How our AI App got crushed by Shopify Magic
Lesson: Platform dependence comes with risks, especially when the platform launches a similar feature of its own.
As a team of passionate AI and e-commerce enthusiasts, our vision was to develop an app called ‘Ecomm Genie’ where we would train an AI to be an expert marketer — generating SEO-optimised names and descriptions for new product listings. This would enhance the process merchants use to list new products, ultimately streamlining operations and driving sales growth.
Our Journey
For a couple of months, from December 2022 to February 2023, we worked on designing the app, creating a marketing strategy, and developing the app in a way that would integrate with the Shopify ecosystem. Here’s a Figma design of what we envisioned the app to look like:
Then, the platform strikes
Unexpectedly, in February, we almost couldn’t believe our luck when Shopify released its own AI Product Description Generator called “Shopify Magic.” They identified the same need as us their version of the app looks very similar to ours. See the resemblance below:
We should’ve seen this coming.
It makes sense for Shopify to do this. With the rise of generative AI in 2023, most platform companies are starting to build their own suite of AI tools. Shopify is saying that “Over the coming year, we’ll be enhancing even more Shopify tools with Shopify Magic.”
This unexpected turn of events highlighted a critical lesson for teams and entrepreneurs working on platform-dependent solutions:
When developing a product that relies on a platform, the platform can easily build a similar feature itself and make yours redundant.
This is especially true for AI use cases.
In our case, we were fortunate that we had only invested a couple of months into the project, which minimized our losses.
Keep hustling
Looking back I’m glad Shopify Magic was announced as early as it was. The situation could have been much more disheartening had we spent more time and resources on the app.
This experience also underscores the importance of being aware of potential risks when building platform-dependent solutions.
2023 is indicating that AI is going to be dominated by platforms:
https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-turns-chatgpt-into-a-platform-overnight-with-addition-of-plugins/
As we dive into the world of creating awesome products in the AI era, one thing I’ve learned is the need to stay in the loop with what our competitors are up to and keep an eye on how the platform is evolving. It’s all about being in the know and ready to adapt to whatever comes our way.
