Your competitor is actually a theme

Hey —

Most builders obsess over the other apps in their category. You study their pricing, their listing, their reviews. But the merchant deciding whether to install your app usually isn't choosing between you and another app.

They're choosing between you and doing nothing. Or a native Shopify setting. Or a theme section. Or a Liquid snippet their dev can write in an afternoon.

Your real competitor is "good enough and already built in." And it's winning more often than you think.

A merchant doesn't experience your category the way you do. They experience a problem, and they reach for the cheapest, closest fix first. If their theme already does 70% of what your app does, your job isn't to beat another app — it's to prove the last 30% is worth a monthly fee and a new login.

Know the DIY route cold. You should be able to explain exactly what a merchant can accomplish with native features and their theme — and where that route hits a wall. If you don't know, you're guessing at your own value.

Position against the ceiling, not the floor. Don't argue your app is "better." Show where "good enough" runs out — the manual work, the thing that breaks at scale, the report they can't get. That's your wedge.

Sell time and outcomes, not features. A theme tweak is free but costs hours and breaks on the next update. "Save your dev a day and never touch Liquid again" beats a feature list.

Target merchants who've already outgrown the hack. The merchant who hand-coded it six months ago and is now drowning is your easiest install. Find them.

The builders who win in crowded categories aren't the ones with the most features. They're the ones who understand exactly what a merchant would do without them — and make the upgrade obvious.

— Paige