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Which apps an art store needs

We're not handing you a list of names — they change every year and we make an app in one of these categories. What's useful is knowing which six problems you have and what kind of tool solves each.

How to read this list

We're not going to hand you a list of names, because names change every year and because we make an app in one of these categories and wouldn't be a neutral judge. What is useful is knowing the six problems an art store has and what kind of tool solves each, so you can compare for yourself.

1. Showing scale

The number one problem in selling art: the customer doesn't know how much space it takes. Solved by augmented reality or, at a lower level, room visualisers. What to check when comparing: that it shows real size tied to the variant, that it draws the frame as an object rather than a border, and that the customer installs nothing.

2. Variants that don't fit

Shopify gives three options per product. In framed art — size, frame, finish — they run out fast. Some apps raise that limit or turn selection into a configurator. Before installing one, check whether simplifying an axis solves it: usually a better deal than adding a subscription.

3. Selling the set

The big order-value lever. Bundle, kit or arrangement tools that let a customer take several pieces in one cart. What separates the ones that work: the customer sees the set assembled, rather than ticking boxes on a list.

4. A catalogue that doesn't die on page three

Past a hundred pieces, Shopify's standard grid buries ninety per cent of them. This is where advanced search, colour filters and visual browsing come in. The key: filter by what the customer is actually looking for — colour, format, room — not by your internal tags.

5. Reviews with photos

In art, one review showing the piece hanging in another customer's home beats twenty text reviews. Any decent review app does this; what to look for is that it asks for the photo at the right moment — two weeks after delivery, not the next day — and isn't intrusive.

6. Cart recovery, done properly

Abandonment is high in art because the decision is slow. A recovery email works, on one condition: it can't be just a discount. If the doubt was size, 10 % off doesn't answer it; an image of the piece on a wall does.

The order we'd recommend

1. Scale first, because it's the doubt that stops the purchase.
2. Then the set, because that's what lifts order value.
3. Then photo reviews, which cost nothing to maintain.
4. Navigable catalogue, only once you're past a hundred pieces.
5. And cart recovery, once you have traffic worth recovering.