
Shopify’s Frenzy – Sell to the most loyal customers in a new way - umedzacharia
https://getfrenzy.co/
======
shmatt
you guys need to read up on QA

The only way to use it between launches is to delete app and re-download from
the app store

And the only way to figure that out was to follow them on twitter, 4 minutes
before the launch. Anyone else just couldn't open the app

Awesome work guys, how about testing on "normal" products before asking
companies to give you their most important launches of the season

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brianbreslin
I think this is a brilliant move. I've seen people lining up around the block
at the sneaker shop near my house for a new release, so I'm sure there is the
online equivalent.

~~~
kawsper
It happens online as well, some people build "snipe" browser plugins to put
shoes into baskets as fast as they become available.

These scripts are used both by fans and resellers, but there is another angle:
The developers behind the plugins include their own reseller-id in all orders,
so they get a bit of money for every sale.

The reseller ids is given to these developers, which makes me think that the
brands are in on it as well, they don't care who buys the shoes, as long as
they sell them, and they maintain scarcity.

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tuckerschreiber
Hello! I'm Tucker, Product Manager on Frenzy.

Frenzy came to be from one of Shopify's quarterly hackdays projects, with the
goal of changing flash sales for both merchants and consumers forever.

Frenzy is the best way to buy from brands you love. Whether you’re looking to
buy rare products, discover new ones, or learn about new brands, Frenzy is the
place to do it. Rather than waiting in line at a retail store, missing out
online, or simply forgetting about a sale – Frenzy puts the hype of the best
product releases in your pocket. When you buy from a seller on Frenzy, it’s
just like buying from them in person – but you can do it anywhere in the
world.

Frenzy will be launching this week with merchants Kith, Love Your Melon,
Raised by Wolves, Off the Hook, and more, who will be selling products
exclusively on the app.

Happy to answer any questions!

~~~
CPLX
> Rather than waiting in line at a retail store, missing out online, or simply
> forgetting about a sale – Frenzy puts the hype of the best product releases
> in your pocket.

So I was attempting to decipher this sentence, which while apparently written
in English, appears to be incomprehensible. I've identified the subject as
"Frenzy" and the verb as "puts" and the object as "hype" but then I got a
little lost and wandered off.

In all seriousness, learning how to present product in way that's free from
content free superlatives and meaningless phrases will help greatly in
communicating with customers.

~~~
herge
Would it help you if they phrased it as "Frenzy helps their clients grow their
business by delivering results-oriented digital solutions?"

I do not think anyone working for a 'digital strategy firm' should be the
first to throw stones.

~~~
CPLX
Seems to me that the opinion of someone running an agency that, among other
things, implements Shopify integrations, would fall under the general category
of customer feedback.

~~~
finnh
I hope you two know each other IRL. If not, maybe you should - you both have a
good sense of grammar. And humor.

Made me laugh, at least...

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umedzacharia
Here is the news coverage: [https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/22/shopifys-
experimental-prod...](https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/22/shopifys-experimental-
product-shop-launches-flash-sales-app-frenzy/)

------
Awk34
I see that it's iPhone only. Does anyone know if they are making an Android
app?

~~~
hooksfordays
Yes, the team did an AMA on /r/sneakers yesterday:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Sneakers/comments/5e5d9a/ama_were_t...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Sneakers/comments/5e5d9a/ama_were_the_team_behind_frenzy_ask_us_anything/da9tvjn/?st=ivv33gyy&sh=1318be75)

Disclosure: I'm at Shopify, but not part of the Frenzy team.

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mywacaday
Seems to be like ibood.com but as a service. Really like the ibood concept as
its European based, a lot of the deals you see online are exclusive to the US,
hope that won't be the case with getfrenzy

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ybrah
Ottawa tech :)

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camwest
I wish Amazon used this for their sale of the Classic NES
([https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/11/nintendowned-amazon-
sells-...](https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/11/nintendowned-amazon-sells-out-of-
nes-classic-editions-in-null-seconds/)) flash sale.

~~~
tuckerschreiber
That would be sweet!

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joenot443
Damn. Wonder if we'll see any merchants using this on Black Friday.

~~~
nchlswu
Shopify has been piloting the app with retailers that have the same target
market as Restocks (YC W16).

The first pilot was with Kith in October sometime and now they're definitely
doing some Black Friday stuff and are launching Yeezys for Off the Hook today.

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rhizome
This seems oddly worded:

"With Frenzy, there’s no limit to your sales volume, the number of products
you can sell, _or the bandwidth you need._ " [emphasis added]

~~~
im_a_bug
Let's not get pedantic! Sales of limited-stock goods will ideally run their
course in a super short span of time. For example if I am running a Magento
site and am anticipating 100k+ visitors per minute, then I have to start
worrying about the need for load balancers, etc. Shopify removes this burden.
I think it's clear that that's what they're saying.

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neutronicus
This sounds exciting specifically for selling tickets to anticipated events.
The amount of servers crashing under load is too damn much in my experience.

~~~
tuckerschreiber
Thanks! We hope to ease some of that pain soon.

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thebestagency
This looks cool. Shopify seems to be one of / the most competent players in
the eComm space. Wonder if it will pan out successfully.

~~~
kareemm
Shopify is the best, but it's not a high bar. I've been on the platform for
almost 7 years. I have two major issues:

1\. They're still lacking some major features imho (ability to sell in
multiple currencies, can't put tracking JS on checkout pages, access to payout
reports for bookkeeper, got lots more)

2\. They do terrible product marketing - no email about newly launched
features. In an extreme case, they launched a feature that sent emails to
customers when their order was out for delivery, delivered, etc. Problem is
that I was already using an app for that, so when they launched the feature
and enabled it by default without letting me know, customers got _two_ emails
telling them their order was out for delivery, delivered, etc. It was a
__terrible __customer experience (for us and for our customers) and I can 't
imagine how that decision was made. ("Hey, want to enable this feature that
sends more emails to our customers' customers without announcing it? Yeah?
Great!")

~~~
enraged_camel
>>can't put tracking JS on checkout pages

Holy shit, that sounds awful. How do you perform conversion optimization if
you can't do tracking on checkout pages?

~~~
brianwawok
[https://help.shopify.com/themes/customization/order-
status/a...](https://help.shopify.com/themes/customization/order-status/add-
conversion-tracking-to-thank-you-page)

They try to make it slightly harder to write a store that steals credit
cards.. not a terrible thing..

~~~
kareemm
Thanks, will look. Last I checked you could put a tracking pixel on the
confirmation page that appeared after a purchase was made, but not in the
intermediate checkout steps.

If this is possible it's another example of poor product marketing: I've asked
for this feature multiple times via email and forums over the last 6 years,
and I hear about it from HN? That's a broken experience for a customer who's
paid them approaching 5 figures.

