The problem

Protecting Shopify products

Fraud within the Shopify ecosystem has become an increasingly pressing issue, affecting stores of all sizes. One of the most prevalent and damaging forms of fraud is product theft, which can have far-reaching consequences for many businesses, such as undercutting original prices, and diverting customers.

In some cases, brands have been served with DMCA complaints and takedown notices after fraudulent stores have reported them as duplicates — even if their content was entirely original. The issue became so prevalent in 2023 that Shopify CEO, Tobi Lütke, took to twitter to address how the company was handling the situation. 

Although Shopify taking action was a relief, many brands still needed a way to actively prevent the fraudulent activity. They wanted to have the option to protect their products before any legal complications affected their business operations. Ayush Soni, a developer and entrepreneur, recognized this pain point and saw an opportunity to create a solution that would protect Shopify store owners from this widespread issue.

‍

Building a sustainable solution

Ayush decided to build his app, SuprImg: Anti-theft Watermark, during the Gadget incubator program in Fall 2023. He wanted to deliver a solution to the problem as soon as possible, and the program would give him just 10 weeks to build his business from the ground up, including developing and launching his public Shopify app.

His plan was to create a tool that would protect a brand by adding customizable watermarks to product images and optimize product listings by compressing the images for better page load speeds. With clear ownership over their products, his hope was that brands would be able to deter some of the more egregious product theft and maintain the uniqueness of their products.

With Gadget, Ayush was able to build his app in just under 3 weeks, focusing the remaining time of the incubator program on refining his app listing and marketing strategy. But his decision to build his app with Gadget proved to be a crucial decision in more ways than one.

In June 2024, after publishing his app to the Shopify App Store and acquiring a number of customers over the initial months, Ayush received exciting news. SuprImg had been selected to be a "Featured App" on the homepage of the Shopify App Store for an entire week. This prominent placement would expose SuprImg to countless potential users, promising a significant boost in installations and usage.

For many developers, the opportunity to be featured on the App Store homepage was exciting, but it also came with a level of risk. The sudden influx of new users and increased data processing demands could potentially overwhelm an app's infrastructure, leading to performance issues or even outages. But Ayush found himself in a different position.

‍

‍

The solution

As the week approached, Ayush realized he didn't need to make any significant preparations to handle the impending traffic surge. Gadget's auto-scaled infrastructure was designed to handle such spikes effortlessly, allowing Ayush to focus on the excitement of the opportunity rather than stressing about technical logistics.

During the featured week, SuprImg experienced a remarkable 2.5x increase in daily signups. Many of these new users were large stores with thousands of images to process, putting the app's capabilities to the test. But despite the dramatic uptick in usage, SuprImg's performance remained flawless.

As new stores installed the app, Gadget would sync all the images to the app database, automatically managing the rate limit saturation to optimize syncs based on each individual store’s rate limit. This meant that, despite the increase in usage, the data was balanced across multiple resources, and all the new users that found SuprImg during that week were able to begin adding watermarks to their images within moments of installing the app — even with such a massive increase in usage.

Ayush monitored the app's performance through Gadget's usage dashboard, which provided real-time insights into the app's operations. However, the most telling indicator of SuprImg's robust performance was the complete absence of support tickets during the featured week. Not a single new user reported any issues, demonstrating the app's reliability even under increased load.

Ayush attributes the smooth sailing during this high-pressure week to Gadget's infrastructure. "Gadget made the whole experience more fun," he says. "I was able to just enjoy the momentum and watch my app succeed, not stress about preparing for it."

This experience highlighted one of Gadget's key strengths: the ability to automatically scale, allowing apps to meet any level of. While other developers might have spent days stressing and optimizing their infrastructure to handle such a traffic spike, Ayush could focus entirely on capitalizing on the opportunity and growing his business.

‍

The Results

The Shopify App Store feature was a resounding success for SuprImg. Since its launch, the app has processed more than 1 million images, protecting intellectual property for brands, and helping to maintain the integrity of their online stores.

The seamless scaling during the week SuprImg was featured not only allowed the app to capitalize on the increased exposure but also demonstrated the app's reliability to a wide audience of potential users. This successful performance under pressure has set the stage for continued growth and success for SuprImg.

SuprImg's journey from a concept in the Gadget Incubator to a featured app on the Shopify App Store demonstrates the power of building on the right platform. By leveraging Gadget's robust, auto-scaling infrastructure, Ayush was able to create a reliable, high-performance app that could seamlessly handle a sudden surge in popularity.

For Shopify app developers, SuprImg's story underscores the importance of choosing a development platform that not only facilitates rapid initial development but also supports effortless scaling as the app grows. With Gadget, developers can focus on building great features and growing their business, knowing that their app's infrastructure will automatically adapt to meet increasing demands.

As SuprImg continues to protect more Shopify stores from image theft, it stands as a testament to what's possible when innovative ideas are paired with powerful, scalable technology.