Shopify Development for Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus has some great benefits from an "account" perspective, however, there are key back-end features that need exploring. Please check your Shopify Plus Pricing or Plan to ensure you have these capabilities. In the API world, there are key features that Shopify Plus provides for the shopping cart experience which may require a full stack developer to exploit:

Shopify Plus - User API, Gift Card API, Multipass API, Discount API as well as increasing API call limits.

Most Shopify Developers are quite familiar with the Shopify API and Node JS, and when it comes to Shopify Private Apps or Shopify Custom Apps or when using Shopify Public Apps – however, these additional API capabilities are not discussed much on the benefits they bring to the merchant store. Account managers and Shopify store staff members would very much welcome additional automation tools for their daily tasks, assisting them to reach that enterprise-level customer service and experience.

Shopify Plus – User API

The Shopify User API gives the management capabilities to the store owner to monitor other admin users are attributed and if they are logged in. If you have a sales team on the ground (brick and mortar store), it allows you to know who is signed in. You can retrieve a list of users, retrieve a profile of a single user and see if a user is logged in - a handy web app. The web application and use of this portion of the API can be linked to other utilities or Shopify App to enquire if this admin has the right permissions, and can execute certain tasks based on that Shopify App. Therefore – if they are logged in, and are of the right Admin profile – proceed, if not, decline the action they are requesting from that Shopify Custom or Private App.

Shopify Plus User API Documentation - https://shopify.dev/docs/admin-api/rest/reference/plus/user

Shopify Plus – Gift Card API

When an existing eCommerce platform is migrating to Shopify that has been distributing and redeeming gift cards – the transition to Shopify requires the store to transfer those Gift Cards (Unique number batches), their balance, and which ones have been depleted. This is a very important feature during a transition as customers may have created an online gift card, and just because you migrated to Shopify, that gift card has to work. A migration of this nature will require some level of project management to ensure a proper transition was done and that the Shopify flow is preserved.

A gift card is an alternative payment method to an online store that is factored into the checkout as most people know. Given this well-known feature, a Shopify Private App or Shopify Custom App can take on the creation of a Gift Card, currency, allow for purchase and redemption while keeping a balance with an expiry date if applicable. They can apply to products and services, even if you use your own payment gateway or Shopify Payments.

This allows for eCommerce stores to have positive cash flow and breakage if the Shopify Plus Gift Card is not used or partially used.

Shopify Plus Gift Card API Documentation - https://shopify.dev/docs/admin-api/rest/reference/plus/giftcard

Shopify Plus – Multipass API

In some business models where user groups, user databases, or an online forum where credentials are accessible at an administrative level, the Shopify plus Multipass API can be really handy when it comes to user experience. Say you have an employee purchase program when employees can purchase goods at a discount – those credentials can give them access to a separate Shopify plus store where they can see and purchase the same discounted goods by using their credentials from a Human Resources portal. This eliminates the need for a separate user login/password to be managed and gives the employees a seamless experience.

Shopify Plus Multipass API Documentation - https://shopify.dev/docs/admin-api/rest/reference/plus/multipass

Shopify Plus – Discount API – Under Construction

In the world of promotional discount codes, there are a lot of areas where control is required to drive demand without abuse. The ability to have brand ambassadors to promote your brand or product by giving them a discount code to have their followers redeem is a powerful way to reach out to your audience, using the discount as customer acquisition instead of advertising that may have weaker results.

Shopify is overhauling this area at this time, and only the above three APIs are currently active. Currently, the API documentation has been removed, and it isn’t listed as a feature, but have heard that they are hoping to roll out a much more flexible Discount API shortly.

Shopify Plus – Shopify API call/requests Limits

Currently, regular Shopify accounts are limited to 40 calls with a consumption rate of 2 calls per second. The pool must never exceed the 40 calls limit per minute, or the overflow request will get a 429 error. When thinking of the use of a single Shopify App – this limit may seem reasonable. However, when you have concurrent Shopify Apps running and several users and admins using the API, that’s when you will find that the Shopify Plus limit increase (double of regular Shopify accounts) will be of great benefit.

Shopify Plus Rate Limiting methods - https://shopify.dev/concepts/about-apis/rate-limits

Summary

You might have a Shopify Expert that is engaged with your Shopify Theme or is doing Theme Development for your next update. Designers and Developers can do amazing things when it comes to web design and custom design. But when it comes to back-end web development, store design is no longer a role for shopify web designer, but takes on the form of PHP code, configuring and App from the Shopify App Store, or coding a Shopify Private App. Finding the right Shopify partner is a crucial component to get high quality results, as you improve step by step your template files, achieve custom designs or apply your own custom business models through your very own Shopify Custom App.

Conclusion

While there is a vast Shopify Development community and Shopify Experts, all of which have varying degrees of expertise in Shopify App Development, when it comes to Shopify Plus storefronts, the volume of customers and admins become harder to manage, in both a load of orders, and maintaining control through the various tools being accessed by administrators. Shopify Plus allows for API scalability, focuses on the needs of larger businesses and their ability to transition to the Shopify Plus platform. If you need advice on Shopify Plus, its API, Shopify Custom, or Shopify Private Apps – please enquire with us at wish@thegenielab.com