Digismoothie How we built a Shopify app for Digismoothie
We developed a custom app for a Czech company developing apps for the Shopify e-commerce platform. This helped them to implement a good business idea in a short time when their own team was focused on developing other products.
Client has a good idea, that they need to get to market quickly.
In March 2021 we were approached by Digismoothie with a request for an app that would
remind online shop customers of missed payments. They normally develop similar apps
themselves, but now they needed to work on other products. Since they didn't want to lose
the business potential of their idea, they were looking for a reliable partner who would
start development right away.
Shopify's e-commerce platform has
a public API, so developers can build their apps into it. If app developers can find a
solution to something that e-tailers are really seeking, they can gain up to hundreds of
thousands of customers. Digismoothie came up with an idea for an app they called
Payster
- a payment reminder
to help e-shops with non-paying customers.
They approached us because we have experience with Python and the
Django framework. And we've also worked together before: we've
successfully developed one of their other apps in the past. Payster was supposed to be the
first project we're implementing for Digismoothie from A to Z.
About Shopify and its apps
Shopify is a platform for creating and managing e-stores. It powers 1.7 million e-stores in 175
countries.
E-shops can also purchase add-ons (apps) to
enhance the functioning of their
e-shop.
In total, there are over 7,000 apps on Shopify.
Developers can sell custom add-ons to e-stores on Shopify.
About Digismoothie
Founded in 2019, Digismoothie is a Czech developer company that specializes in the
e-commerce field. In addition to
developing apps for Shopify, they also
create entire customized e-shops
for customers.
Some of their successful Shopify apps include Candy Rack (enabling upselling of
products), Gift Box (free gifts with purchase), Nada (sorting and hiding sold-out
products), and integrations with commonly used Czech e-commerce services such as Zasilkovna, Fakturoid, and Heureka.
11
Shopify apps
7000+
clients
$230M+
profit earned for clients
We set up an efficient process
At the start of the project, we set up the collaboration to be as agile as possible. In practice, it looked like this:
We were available to each other every day on Slack,
we worked in our project tool, ClickUp.
and we met every two weeks for a sync call.
This kept Digismoothie's product manager up to date on their product development.
Additionally, he could possibly modify certain parts of the application after seeing them in
the first version at the sync calls.
We were able to consult very quickly on small ambiguities arising during development
or previously unknown to us specifics of the Shopify platform. This avoided unnecessary downtime
when we needed to get the app to market as soon as possible.
„We integrated the client's Product Manager and Senior
Developer into our team. They helped with code reviews as well as consulting on the
specifics of the Shopify platform. Thanks to this, we completed the project with quality
and speed.“
Jan Tezner, Project manager COex
Timeline of the collaboration
The MVP was created in just 3.5 months thanks to smooth communication and collaboration. The
next month we were still refining it according to the first customer experiences.
2021
March
First contact from the client
2021
May
Start of MVP development
2021
August
Launching the app in Shopify
2021
September
Tuning according to first feedback
With Payster, goods are paid for faster without the e-shop manager having to think about anything
The Payster app increases conversions for e-shop. It
automatically sends reminder emails to customers who have ordered goods but not yet paid. The
frequency of these emails is set by each e-tailer. In addition, the app can:
Create templates for automatic messages with several variables (it fills in
the address itself and also differentiates between the payment method chosen by the customer),
The application gives the e-shop a quick overview of paid and unpaid orders,
Unpaid products can be automatically canceled after a few days and then returned to the warehouse to be made available to other customers.
The e-shop administrator defines the number, content and frequency of reminder emails in the Payster app.
How the Payster app works on the e-shop
The e-tailer finds Payster in the list of apps and
installs it. Then he sets up message templates and chooses the
frequency
with which payments should be reminded. The application works automatically on the
e-shop
without the need for major intervention and does not slow down the
e-shop.
Once the e-shop admin has set the content and frequency of reminder emails in Payster, all he has to do is keep track of how many orders they have managed to complete thanks to Payster.
We used proven technologies and tools for just one platform
During development, we used technologies we know well, but also a special design system for
Shopify:
The backend of the application is written in Python programming language,
using the Django
web framework,
The communication between the frontend and the backend is provided by the GraphQL API,
Polaris design system for Shopify app development in React
programming language,
The app is powered by the Heroku cloud platform, which Digismoothie uses by
default.
You can find out more about the tools and technologies we use at COex on the web technologies page.
The collaboration has brought us new experiences
While working with Digismoothie, we took our first proper venture into the Shopify
environment. We were familiar with the platform, but had no experience developing a full app.
With the client being an expert in this area, we were able to learn on our own while doing so.
Working together gave us the opportunity to:
Learn more deeply about the Shopify platform,
Work with new tools (e.g. Polaris for Shopify development),
Learn how publishing apps in the Shopify App store works,
See how Shopify uses GraphQL as one of its biggest promoters,
See how the Shopify ecosystem works for developers.
„We're happy to have had a glimpse into the Shopify
development environment and to work with Digismoothie in an interesting field.“
Jan Tezner, Project manager COex
Increased number and speed of paid products
E-tailers on the Shopify platform no longer have
to deal with as many issues with non-paying customers.
We also like that:
E-shops get paid faster for
orders and get more realized orders thanks to the Payster payment reminder,
The app can also handle partially paid payments (for example, when a customer
reorders another product).
60 000+Email reminders sent e-mailem
300+Application installations
„At Digismoothie, we have worked with several agencies and we
have only the best experience with COex. The initial estimation based on our two page
brief was produced quickly and accurately.
Communication and problem solving was very fast and factual thanks to Slack and direct
communication with the developers. In the end, we got what we needed in the expected time
and at the agreed price. We will continue to work with COex on future projects.“
Martin Zima, Chief Product Officer
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