Hello, my app submission has met with issues and I would like some advice.
Context: I work for a B2B distributor that also does 3PL for our partners who can’t fulfil consumer orders in our market zone. We use SAP for inventory and sales. A solution to move our partners’ products to consumers faster is a bespoke app. Existing product and order sync apps do not have the features required (e.g., our store controlling which partner stores see which products). The goal is that we can stock our partners’ stores with what is effectively their own products - the inventory that is held at our warehouse and controlled by SAP. A consumer won’t see anything, but when they browse a partner’s website and buy one of these products, they will be buying directly from our warehouse where the partner stores the products with us as 3PL provider. The consumer will pay retail price for the item set by our partner, and when the order is synced to our store it will create an order in SAP for the partner.
1st submission: I had this as a single public unlisted app originally. Our store could fill partner stores with products and receive orders for those products. I was told to split it into 2 apps: a sales channel for our store, and a discovery app for our partners. The sales channel app will make products available, and the discovery app will allow our partners to use them in their stores.
2nd submission: After splitting the app into 2 as requested, I was told to revise the core requirements for sales channel apps. I have followed the requirements as best as possible in the context of what we are building, but there are some things here that do not apply and I really question why I was asked to split the app at all.
- All sales channel apps are submitted for approval to the Shopify app review team. - Yes. I have no choice.
- Your app introduces a destination or platform for customers to discover products outside of the online store. - Our store determines which products are available to our partners’ discovery apps through the sales channel app interface. The products are then made available by partners for customers to discover in our partners’ stores. Does this count as “outside of the online store”?
- Customers are eventually directed to a sale. Eventually. After syncing a product and populating their stores, our partners can sell the products to consumers who pay retail price to the partner. The partners then pay our company a handling fee for using our warehouse and app as part of their ordinary billing in SAP. I don’t know if this is the kind of “sale” Shopify expects.
- You need to own and operate the destination or platform where products are sold. We are selling and shipping inventory from our own warehouse. We do not own our partners’ stores.
- After the sales channel app is live, you intend to onboard several hundred Shopify merchants in the first year after launch. No. The sales channel app is exclusively for our own store. I don’t understand why I was required to split the app in two.
There is also a technical requirement I need clarified: “Connecting to the sales channel account must be done in a modal window in the app’s UI and occur outside of Shopify.” Our sales channel app interface is embedded, and again I stress that our company is the only intended user. After installation and oauth, the “user” clicks a button on the home screen to connect, which brings up a modal where they agree to use the app and are then redirected to their account page. Please can someone clarify if this is correct?
Thank you if you have read this far. I would really appreciate any good advice for how to get my 2 apps successfully reviewed.