Pain points our apps solve, and what they cost
Three problems that come up on Shopify stores of every size. For each: what goes wrong, what the research says it costs, what to do about it, and the app that handles it.
- Sales that leak margin20–50% of promotions brought no noticeable sales lift, in BCG’s work with retailersBCG, “Improve Promotion Effectiveness”Fixed by
SalePilot - Orders too small12–20% of e-commerce revenue can go on fulfilment, in McKinsey’s researchMcKinsey, “Growth and profitability in e-commerce”Fixed by
BundlePilot - Quantity deals behind a code83% of sites don’t apply discounts automatically, in Baymard’s checkout researchBaymard, “Payment UX”Fixed by
BulkPilot
For scale: Shopify reports that its platform handled $378.4 billion of gross merchandise volume in its latest fiscal year, up 29%. Company filingShopify Form 10-K (opens the source)
How we source
Every source the site cites
Each figure was read in the source’s own text and is shown as that source’s finding, with its year and what it does not prove. Where only a paper’s abstract was read, it says so. Figures we could not confirm in a primary source are not used.
Consulting firms
- McKinsey Quarterly, “The power of pricing”, Marn, Roegner and Zawada (opens the source)
- McKinsey, “Hitting the mark: Why markdowns matter more than ever”, Bähr, Coggins, Fuerst, Reasor and Rettaliata (opens the source)
- McKinsey, “Pricing and promotions: The analytics opportunity”, Heintzeler, Kullmann, Lauer and Totzauer (opens the source)
- McKinsey, “The dos and don’ts of dynamic pricing in retail”, Bondi, Goldrick, Reasor, Sen and Wilkie (opens the source)
- McKinsey, “Solving the paradox of growth and profitability in e-commerce”, Bai, Fu, Guan, Hoffman, Karnani, Mysore and Touse (opens the source)
- McKinsey, “How analytics can drive growth in consumer-packaged-goods trade promotions”, Hwang, Murphy and Shaikh (citing Nielsen) (opens the source)
- McKinsey, “The value of getting personalization right, or wrong, is multiplying” (opens the source)
- Boston Consulting Group, “How Retailers Can Improve Promotion Effectiveness”, Goad, Robinson, Anta Callersten, Malby and Opstrup (PDF) (opens the source)
- Boston Consulting Group, “Smarter Retailer Promotions for a Saturated Market” (opens the source)
- Bain & Company, “Curing the Discount Disease in Soft Goods Retail”, Israel, Makin, Caine and Cheng (opens the source)
Company filings and surveys
Independent research
Peer-reviewed journals
- Volles Kobuszewski, Ribbers, van Kerckhove and Geuens, “Beyond bundles: Choosing product bundles increases shopping basket size”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 81 (abstract) (opens the source)
- Foubert and Gijsbrechts, “Shopper Response to Bundle Promotions for Packaged Goods”, Journal of Marketing Research 44(4) (abstract) (opens the source)
- Manning and Sprott, “Multiple unit price promotions and their effects on quantity purchase intentions”, Journal of Retailing 83(4) (abstract) (opens the source)
- Drechsler, Leeflang, Bijmolt and Natter, “Multi-unit price promotions and their impact on purchase decisions and sales”, European Journal of Marketing 51(5/6) (abstract) (opens the source)