Shopify's New Shop App Web Experiment is a Shop Pay Showcase

I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do that thing where I find examples of how horrifically bad the UX is for the Shop App online, and then wonder what Shopify is up to.

Let's instead give them the benefit of the doubt today (tomorrow, who knows!). They know what they are doing. But, let's not start with what they are doing. Let's start with what Shopify is not doing.

1 - This is NOT a prime-time website. The evidence is all over the website, so everyone should probably tap the brakes on what it means. They could throw up this site in a weekend. And probably did.

2 - The Shop website is NOT SEO-indexable. The main search engine, the search results page, even the product detail pages = nofollow.

3 - There are NOT any new features here. Everything they have available are things they previously did in Shop.app. If they are interested in making a splash, they would have at least released one new thing coincident with this release.

This site is not looking to be promoted and compete with a merchant's listings. No way. This is a savvy (if obvious) choice from Shopify to avoid competition with a merchant's own SEO.

4 - It's questionable if you even call this a marketplace with no multi-item cart. It's not designed to be consumer-friendly, and I sincerely doubt there is a multi-year, multi-team roadmap to fix all the things people could point out with it.

So what is this site, then?

1 - Fundamentally, I believe it's a showcase for Shop Pay. Let's be clear, in Shopify's consumer ambitions, Shop Pay is the straw that stirs the drink. Heck in its software ambitions too.

2 - I believe this is Shopify's bet and challenge to itself. For as many bad search results as there are out there, and there are a lot, Shopify is willing to dismiss the critiques and bet instead on its sales team's ability to acquire new merchants and products.

3 - Press. Don't underestimate the value of the press. To me, it's not an accident that this was launched before the holidays. The online press likes to cover deals during the holidays, and those news outlets link to stories and deals.

If Shopify is funding a great deal with Shop Cash, and there is a news story about it, you will not link that online news story to an iPhone app - that's friction.

To wrap, you could almost call this a marketing-focused website rather than a consumer-focused website in my mind. And the writing is all over the wall. If there is going to be a consumer hook to the site, it won't be SEO.

To me, if there is an answer to where this site can go, it is in the idea of Shop Cash. Look for this to be the main direct-traffic organic hook.

The road to inclusion in Google Products, SEO, and other mediums is a dead end for Shopify. But if Shopify can DIRECTLY attract consumer interest, and garner unique traffic not driven by TikTok or Google, then that is at least the path of something different.