Shopify’s app store is getting a facelift as the e-commerce company uses machine learning to try and create a more personalized experience for users.
The Ottawa-based company announced the changes on Wednesday, with a spokesperson touting it as a ‘Netflix-like’ experience but for businesses tools.
The app store, which was originally launched in 2009, will now use machine learning algorithms to offer personalized recommendations to each user based on the apps that will “meet their business goals,” said the press release.
Business apps and the app store itself are a major part of the Shopify user experience, according to the release, “with more than 85 per cent of surveyed merchants saying that they rely on apps to run their businesses.”
With this in mind, Shopify decided to redesign the store to keep up with the “complexities of running a commerce business in 2018 and beyond.”
There were three noted changes to the site; along with the added machine learning component it will now offer more specified lists that will categorize apps based on the commerce problem it helps solve, and app listings that attempt to more clearly explain what that tool does.
The updates to the site have already been implemented and the new ‘smart’ app store is now available for Shopify users according to the release.