RETAIL TECHNOLOGY
Shopify unveils largest-ever
collection of new technologies to
advance commerce
CANADIAN e-commerce company
Shopify has unveiled the latest in
commerce technology at Unite, the
company’s annual conference that brings
together its international developer
community.
“We want to give a voice to all kinds
of entrepreneurs around the world,” said
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke. “And that
means making it easier for them to run a
business and become successful.”
Product announcements focused
on helping entrepreneurs in three key
areas — selling more, working more
efficiently, and making the most of the
Shopify partner ecosystem.
Catering to changing retail
The company aims to make retail
accessible to every merchant to support
a thriving economy. For example,
Shopify point-of-sale (POS) is receiving
significant upgrades for retail stores,
including multi-channel returns and
exchanges, in-store pickup, tipping
options, a companion app for a
customer-facing checkout experience,
and a developer software development
kit (SDK).
A new premium Tap & Chip Reader
has been introduced to transform the in-
store shopping experience by accepting
all major contactless payments, including
Apple Pay and Google Pay. Retail-
specific features will be bundled with the
standard Shopify Plan and above at no
extra cost.
Additionally, the first-ever Shopify
space is opening this year, a place
retailers can visit to help grow their
business. This space will be a permanent
hub for the best of Shopify’s products,
services and new technology, and a
source of support, inspiration and
education for retailers.
Streamlining marketing
There will also be marketing
simplification to reduce the complexity
of marketing to help business owners sell
more. The new marketing section in the
Shopify dashboard enables merchants to
create, run and measure all marketing
campaigns using their favourite Shopify
apps. Merchants will also receive
detailed and actionable marketing
recommendations, personalised for their
products and store.
New promotional tools include Buy
One Get One (BOGO) & Quantity
discounts that allow retailers to apply
discounts and incentives based on
number of items purchased.
With Dynamic Checkout buttons,
the consumer’s preferred payment
method is surfaced directly on the
product page and allows transactions to
happen with a single tap using Shopify
Pay, Apple Pay, and many more wallets.
Extended ecosystem
Tap & Chip Reader is introduced to
transform the in-store shopping experience
by accepting all major contactless payments.
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Retail Asia June/July 2018
The back-office workflows on Shopify
will also be automated and simplified. A
new feature, Locations, allows retailers
to manage inventory across multiple
locations, creating a more streamlined
fulfilment experience.
Fraud Protect for Shopify Payments
provides opt-in protection for orders
processed via Shopify Payments against
fraudulent chargebacks, allowing retailers
to fulfil more orders with fewer delays.
Starting this summer, all Shopify
partners and developers will be able
Fraud Protect for Shopify Payments
provides opt-in protection for orders
processed via Shopify Payments against
fraudulent chargebacks.
to teach Kit (a virtual employee for
merchants) new skills, giving merchants
access to support beyond marketing via
Kit Skills. A brand-new app, Shopify
Ping, is designed to streamline and
centralise business conversations and
marketing activities. Shopify Ping will
come with Kit to help grow retailers’
businesses by planning, creating and
managing their marketing.
Shopify will launch a beta
programme that offers native language
capabilities for merchants in Japanese,
German, French, Spanish, Brazilian
Portuguese and Italian. Locally relevant
payment methods will also be launched
which allows customers to pay using
country-specific cashless payment
methods alongside to popular credit
card and mobile payment options.
Additionally, Shopify Services
Marketplace will bring partners and
merchants closer together in a one-stop
shop that allows merchants to access
partner expertise such as website design,
marketing, photography and more.
The new Shopify App Store prioritises
discovery and generates personalised
recommendations, enabling
entrepreneurs to make better and faster
decisions for their businesses. ra