18 Dec 2019
When we first started writing about app builders, we tried every platform we could get our hands on. But a few companies soon stood out. One of them was GoodBarber. And while it wasn’t always our number one recommendation (there were user experience issues with a previous version), we’ve kept a close watch on their updates and new features.
So we’re very excited to see they’ve finally released a much-requested shopping app builder.
We’ve been told by the company that new features will be coming soon. But we couldn’t wait so we decided to test this shopping app builder to see how it compares with a few other platforms.
The first thing to note: building a GoodBarber shopping app is done on a completely different platform. You can clearly see how they divided the launch options into Shopping App and Classic App. We’ll choose the former, obviously.
You’ll need to create an account to get started, but you get a free trial so no need to worry about credit card numbers just yet.
One reason we love the GoodBarber platform is that it’s hard to create an ugly app. The customization strikes a good balance between flexibility and preselected options, all neatly packaged in their beautiful themes.
This is also true with the Shopping app builder. You can start playing immediately with general design options (global styles) or hone in on the specifics like fonts for the headers, or the shape of buttons.
Note that if you’ve used GoodBarber before, they created brand new templates from scratch. Some of them have been converted from the classic apps, but you can tell there’s a focus on the kinds of products you will want to sell (organic, health, luxury, etc…)
Speaking of products, you can easily add them via the right section. Note that at the time of writing, there is currently no way to import them from a CSV or other platform, so a bit of elbow grease is required there. Update: as of December 2019, there is now a free Import / Export add-on that lets you work with .csv files!
Just for comparison’s sake, here is how it looks with AppyPie.
Now if you scroll back to the GoodBarber screenshot above, you’ll notice a couple of details that demonstrate how smart this Shopping app can be. First is the ability to automatically suggest similar products based on tags or categories.
Second is the option to attach a PDF to the page, so people can look at a product documentation or brochure as easily as possible. It’s these kinds of small details that make you love a GoodBarber app. And this is how great they will look in-app, by the way:
A few important fields to edit in the backend will take you to the Settings page. You’ll be able to edit your geral shop info, Payment providers, Checkout process, Shipping and taxes. It’s all as straightforward as you can hope.
Another well-designed section is the one called “clients”. It allows you to keep information about customers and leads, effectively turning the Shopping app into a CRM (customer relationship management platform). You’ll be able to quickly jump to:
Best of all, you can use it as a great starting point for your targeted marketing. More on that below.
GoodBarber gives you a few marketing options, namely Push notifications, Discounts, and QR codes. All of them can be sent to specific clients, which is fantastic for hyper-targeted sales offers.
The options are once again really well designed here. You can choose to offer a discount for the whole store, certain products only, or during a limited period. You can also edit the terms of use by limiting how often it can be used, so people don’t abuse your generosity.
Discounts can be sent manually or you also have the option to display them as a banner on your main app page. This is how it will look as a Push notification.
It might come as a surprise to find a section dedicated to SEO in you app. That’s because GoodBarber have long been pushing for the adoption of PWAs, or Progressive Web Apps.
Because these PWAs work on mobile and computer web browsers, it makes sense to index your shopping app like a normal website. If you do it right, your product page could show up in search engines (although it will probably be difficult to compete with dedicated online stores).
So you get a little help here with search engines here, with the ability to edit individual URLS, meta titles and descriptions for each of your products. You can even tweak the 404 page options in the Settings tab.
You know what they say: you’ve got to spend money to make money. Here’s exactly how much it will cost you to open your mobile store.
A few things to note:
Find all details on GoodBarbers Shopping app pricing page.
Let’s start with the pros and cons of these new GoodBarber Shopping apps:
Pros
Cons
So it looks like GoodBarber is entering an interesting space in the world of store builders, because all the most famous ones focus on websites first. There are responsive, mobile versions of Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce, but they tend to be an afterthought.
With this GoodBarber Shopping app, you’re really going about it the other way: first a mobile app, but you can also sell on it like a standard website. It could work great if you already know your customers love mobile shopping and want to keep them inside your branded app to increase sales. And with the power of targeted discounts and push notifications, it could be a huge revenue boost.
Finally, it’s worth repeating that this is a pretty new product. Let’s keep an eye on it as it grows and more features become available in the upcoming years.
