I’m researching in this space and I am intrigued about what percentage of stores go out and find their own apps for their tech stack versus those brands that use agencies to influence these decisions. Also wondering where else people get advice on which apps are worth it?
I’m on the other side of this (I build apps), so take it with a grain of salt, but from my conversations with merchants the split is mostly about store size. Small shops almost always pick apps themselves — App Store search, review counts, and lately just asking ChatGPT or watching whatever YouTube tutorial comes up. Agencies enter the picture when someone else is building the store for you, and then the agency’s usual shortlist tends to win, because the merchant never really sees the alternatives.
As for where else people get advice: Reddit, forums like this one, and honestly just other store owners they know. Would be curious what share your research ends up putting on agencies — my sample is obviously biased.
From what I’ve seen, the split depends a lot on who is running the store on a daily basis.
When a merchant hires an agency to build or manage their store, the agency almost always drives the app selection because they’re the ones handling integration, maintenance, and troubleshooting. They’ll recommend apps they already know work well together and that they can support.
But when a merchant is hands-on and manages the store themselves, they’re far more likely to research independently App Store search, reviews, Reddit, asking other merchants, or ChatGPT as you mentioned.
One thing that’s interesting: store maturity matters too. Newer merchants often pick apps based on what’s popular or cheap. More established merchants tend to re-evaluate their stack with a focus on stability, support quality, and long-term viability often with agency input.
Curious, Daisy are you researching this for a specific project or is this general market research?"