One of the ecommerce business's leading software-as-a-service providers launched a new Theme Store, allowing web designers to post site themes and potentially generate a steady stream of revenue.
Shopify, which is a Ruby on Rails-based hosted ecommerce service, generally aims its platform at online merchants and entrepreneurs that have no technical or design skills whatever. In fact, the company touts reviews from sites like TechCrunch, saying, "sellers will be able to create a very professional multi-page website with little or no programming skills in just a few minutes."
But, because most Shopify storeowners don't have in-house design and development resources, there is room for web professionals to earn ongoing income by serving the community of Shopify merchants.
The New Shopify Theme Store
In the new Shopify theme store, web professionals may submit themes to a marketplace. Shopify users peruse the marketplace and purchase themes for about $80 each. The theme is then easily integrated into the merchant's Shopify account. And the customer really wins, getting a professional quality site design for a song.
“Conveying a positive online brand message is immensely important, and just like bad lighting or a poor layout in a bricks-and-mortar store might leave a bad impression, top-shelf design is vital for an online store,” said Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify. “The new theme store allows Shopify customers to launch a site with the best possible design to appeal to their customers' emotions and create a positive impression that will reflect their brand and impress their customers.”
But the theme store is also a win for web designers and developers, since Shopify returns 80 percent of each theme sale to the designer or developer that submitted that theme.
This means that a designer might get back $64 each time the theme is purchased, and given that Shopify has tens of thousands of customers, the potential exists for a regular and steady supplemental source of income.
What's more, it is possible to riff themes, meaning that you can develop a single look or layout and then submit several versions of the theme using slightly different color palettes or graphics. These riffs, which typically only involve minor changes in the CSS, can greatly increase a theme developer's return on time invested.
Shopify Sponsors Theme Challenge
In addition to the money that can be had selling themes in this new marketplace, Shopify is also offering what it calls the Theme Challenge, wherein you can win prizes, like The Smashing Book, for submitting themes to the marketplace by the end of May 2010.
Theme Marketplace Augments the App Store
Shopify has long supported an application store for its users that allows developers to create extensions to the popular platform and earn income from the sale of those extensions.
Combined together, the theme marketplace and application store may make working with Shopify an attractive proposition for designers and developers.
