Built a Custom Order Tracking System for Guest Users in Shopify – Should This Be a Public App?

Shopify Discussion
1

Hi everyone

I wanted to share something I recently built and also get feedback from the community.

I developed a custom Order Tracking System in Shopify that works for both:

  • Logged-in customers

  • Guest users

As we know, Shopify (even Shopify Plus) doesn’t fully support tracking for guest users in a clean and user-friendly way.

What my solution does:

  • Displays shipment details with tracking

  • Shows order progress (Confirmed → Processing → Shipped → Fulfilled)

  • Works without requiring customer login

  • Improves post-purchase experience significantly

Why I built this:
Many of my clients were facing:

  • Too many “Where is my order?” queries

  • Poor tracking experience for guest users

  • Lack of transparency after checkout

So I decided to solve this gap.

Now my question to the community:

Do you think this is a strong enough problem to turn into a public Shopify app?

Would merchants actually use/pay for a solution like this?

Would really appreciate your feedback

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2

Hi @nomiarain, welcome to the community.

To answer your core question directly: yes, this is a real and recurring pain point. “Where is my order?” queries are consistently in the top 3 support ticket categories across merchant conversations I see, and guest checkout is now the default for a growing share of orders as Shopify and Shop Pay push frictionless checkout harder.

A few things that would determine whether this converts into a viable app:

1. The post-purchase AI angle is underserved

AI agents like ChatGPT and Copilot are starting to handle customer queries like “has my order shipped?” by reading order confirmation emails or querying order status APIs. A tracking page that exposes structured status data is more likely to be surfaced correctly by AI assistants, which is a moat most tracking apps have not thought about yet.

2. The differentiation question

There are existing tracking apps (Parcel Panel, AfterShip, Track123) with large review bases. The guest-user-without-login angle is genuinely underserved. I have not seen a dedicated solution for that specifically. That is your wedge. Lead with that in your positioning, not “order tracking” generally.

3. Before publishing, one validation step worth doing

Run it as a beta with 5-10 merchants before submitting for review. The Shopify app review process requires real merchant installs and reviews, so having beta users lined up first de-risks the launch significantly.

The problem is real. The niche is specific enough to be winnable. Good luck with it.