Roast my SaaS idea and possibly suggest some improvements and features

[walkerdavis]

So this is my entrance in the SaaS industry and I am planning to launch my first SaaS soon. I just needed validation on my idea before I started to actually work on this thing.

So the idea of the app is that you will be able to create your own branded online store which is essentially a plug-and-play service. You can create a store with the click of a button and all you would have to do is upload your products. There will be a dashboard to track all the orders and deliveries. Analytics will also be provided in the pro version. The payment integration will also be plug-and-play.

The ideal customer profile (ICP) of this application would be small Instagram sellers who do not have enough investment to spend on a custom online store.

This service will be having 2 subscription tiers:
• Free ($0/m) - Free features
• Pro ($19.99/m) - Free features + Analytics + Reporting

Let me know what you all think of this idea and I would love to hear your feedback on this. Any tips for improvement and new feature ideas are also appreciated!

 

[passiongirl]

@walkerdavis Basically shopify

 

[walkerdavis]

@passiongirl Essentially, yes. But it’s way more simpler and easy to use for small social media sellers

 

[passiongirl]

@walkerdavis Im not convinced. What would be simpler? To me Shopify is already easy and everyone can setup a webshop. What could you possible make more easy?

 

[walkerdavis]

@passiongirl Shopify takes time and a fair bit of investment. You would have to purchase a shopify subscription, a shopify website template, do SEO, hire a developer to build and integrate different systems with shopify, set up payment integration if you decide to sell on shopify.

My differentiating factor is that this whole service is literally plug-and-play. There will be only a few selected templates optimized for different types of stores and even the payment gateway is pre-integrated. All you have to do is essentially just upload your products and you’re ready to sell. I’m also planning to let the sellers use custom keywords on their website to improve SEO.

 

[linastewards]

@walkerdavis Social e-commerce catalogue feed connecting as well? Connecting their own stripe account to it so you're not wearing chargebacks etc, they are? Emails and sms readily made but can be customized? I do think there's a space for this but you got to be absolutely ruthless with keeping it piss simple as possible, whilst still allowing them to customize the bare minimum. Kind of like how linktree did things, but you're doing for social selling. I dig it.

 

[walkerdavis]

@linastewards I love the idea of a social ecom catalogue!

Although, connecting their own stripe account would be a good idea, it would be more prone to scams/fraud. What if the buyers don’t receive their items and the seller is planning an exit scam? I would not want to risk my own money on that which is why I thought of implementing a hot wallet system. This way, I will have more time to monitor the seller’s activities and ban them before they actually end up doing any unethical acts.

Emails will be only customisable to a certain extent. Similar to the shop templates, there will be certain templates for updates and notification emails all customised for different use cases.

And yes, exactly like linktree, there will be only a few templates so it doesn’t get too confusing for any seller to start selling online. The whole setup will require just under 10 minutes to be completed and start selling.

 

[colbaltheart]

@walkerdavis You have to do all those things because the majority of customers have asked for those features.

Go back 5 years and Shopify was even more basic - they've added functionality that their customers have been screaming for.

If you want anything more basic, people can use Wix ecommerce.

 

[karenwnc]

@walkerdavis Like mentioned, you have just come up the idea of Shopify.

So, what makes you think you can make Shopify, but more simple and easy to use? They have a lot of money and professionals working on their service. What do you have that makes you think you can do better?

I'm not saying that this is a bad idea, I'm just curious why out every possible new product out there, you think this could be your best shot.

 

[walkerdavis]

@karenwnc So my idea is essentially a mix of Gumroad and Shopify. Kinda like how Gumroad provides you with their website’s themed store, there will only be a very limited amount of layout templates for your store specially curated according to the use case of the seller, like Shopify.

It’s literally a plug-and-play system. It doesn’t require as much setup as Shopify. You don’t have to hire developers to install different features on your shop, everything is available on your dashboard (including analytics and reports). The plan is to just fill in the basic details, like the store name, logo, products, etc and you’re ready to go. No payment integration setup required either.

Besides, Shopify’s market audience has become saturated since Shopify has become a skill/job these days and requires learning before starting to use it. My audience are small Instagram sellers who are taking manual orders via DMs and want to start a website with the bare minimum effort and investment.

 

[falan]

@walkerdavis All other feedbacks are good. I'll had this:
Shopify have multiple teams of engineers, designer and product manager working on their product and it's simplicity. Do you have the ability to create something simpler than what they have ?
I'm not saying this isn't possible, just that you have to think about it'

Another thing:
You shouln't be validating with us. We are not your customer. We won't be using your product and giving you money.
You have to find people for whom Shopify was too hard, talk with them a lot. Hell, build the product with them for free and iterate with them a lot.
Bottom line this thread isn't your validation, don't invest time money and energy even if people here say it's a good idea.

 

[keziachristian]

@walkerdavis i think this is shopify, and they seem to have made it easier and easier to use.... so I'm not sure an EVEN EASIER SHOPIFY is a killer idea... but the best way to find out is to talk to some influencers who recently added stores.

You can do this by emailing them a simple request to do a startup Q&A over zoom, and offer them a $50 amazon gift card as a thank you.

these are called "listening labs" if you want to research them

 

[johnfish]

@keziachristian Mid response