- Original Poster
- #1
As a partner we introduce large and small businesses to Shopify. However many of the smaller businesses we introduce are put off by the recurring app fees which in many cases come to 3-4x their plan cost.
For example, customising products with additional fields and add one comes in at £40/month plus depending on the app. The apps required are a common theme across merchants and usually are pretty basic features from an ecommerce perspective.
They’re also put off by what could go wrong with WooCommerce and in many cases the plugin cost and interface.
We’ve been thinking about building a WooCommerce based SaaS platform and developing our own plugin set which eliminates the need for many to buy licenses for the functionality they need. We’d also overlay a more ecommerce focused admin UI, improve reporting and fully manage the install so it’s set and forget like Shopify. I know managed Woo plans currently exist but many don’t bundle functionality or have a focus on ecommerce to improve the backend UI. Many are just shared hosting plans rebranded.
I’m not majorly concerned about profit compared to building a good initial client base so could offer a cheaper monthly plan cost than Shopify (£79) for the first year or a free plan up to £1,000 in sales to get started.
Whilst it could scale, I wouldn’t expect this to be for larger clients who we’d still as an agency recommend Shopify where budgets aren’t prohibitive.
Feedback?
For example, customising products with additional fields and add one comes in at £40/month plus depending on the app. The apps required are a common theme across merchants and usually are pretty basic features from an ecommerce perspective.
They’re also put off by what could go wrong with WooCommerce and in many cases the plugin cost and interface.
We’ve been thinking about building a WooCommerce based SaaS platform and developing our own plugin set which eliminates the need for many to buy licenses for the functionality they need. We’d also overlay a more ecommerce focused admin UI, improve reporting and fully manage the install so it’s set and forget like Shopify. I know managed Woo plans currently exist but many don’t bundle functionality or have a focus on ecommerce to improve the backend UI. Many are just shared hosting plans rebranded.
I’m not majorly concerned about profit compared to building a good initial client base so could offer a cheaper monthly plan cost than Shopify (£79) for the first year or a free plan up to £1,000 in sales to get started.
Whilst it could scale, I wouldn’t expect this to be for larger clients who we’d still as an agency recommend Shopify where budgets aren’t prohibitive.
Feedback?
