Issue 1: Starter Plan Shows Features That Aren’t Available
The Shopify admin navigation displays Collections and Main Menu to Starter plan merchants, but these features are blocked on that plan. A new merchant — likely someone with limited Shopify experience — will spend time trying to use these features before discovering they’re unavailable. This creates frustration and erodes trust at exactly the moment Shopify should be building it.
Suggested fix — rethink what Starter limits, not what it includes:
Rather than limiting functionality, Shopify should limit by product count instead. Give Starter merchants the full storefront experience — collections, navigation, themes, main menu — but cap the number of products (e.g., 30 products). As a business grows and needs more product listings, upgrading to Basic or higher becomes a natural, willing decision driven by success rather than frustration.
This mirrors how the most successful SaaS platforms scale pricing — Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Squarespace all offer full functionality on entry tiers with usage-based limits, then paid tiers for scale. Merchants who succeed on Starter become loyal, growing customers who upgrade willingly. Merchants who hit feature walls before their first sale churn to competitors.
A functional Starter plan that helps new merchants succeed will drive more organic upgrades than one that frustrates merchants into upgrading. Merchant success is Shopify’s best growth strategy.
Issue 2: No Easy Way to Submit Feedback from Inside the Admin
Submitting a feature suggestion currently requires creating a separate Shopify Community account, navigating a forum, and managing posts outside of the Shopify admin. Most merchants won’t do this — meaning Shopify loses valuable real-world feedback from its most active users.
Suggested fix: Add a simple “Share feedback” button directly inside the Shopify admin, authenticated automatically with the merchant’s existing account. One click, type your idea, submit. No separate account, no forum navigation.
