Sales Are At A Trickle On Google's Chrome Web Store
In December, after months of anticipation and discussions with third-party developers, Google finally unveiled the Chrome Web Store — an online portal that lets users purchase and ‘install’ web applications like TweetDeck, MOG, and hundreds of others.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google spent 2010 outlining the store and adding Google Checkout to its developer preview, then signaled a launch was approaching in November. The store’s opening turned web apps such as TweetDeck and MOG into products users could buy and install through a Google-controlled portal.
Trickle-level sales expose a gap between having a developer-ready storefront and establishing buyer demand for paid web applications.
First-order effects
- TweetDeck, MOG, and other listed developers gain a new distribution channel, but the store is not yet producing meaningful paid sales for them.
- Google’s commerce pitch to web-app developers is weakened immediately: Checkout integration and a formal storefront have not translated into visible transaction volume.
Second-order effects
- Developers evaluating the Chrome Web Store have less reason to treat it as a primary revenue channel, raising the importance of distribution and monetization paths outside Google’s portal.
- Google faces pressure to improve the store’s discovery and purchasing proposition if it wants more developers to invest in paid Chrome web apps.
Third-order effects
- The episode points to an open-web distribution model in which a browser vendor can build a storefront, yet still must persuade users that web applications are products worth buying through that intermediary.
The trend: Browser makers are testing app-store economics for web software, with developer participation and consumer willingness to pay determining whether the browser becomes a durable commercial chokepoint.