In the midst of a defining shift in the e-commerce industry, where paid customer acquisition is becoming increasingly expensive, brands are aggressively redirecting their budgets toward retention strategies and owned channels. To spearhead this transition, StarApps, one of the most widely used app developers on Shopify, announced the acquisition of the enterprise mobile app platform AppMaker in an all-cash deal.
StarApps has solidified its presence in the Shopify ecosystem by growing entirely bootstrapped, generating over $6 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) without outside funding. Today, its merchandising solutions are trusted by more than 30,000 merchants, including over 2,500 stores on the Shopify Plus enterprise tier. By integrating AppMaker, the company adds a robust platform that already powers native mobile apps for more than 200 enterprise brands, which collectively process over $100 million in annual gross merchandise value (GMV).
For most Shopify merchants, developing a mobile app has traditionally meant choosing between rigid templated products with limited flexibility or prohibitively expensive custom builds. This acquisition aims to eliminate that technological constraint entirely.
AppMaker’s defining competitive advantage lies in its open architecture model. Unlike most mobile platforms that lock brands into a fixed product roadmap, AppMaker empowers a brand’s own tech team—or its Shopify development partners—to build custom features directly on top of the platform. This means merchants will no longer face long waiting periods in an external provider’s queue whenever they need a specific custom-built feature.
“We’ve spent years helping merchants improve how customers shop online,” explained Shashank Agrawal, Founder of StarApps. “The next step was helping brands nurture stronger relationships after that first purchase. AppMaker, which has achieved an exceptional enterprise platform that complements what we do, allows us to support merchants across a much larger part of the customer journey”.
Native apps as the ultimate engine for retention and profitability
The impact of native mobile apps on e-commerce performance is undeniable. Brands operating on AppMaker’s technology have reported up to three times higher conversion rates and a 28% revenue growth within their first year. Furthermore, the platform has proven to increase customer lifetime value (LTV) by five times while reducing ad spend by up to 30%. By consolidating these capabilities into a single platform, StarApps and AppMaker are giving brands unprecedented control over the two most critical drivers of e-commerce growth: conversion and retention.
Saleeh K, Founder of AppMaker, emphasized that mobile apps are currently “the most powerful retention channel a brand can own”. He noted that through their apps, clients consistently witness their highest repeat purchase rates and the strongest loyalty metrics. “Joining forces with StarApps allows us to bring this impact to many more brands, at scale,” he added.
Following the close of the deal, AppMaker will continue to support its existing customers and partners, now backed by StarApps’ massive scale and distribution network on Shopify. Together, the companies will focus on developing software architectures that enable e-commerce brands to create faster, highly personalized, and high-converting shopping experiences, seamlessly bridging the gap between web and mobile.
