Shopify is inviting all app developers to lend their technical and problem-solving skills to build solutions for merchants whose businesses are affected the most by COVID-19 through the Shopify App Challenge.
The challenge, announced by Shopify this week, began April 13 and the company will accept submissions from May 1 to May 10. This competition requires a Shopify Partner ID and those without one can sign up as a partner here. The deliverables include a submission form including a two-minute video pitch, app listing, and business case on how the developed solution is impactful to merchants, and the long term viability of the product.
The company noted that only those apps that are created in Partner Dashboard after 9:30 a.m. EST on April 13, 2020, are eligible. In addition, in order to be eligible to claim prizes, the participant must be a legal resident of Canada (excluding Quebec), the United States (excluding Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Vermont, Delaware, Louisiana and Montana), the District of Columbia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, or Denmark.
Shopify also noted in the blog post that all registrants will receive support and access to special workshops through the Shopify Community forums. A panel of judges will then review from May 11 to May 14 and choose the winners. The company will help winners to grow their app businesses by providing winning apps with a share of a US$100,000 prize pool, to a max of US$20,000 per app, as well as US$1,000 in ad credits for the Shopify App Store and granting access to mentorship from the Shopify product and engineering team.
Shopify said it will score the submissions on the business case, creativity, technical viability, and user experience of the app. The company has listed the full rules for participants to understand what’s allowed and what’s expected of a submission here.
The COVID-19 pandemic is creating challenges for businesses everywhere, and posing a particularly large threat to merchants who previously relied on in-person sales. Shopify has also created new resources, such as the Navigator, for merchants facing these and other challenges.