Shopify

Shopify launch 100 new features

by Angus Jones

Shopify has revealed the next era of commerce and unveiled a major set of products for Australia at the company’s new twice-yearly global product release, Summer ‘22 Edition.

Against a backdrop of global inflation, supply chain issues, and advertising regulations, Shopify is deepening its commitment to Australia with a set of new products to help merchants shift from the direct-to-consumer (D2C) era to a critical new phase: Connect to Consumer (C2C).

“At Shopify, we believe in the infinite game. That means we’re constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for entrepreneurs,” said Tobi Lütke, Founder & CEO of Shopify.

“We work hard to solve the complex challenges merchants face today while constantly imagining entirely new ways for them to grow their businesses. With Shopify Editions, we’re sharing our big bets and latest innovations in commerce so that those ambitious enough to try their hand at entrepreneurship can start and scale faster than ever before.”

The global commerce platform powering millions of merchants said the relationship between brand and customer is more than just the transaction as customers want to feel connected, considered, and appreciated by the brands they support. C2C is an entirely new phase of commerce where opportunities to connect exist everywhere. If D2C gave merchants a direct line to consumers, C2C gives merchants endless pathways and puts authenticity, loyalty, and trust at the heart of every interaction between merchants and consumers.

“We’re strengthening our investment in innovation and product development to help Aussie merchants build a future that moves beyond transactional relationships to cultivate the power of connection,” said Shaun Broughton, Shopify’s Managing Director (APAC).

Shopify’s latest set of updates is focused on personalisation and giving independent businesses full control to create novel experiences across every potential touchpoint with consumers in ways that keep them coming back.

Here’s a snapshot of what Shopify launched at Summer ‘22 Edition:

Shopify unlocks NFT-powered opportunity for brands to reward loyalty with tokengated commerce

In this new era of commerce, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) represent a unique opportunity to build even deeper connections through brand loyalty. This is increasingly important in a world where customer acquisition costs are on the rise and fostering a loyal brand community is key to business growth.

Shopify research found that more than one quarter (27%) of Australian consumers said they’re likely to purchase an NFT in 2022. Tokengated commerce on Shopify offers a fundamentally new way to deepen connection between brands and consumers, and reward true fans and VIPs, by giving NFT holders exclusive access to products, perks, and experiences. For these consumers-turned-fans, all they need to do is connect their crypto wallets to a Shopify online store, and they can use their NFTs to unlock exciting experiences. Shopify is making it possible everywhere — from online to mobile to physical retail through POS.

“Tokengated commerce on Shopify allows Australian merchants to offer a fundamentally new way for loyal customers to expand the utility of their NFTs and access personalised experiences from their favourite brands,” saidBroughton.

Tokengated commerce on Shopify will also be multiplayer and collaborative. One brand’s NFT can unlock another brand’s store, making it easier than ever for brands to partner and collaborate.

Shopify expands into B2B to unlock massive market opportunity for Australian merchants

For independent merchants, connecting to consumers isn’t just something that happens one-to-one. There is a whole world of opportunity that exists in merchants connecting with other businesses — billions of untapped revenue and several times that of D2C (source)   — which is why Shopify is introducing B2B.

Directly integrated into Shopify, B2B makes it even easier for Shopify merchants to sell to other businesses using the same platform they use for their D2C storefront. B2B on Shopify offers a similar online store experience that merchants use to sell to consumers, but with customised tools that make it easier to sell wholesale or in bulk directly to large businesses.

“We are now at the point where it should be just as simple for a business looking to sell B2B to manage their products, prices and sales through an e-commerce platform, as it would be for any business selling individual products to consumers. With B2B, Shopify’s helping Aussie merchants expand into an entirely new market category on the same platform they already use to reach consumers.” said Broughton.

With B2B on Shopify, merchants can set customer-specific prices at fixed rates or discounted retail prices, easily modify currencies and exchange rates for international buyers, and add automated payment terms while integrating with ERP solutions like Acumatica and Netsuite.

Shopify teams up with Google to help Australian brands turn browsers into local buyers

Australian consumers make billions of local searches every month, and nearly 60 per cent of Australians (source) use search engines to find a business online.

With local inventory sync on Google, Shopify merchants can automatically let nearby customers know when a product is available in-store, making it easier than ever to shop and support local brands. Google local inventory sync is available globally to merchants using Shopify’s point-of-sale app.

Shopify Functions is a radical step forward for C2C commerce on Shopify

Shopify is allowing developers to extend or replace Shopify’s backend layer with custom code so they can create out-of-the-box Shopify features to tailor commerce experiences like never before.

Functions creates the flexibility of an open source platform without needing to deal with any of the hosting, security, or code versioning challenges. The custom code runs on Shopify’s global infrastructure, allowing merchants to handle high volume traffic spikes from flash sales while still providing a checkout experience in under five milliseconds.

Starting with Discounts, Functions will let developers build powerful custom offers like volume discounts (e.g., spend $100 get $20 off) or free gift with purchase. Merchants can use these alongside existing Shopify discounts, such as free shipping, without ever needing to touch a line of code.

Functions can be developed for a single merchant or shared with millions of merchants today through the Shopify App Store, meaning developers will have even more ways to generate income with Shopify.

Shopify takes Australian merchants and developers into the C2C era

The Summer ‘22 Edition features more than 100 products, including some recent updates Shopify launched to help merchants find new customers, turn conversations into conversions and make commerce simple:

  • Shopify Markets, a cross-border commerce hub that makes global selling the default for our merchants.
  • Dovetale, which makes it easy for merchants to grow their business using influencer and affiliate marketing. And Linkpop, our new link-in-bio tool.
  • Hydrogen and Oxygen, Hydrogen provides tools to accelerate headless storefront builds, and Oxygen is Shopify’s globally distributed hosting solution for Hydrogen storefronts.
  • New developer tools, inviting even more innovation on Shopify

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