all within a single system. By offering real-time visibility into business performance and automating core processes, NetSuite helps organizations streamline operations and make data-driven decisions. Its scalability and customizable features make it suitable for businesses of all sizes, enabling them to adapt to changing market demands and support growth effectively.
- Odoo: Odoo is an open-source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software that provides a comprehensive suite of integrated applications to manage various business functions, including sales, inventory, manufacturing, and project management. With a modular approach, Odoo allows businesses to customize their system by selecting and implementing only the applications they need, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes. Odoo’s flexibility and extensive functionality enable companies to adapt to evolving market demands and streamline their processes effectively.
- QuickBooks: I know you are thinking Quickbooks is not really an ERP system- but it is getting close. While we have always used it for finance and accounting, QB expanded into Inventory when it purchased TradeGecko. Intuit has also announced Intuit Enterprise Suite that uses Mailchimp’s marketing technology, helping businesses find, retain, and manage customers through email and SMS campaigns and leverage customer data from QuickBooks to find untapped revenue opportunities.
2. Automation
What It Does: Automation apps streamline repetitive tasks, helping merchants save time and improve efficiency in areas like customer management and order fulfillment.
Examples:
- Zapier: Zapier empowers you to automate your work across 7,000+ apps, like Google Sheets, Facebook Offline Conversions, and Slack. In just a few minutes, you can create Zaps that connect Shopify with the other apps you rely on. Track new orders in your favorite spreadsheet tool, add new customers to your ads platform, and much more—helping you solve problems faster and make a visible impact at work.
- Shopify Flow: This used to only be a feature for Shopify Plus users, but Shopify has released it now for everyone. Shopify Flow empowers you to build custom automations that help you run your business more efficiently. Flow makes it easy to create unique workflows without needing to code, giving you more time to focus on growing your business. Connect your apps together to complete even more jobs. From automating inventory tasks like reordering and restocking to managing fraud concerns, Flow can support nearly any task you can think of.
3. Shipping / Fulfillment
What It Does: Shipping and fulfillment apps help merchants manage customer orders, streamline shipping processes, and track deliveries.
Examples:
- ShipStation: With ShipStation, customers can ship more orders in less time with fewer clicks and greater savings. The multi-channel platform synchronizes orders from all e-commerce stores, tools, and selling channels, enabling customers to print domestic and international shipping labels at reduced costs due to multi-carrier discounts. Additionally, the workflow automation feature expedites fulfillment, making the shipping process more efficient and convenient.
- ShippingEasy: Customers can access significantly discounted USPS and UPS rates with Shipping Easy. They can easily automate their shipping process and receive assistance from a remarkably helpful support team. This solution goes beyond being just a Shopify shipping app. It provides solutions for order, shipping, and rate management, as well as automated campaigns (including abandoned cart, product reviews, product recommendations, and more) and one-time promotional email campaigns. This enables customers to reclaim time wasted on shipping, save money to achieve a healthy bottom line, and foster customer loyalty.
4. Importing/Exporting
What It Does: Importing/exporting apps help merchants manage their store or product data, allowing for efficient transfer of information between Shopify and other platforms.
Examples:
- Hextom: Bulk Product Edit: Instead of manually editing of products, metafields, or other store data, BPE’s bulk edit feature offers a practical solution. Its advanced filtering system and versatile CSV export/import options empower users to rapidly and accurately edit thousands of product prices with minimal effort. Beyond products, this bulk editing capability encompasses metafields, customers, orders, and more. Users can save time, eliminate human errors, and experience an effortless editing process with BPE.
- Matrixify: Save time and nerves when working with your store data in bulk. From small stores to large enterprises – this app can handle file sizes up to 20 GB. Simple data updates and reports to automations – through Google Sheets, FTP servers, Excel and other data formats and channels. /ex Excelify. Export or import data for: Products, Collections, Customers, B2B Companies, Discounts, Draft Orders, Orders, Payouts, Pages, Blogs, Redirects, Activity, Files, Metaobjects, Metafields, Navigation Menus.
This article focused on essential customer engagement apps. In the upcoming piece, we will delve into apps designed to boost sales and improve customer retention. Categories such as loyalty programs, product recommendations, and others will be explored in depth. Stay tuned for this informative article on enhancing sales and retention through these innovative app solutions.
