What's the must-have app stack for a brand-new D2C store on Shopify?
Start with five jobs, not fifteen apps: reviews (Judge.me or Loox), email/SMS (Klaviyo), a support inbox (Gorgias or Zoho Desk), an Indian payment/checkout layer (Razorpay plus a COD-focused checkout tool), and basic analytics. Everything else - loyalty, subscriptions, bundles, upsell popups - is a 'once you have the volume to justify it' add, not a day-one install. Indian brands specifically need WhatsApp (Interakt, AiSensy or WATI) in that first stack before generic Western marketing tools, because that's where your customers actually reply.
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4 resources, 1 India-specific, 4 link-checked.
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A tested, category-by-category walkthrough of what a lean, high-performing Shopify stack actually looks like in 2026 - reviews, email/SMS, subscriptions, CRO - rather than a generic 'top 50 apps' listicle. Good first read before you start installing anything.
The rare app-stack guide that starts from what Shopify does not handle out of the box for Indian sellers - COD management, Indian payment gateways, local shipping partners and WhatsApp retention - instead of porting a US list wholesale. The single best India-first orientation piece for this category.
A well-known operator's actual tool-by-tool stack - Klaviyo for email, Gorgias for support, Smartrr for subscriptions, Okendo for reviews - built from 100+ hours talking to DTC founders. Useful as a sanity check for whether your own stack is missing an obvious job.
Gorgias has a vested interest in the support layer, but this guide is genuinely useful as a plain-English map of how commerce core, marketing, support and fulfilment tools should connect - and where a help desk fits into that picture rather than sitting off to the side.
