[Shopify] What's so great about it? From a development perspective

One day the UI suddenly changes

The other day, we received an inquiry from a customer saying, "I can no longer search for products using product management."

"That's ridiculous. There's no way I can't search for products."

I took a closer look and discovered that what used to be the search box had turned into a magnifying glass.

If you just click on the magnifying glass on the right side of the above screen, it will appear like this...

If you press it, it will come out, but until yesterday that's how it was pressed, so it's no wonder people are confused.

This UI change will be implemented suddenly one day without prior notice.

As a developer, I honestly think, "Oh no, they changed the UI again. Oh no," and have gotten used to it, but I think it will be a shocking event for customers.

The important thing is that this change was obviously made based on some evidence, on the judgement that this should improve work efficiency!

The Japanese IT industry does not have this kind of development capability, and I think it is an element that is not part of Japanese culture itself. I think what we can see is the difference between "foreign IT evolving because of this" and "Japanese IT not evolving because of this"... Major malls like "Rakuten" were too considerate of their customers and were not able to change their UI, so they are still forced to use outdated UI that does not work properly with smartphones.

The annual updates are always major

I think that a major update usually happens once every three years.

 95 → 98 → me → XP →
 Vista → 7 → 8 → 10 → 11 

It's only happened about eight times in the 25 years since 1995.

However, Shopify has been doing this for the past two years. Of course the UI for customers will change! I think so, but this update will implement new functions, which is the biggest developer cry. It will be super convenient.

★In the 2021 update, they completely reformed the existing template format called "OS 2.0" and added a function called "metafields" that makes it easy to customize on a product-by-product basis. Furthermore, with an eye to the future, they announced hydrogen, a language for headless commerce (they've made another language...but it's based on React).

★In the following 2022 update, they implemented "shopify Flow", which was a feature for the super-high-end PLUS plan, and although they have only announced it and are releasing it in small doses, they have created an even more amazing version of metafields, and also announced a feature called "functions" that will likely become popular in more specialized development departments...

Our engineers are the best in the world

Shopify is now a mega-IT company that is on the verge of competing with GAFA. The world's best engineers at such a company are competing day and night to create the best features in the world, and we, a small development company, are struggling to keep up.

There's no way that the engineers employed by a company that is said to be an Amazon killer aren't excellent. Their development capabilities are overwhelming. There's no choice but to keep up with them.

To be honest, it's not something that Japanese companies can compete with .

Sadly, the need to keep up with this speed is also a necessary skill for surviving at the forefront of the world's IT industry.

However, even though it may seem difficult to use at first glance, it is true that if you play around with it properly, it is actually easy to use. That is why the idea that " If you want to run an EC site, Shopify is fine " has become so well established all over the world.

If we keep up with evolution, we will be at the forefront of the world.

When people hear about the incredible speed of evolution, they think, "I'm afraid to get involved."

You may think so, but it is true that if you give up at that point, it will be tough to operate an EC site . The longer you operate, the more you will get used to it and the work will tend to become habitual, but in three years' time, your rivals will surely be fighting you with stores that have new features. Will you be able to win at that time if you continue to do the work habitually?

What is happening in the IT world right now is that those who can adopt such new things will be the winners!

Shopify is changing at an incredibly rapid pace. (That being said, usability for the operator changes by about 10% per year. It's within the level where you can get used to it naturally. The development side is a bit more drastic.) If you hate evolution, you may not be able to use it, but if you want to evolve together with it, the great thing about Shopify is that it will automatically take you to the cutting edge of the world .

Even if a rival appears in three years' time, you will be able to incorporate the latest technology into your store without having to completely renovate your store, and you will be able to use the latest UI because it will naturally adapt to your needs.

We, the developers, need to keep up with the latest trends, or we'll be left behind. To be honest, the reason we started specializing in Shopify was because we thought , "If we do anything else, we won't be able to keep up with Shopify!" , so we made the leap.

It may be difficult to master the functions, but the benefits are growing day by day.

If you are considering creating an e-commerce site with Shopify, please grow with it as it evolves.