Build vs. Buy>Search & Discovery

Search & Discovery — Build vs. Buy

24 capability decisions in Search & Discovery, each scored across the 12-dimension TCC framework for a mid-market Shopify reference scenario.

BUILD× 3BUY× 10CUSTOMIZE× 3WAIT× 4DEPENDS× 4

Should You Build or Buy Synonyms & Typo Tolerance on Shopify?

DEPENDS

Synonyms and typo tolerance follow the site-search verdict: free native synonym groups to ~1,000 SKUs, buy a search app mid-catalog, build at scale.

Search & Discovery

Should You Build or Buy Visual AI Search on Shopify?

WAIT

Visual AI search is a WAIT for most mid-market Shopify stores; buy the add-on inside your search platform only when the catalog is visual-first.

Search & Discovery

Should You Build or Buy a Mega Menu on Shopify?

BUILD

A theme-level mega menu wins for mid-market Shopify stores with any dev capacity.

Search & Discovery

Should You Build or Buy a Year/Make/Model Finder on Shopify?

BUY

Buying a year/make/model finder wins for most Shopify parts stores; build on metaobjects only when you already own clean fitment data as a manufacturer.

Search & Discovery

Search & Discovery — Build vs. Buy

Should You Build or Buy Synonyms & Typo Tolerance on Shopify?

Should You Build or Buy Visual AI Search on Shopify?

Should You Build or Buy a Mega Menu on Shopify?

Should You Build or Buy a Year/Make/Model Finder on Shopify?

All Capability Domains