App for admin UI?

Shopify Apps

AI-generated summary

Standalone admin UI for Shopify order entry is being considered mainly for a Shopify Plus, B2B setup where an internal sales team places orders as well as customers ordering online.

Main points raised:

  • A separate app can make sense when Shopify’s built-in admin features are too limited for business-specific workflows.
  • Examples mentioned include granular access control, custom validation on admin inputs, hiding or adding fields, and supporting more complex processes such as quote-building rather than simple order entry.
  • As alternatives, lightweight tools like Google Forms/Spreadsheets or low-code platforms such as Retool were suggested.

On the question of standalone app vs. Shopify flows/validations:

  • The view expressed is that Shopify provides only baseline functionality, so bespoke operational needs may require external tooling.
  • No detailed comparison framework or implementation example was provided.

On effort and timeline:

  • No concrete estimates were given.
  • The only guidance was to evaluate cost based on whether building it is cheaper than the business cost of not solving the workflow problem.

Status:

  • Discussion remains open, with no final decision, implementation details, or quantified effort shared yet.
1

Hi,

I’d like to understand / talk to people who have implemented or use a standalone app for admin UI (particularly around order entry flow):

Key questions around:

i) why you might have done that?

ii) How you thought about the standalone app vs. using flows / validations in Shopify.

iii) How much time / effort did it take.

We are on Shopify Plus, and primarily B2B so have a sales team that need to place orders in addition to customer that order online.

2

Use soemthing as basic as google forms and spreadsheets, or a line of business lowcode service like retool.

Because shopify provides introductory level features they don’t build your business for you or it’s bespoke needs.
Such as granular access controls, custom validations on admin inputs, hiding inputs , adding custom inputs,
e.g. you can add items to an order but that is not the same as a quote builder; etc etc etc etc ad nauseum.

Time needed for all features converted to a budget that is less than the cost of NOT doing it.