Shopify Editions Summer ‘23 is out to the public with 100+ product updates, ranging from commerce enhancements and operations to updates for developers. These updates are meant to help both merchants and partners to be more productive, creative, and powerful in building, launching, and running their Shopify stores.
How exactly do these latest updates affect Shopify users?
To find out the answers, we’ll dive into these updates to explore them, analyze key takeaways, and learn how they can open opportunities for both merchants and partners.
TL;DR: Shopify's Summer '23 Edition brings significant updates across various aspects of eCommerce, which strive toward cutting down operation costs and increasing conversion. In the B2B and Wholesale sector, Shopify enhances features, including a B2B Store Editor and tools like volume pricing and quick order lists. Global commerce sees improvements in Shopify Markets Pro and store customization for international audiences. Multi-channel commerce benefits from Shopify POS and integration updates, including TikTok Shop. Customer acquisition and engagement receive a boost with new marketing tools and Shopify Collabs for influencer marketing. Conversion-focused updates enhance the checkout experience, while operations get an AI boost with Sidekick and improved analytics. Capital and payment management tools improve financial operations. Developer updates include new APIs, app store enhancements, and improvements to metafields and metaobjects. These updates empower both merchants and partners to optimize their eCommerce experiences and drive growth.
1. B2B/ Wholesale - Shopify Plus
Key takeaways:
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In the beginning, Shopify started out as a platform that provides B2C/ D2C solutions for retailers worldwide. However, along with the development of eCommerce in recent years, Shopify is paying more attention to the B2B sector.
In this Summer Edition, Shopify has announced 12 updates related to B2B/ Wholesale - most of which are only available to Shopify Plus users. Some were first introduced in the Shopify Editions Summer 2022, such as Wholesale Pricing and Paypal Payment. Since then, Shopify has put effort into perfecting the updates and now they’re ready for B2B businesses to apply these innovations.
1.1. Online Store Editor: Tailor store for B2B audiences
Shopify now allows you to adapt online store design with context-specific pages for wholesale customers.
As a store owner, if you have more than one B2B feature on Shopify store activated, you can modify sections and blocks specific to the context of the B2B market. Then, by log in to a B2B customer profile, your shoppers could access B2B stores without needing to sign in to a separate storefront.
Image source: Shopify Editions Summer'23
1.2. B2B-specific tools
Besides the update on the store-front editor, Shopify has introduced multiple features to serve B2B merchants the best:
Wholesale migration tool: Migration among stores and platforms is always an exhausting task. Having understood this pain point, Shopify has made the migration process easy, in which you can transfer product catalogs, customer lists, historical orders, etc. without touching any code.
Volume pricing: The main difference between B2B and B2C selling is in one word: volume. B2B often requires a much higher volume than B2C selling. Therefore, Shopify has added this feature to help merchants define quantity rules and price breaks to encourage wholesale customers to buy in larger quantities at reasonable prices.
Quick order lists: This is another convenient update that creates an all-in-one section on your product page. In which, business customers can view a list of product variants to easily choose and change sizes, colors, materials, etc. for a quicker shopping experience.
Image source: Shopify Editions Summer'23
1.3. Product curation
Product curation is the process in which you will source, edit, and merchandise products from brands to customers directly.
Shopify encourages product curation by helping merchants curate top products, automating payments, and syncing inventory and orders. After this Shopify edition, you can sell products from top brands that complement your brand without managing inventory or shipping.
You just need to add products to your stores and push them to your shoppers, the rest is taken care of by Shopify’s system.
Explore how to source and sell quality products from Shopify brands effortlessly by following the below video:
1.4. More updates in payment and operations
Besides those significant B2B/Wholesale updates above, many other features are expected to help both B2B merchants and customers to buy and sell easier such as PayPal payments on B2B, PO number, automation with Shopify Flow, etc.
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How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: These updates translate into newfound potential for growth, especially if you operate in the B2B sphere. These updates provide brands with access to a set of specialized tools and resources, separate from those typically geared towards B2C or D2C enterprises. This empowerment allows you to expand your business, streamline your operations, and offer tailored experiences that cater precisely to the unique demands of the B2B landscape.
- As a partner: Partners within the Shopify ecosystem are on the brink of exciting opportunities. These updates open the door to crafting bespoke B2B and Wholesale solutions, a niche that is gaining increasing prominence. By diversifying your service offerings, developing custom integrations, and positioning yourself as an expert in this specialized field, you can attract clients seeking your expertise in a rapidly evolving market segment.
2. Global commerce
Key takeaways: Shopify is poised to elevate its premium offering, Markets Pro, to a new level of excellence. Markets Pro, renowned for its inclusion of Shop Pay and a comprehensive array of shipping options, is set to undergo significant enhancements. These enhancements underscore the pivotal role of payment and fulfillment services in Shopify's offerings for premium global brands. This strategic alignment with recent developments is just the beginning of Shopify's commitment to these critical channels. The company has a clear vision of expanding and refining these aspects in the future.
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According to Shopify, the global eCommerce market is expected to total $6.3 trillion in 2023 and account for 21.2% of total retail sales.
Shopify has recognized the importance of global commerce, and in Shopify Edition Summer ‘23, they introduced 2 major breakthroughs:
2.1. Shopify Markets Pro: Add Shop Pay and shipping options
Payment and fulfillment are key challenges for international transactions. They hinder the drives and development of global commerce for both sellers and buyers.
Markets Pro simplifies the checkout experience with more information, but fewer steps needed, and also provides more payment options (including Shop Pay) that suit the needs of shoppers worldwide.
Moreover, Markets Pro is integrated with built-in shipping solutions so you can manage your inventory and shipping status without using external apps. By this way, merchants can eliminate most of the store challenges for global outreach.
Shopify Markets Pro is currently available to merchants worldwide on Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Shopify Plus. You can explore more about it here.
Image source: Shopify Market Pro
2.2. Online Store Editor: Tailor store for international audiences
Similar to the B2B-specialized store updates mentioned above, from this Summer Edition, Shopify also allows merchants to customize their stores to adapt to countries as an attempt to further localization settings.
In detail, you can build a store that displays differently for each shopper based on their choice or location IP.
In a world where consumers are willing to pay 77% more for personalized experiences, tailored store design is expected to drive conversion and sales on a global level.
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How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: For brands contemplating global expansion, a closer collaboration with Shopify becomes an increasingly appealing proposition. These forthcoming enhancements signal Shopify's dedication to providing robust payment and shipping solutions, which are paramount in the international business landscape. Brands aspiring to reach global markets should carefully evaluate the potential advantages ofShopify's sophisticated payment and shipping options in optimizing their market penetration strategies.
- As a partner: Within the Shopify ecosystem, partners stand to benefit significantly from these developments. The heightened focus on payment and shipping solutions by Shopify creates a fertile ground for partners to devise specialized, region-specific solutions that seamlessly complement Shopify's strategic direction. Crafting custom solutions that integrate with Shopify's platform enables partners to offer added value to clients pursuing global expansion with an emphasis on payment and fulfillment excellence. This presents an opportunity for partners to carve a niche for themselves and lead the charge in the ongoing evolution of payment and fulfillment services.
3. Multi-channel commerce
Key takeaways: Shopify's Point of Sale (POS) system is gearing up for a substantial overhaul, marking a significant stride in Shopify's concerted efforts to extend its reach into the realm of offline commerce. This move is a testament to Shopify's unwavering commitment to offering comprehensive support to merchants and brands across both digital and physical sales channels. Furthermore, Shopify is bolstering its connected channels, reinforcing its commitment to helping brands attract a broader customer base.
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Multi-channel commerce is projected to account for 45.6% of global eCommerce retail sales in 2023. It is undeniable that shoppers want more channels to explore and consider products. Therefore, merchants must also establish their existence in multi-channels to reach and encourage shoppers to purchase.
As a result, Shopify must integrate with more eCommerce floors and launch more features to adapt to this market demand. They’ve proven it through 6+ updates in this edition, in which there are 3 major updates
3.1. Shopify POS
This is one of the largest solutions that Shopify has launched in recent years. Shopify gives in-store customers more ways to pay with POS Go, WisePad, and Shop Pay Installments, which are increasingly used worldwide.
Furthermore, Shopify POS empowers store owners to manage inventory, in-store staff, and payment flow easier than ever before.
By launching POS solutions, Shopify has shown its ambition of not only providing virtual commerce solutions but also powering physical commerce transactions.
Image source: Shopify
3.2. TikTok Shop: Sell on TikTok
Do you know that 68% of US adult Gen-Zers prefer shopping online through TikTok Shop rather than other eCommerce floors? TikTok Shop is definitely a huge wave for eCommerce lovers to dive into and grow further.
Shopify doesn’t want to miss this growth wave. They’ve integrated with TikTok successfully. Shopify stores can now connect with TikTok Shop to manage and fulfill orders directly and automatically.
Image source: Shopify Editions Summer'23
3.3. Local pickup: available in draft orders
Online draft orders on Shopify stores can now be fulfilled through physical stores.
If store owners turn on the option of “Local pickup” regardless of how the order was placed, shoppers can go directly to the retail store to pick up the product by themselves. It’s a great way to provide flexibility to shoppers, save delivery costs, and attract more traffic to the physical store.
3.4. More integration updates
In the realm of multi-channel commerce, Shopify now allows stores to connect with major marketplaces, such as Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, using a feature called Shopify Marketplace Connect. More than that, they optimize the Shop App and product images with the application of AI to attract more customers and convert them better.
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How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: These POS updates present an opportunity to fortify their connection with Shopify. It's not just about online sales anymore; Shopify's POS enhancements enable merchants to streamline their operations further. The holistic business workflow is greatly improved, ensuring a seamless transition between online and offline sales channels. Additionally, expanding connected channels provides merchants with a broader spectrum of shopping touchpoints. This means you have more opportunities to optimize your strategies and reach a wider audience of shoppers, wherever they choose to engage with your brand.
- As a partner: The evolution of Shopify POS holds the promise of exciting possibilities. It opens doors for Partners to develop POS-related solutions or delve into the broader domain of offline commerce for Shopify brands. This expansion aligns with the growing demand for seamless integration between digital and physical sales channels, allowing Partners to create innovative solutions that cater to this need. However, the proliferation of connected channels presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for Partners. On one hand, it opens avenues for developing specialized integrations and tools. On the other hand, it requires Partners to navigate the complexities of an increasingly diverse and interconnected retail landscape. Adapting to these changes and staying ahead of the curve will be crucial for Partners looking to leverage the full potential of Shopify's expanded ecosystem.
4. Customer acquisition & engagement
Key takeaways: Shopify is making big improvements for its marketing tools, focusing on getting more customers and keeping them engaged. They're making it easier to target specific groups of customers, speeding up how quickly marketing campaigns happen, and giving you more ways to connect with your customers. Plus, Shopify is supercharging partnership marketing through upgrades to Shopify Collabs.
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The eCommerce landscape is getting more fierce, with customer acquisition cost increased by 60% in the last 5 years. Therefore, it’s necessary to optimize online store and marketing efforts for better customer acquisition and engagement.
Shopify has launched many features that support merchants in reaching and engaging with customers. In this edition, they focus on 2 things: Shopify marketing tools and Shopify Collabs, along with 4 other updates.
4.1. Shopify marketing tools: Email, chat, forms, segmentation, and automation tools
Previously, Shopify merchants needed to rely on diverse Shopify apps to execute their marketing efforts. However, from this Shopify edition, merchants can quickly leverage marketing activities through 3 made-by-Shopify apps, including Shopify Email, Shopify Forms, Shopify Inbox, and 2 built-in functions: Segmentation and Automation.
Learn more about those 5 powerful Shopify solutions here.
Image source: Shopify
These solutions empower merchants to communicate and build customer relationship, especially minimizing management efforts.
4.2. Shopify Collabs: lets creators sell products
As influencer marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing, with 50.7% of eCommerce businesses using it to leverage their reach to relevant audiences, Shopify knows that they can leverage the power of influencer marketing, then they’ve introduced Shopify Collabs - where merchants and influencers can collaborate together to drive sales.
With Shopify Collabs, merchants can directly invite verified influencers and set a commission rate to encourage them to market their products to their followers.
The best thing is, everything is powered by Shopify. You have little manual work to execute. In fact, you just need to find and choose suitable influencers. The rest, including verifying sales and payments, will be automatically finished by the Shopify system.
Learn how to utilize the power of Shopify Collabs here:
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How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: These updates mean you'll have some cool new tools to make your marketing and partnership efforts even better. With the improved marketing tools, you can reach your customers more effectively. You'll be able to send messages that feel personal, and that can help you get more customers and keep them coming back. With the upgraded Shopify Collabs, you can team up with other businesses or influencers to market your products together. It's a win-win for everyone, and it can boost your sales results.
5. Conversion
Key takeaways: Shopify is making substantial updates, with more than 50% of these tailored exclusively for Shopify Plus users. The primary focus of these updates centers on enhancing the checkout experience. This underscores Shopify's recognition of the checkout page as the pivotal point for driving conversions, leading to a concerted effort to fortify this critical aspect of eCommerce.
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After customer acquisition and engagement, conversion is the next thing that we will focus on.
In this Summer Edition, Shopify has brought out 10 conversion-boosting features. In which, there are 3 main points that we can go into.
5.1. Shopify apps
Regarding Customer acquisition and engagement, Shopify has developed free marketing tools, particularly apps and built-in functions. But this is not everything.
Some other significant apps are Shop Cash, Shopify Bundles, Shopify Search & Discovery.
Learn more about those apps here.
How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: These apps are expected to give the power to the hands of merchants to reach higher conversion rates.
- As a partner: However, they create challenges for partners due to being competitors to many existing apps in the Shopify App Store.
5.2. Customization features
Shopify empowers their users by increasing the level of solution flexibility for both merchants and partners.
They are now allowing the checkout page to be customized with add-ons, such as: pre-order offers, address validation, customized delivery method, custom branding and design for checkout page, and more.
This empowerment opens doors for Shopify partners and improves the shopping experience, which is all good news to Shopify merchants.
However, it is noticeable that most of the updates are only applicable to Shopify Plus users. This fact demonstrates that Shopify prioritizes their premium users and encourages other types of users to upgrade to the Shopify Plus plan.
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How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: For Shopify Plus store owners, these updates come as a much-anticipated and welcome development. They address specific needs and offer improvements that cater to the demands of advanced eCommerce operations. However, for those on different Shopify plans, this serves as a compelling incentive to consider and strategize for potential changes that can be implemented in their own stores. It's worth noting that achieving the same level of customization and optimization may require a significant investment.
- As a partner: These developments present a golden opportunity. If you're working with Shopify Plus brands, it's time to enhance and extend your existing solutions to align with these updates. Your expertise can help Shopify Plus brands take full advantage of these tailored enhancements. Simultaneously, for non-Shopify Plus businesses, this creates a demand for solutions that bridge the gap and offer similar optimization opportunities. Partners can step in to create suitable solutions that cater to the broader Shopify ecosystem. It's an invitation to innovate, offering solutions that streamline and enhance the checkout experience for all businesses.
6. Inventory, fulfillment, and delivery
Key takeaways: In a significant move to fortify their position as a comprehensive eCommerce solution provider, Shopify introduces notable upgrades to their inventory and fulfillment system. Order Routing and the Fulfillment Constraints API take an important part in the Summer '23 Edition.
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As an all-in-one platform for eCommerce solutions, Shopify cares for every stage of eCommerce transactions, including inventory, fulfillment, and delivery.
In this Summer Edition, Shopify has covered those stages with 6 updates with highlights as below:
6.1. Shopify Inventory
Beside the existing inventory tracker, Shopify has just launched a new built-in feature that allows store owners to observe purchase orders.
This function simplifies the ordering inventory process by creating purchase orders that include all needed information, including supplier, destination, and cost. Through that, you can easily know what inventory to expect and when they will be fulfilled.
6.2. Order routing
Smart order routing now is fully released in this edition. With the support of this feature, businesses with multiple fulfillment locations can develop a set of rules for fulfillment, then their orders will be automatically prioritized. This feature helps streamline fulfillment operations, reduce shipping costs, and get products to customers faster.
Moreover, creating order routing rules is now easier than ever with the use of Order Routing API. You can use it to write custom rules that determine how best to fulfill and ship orders. Then, you can use the admin panel to add, rank, or remove these rules.
By utilizing the power of order routing, you can control the whole fulfillment process without putting too much effort.
Discover how to fulfill orders with smart order routing:
6.3. Shopify Delivery
Relating to delivery, the must-mention feature in this edition is the ability to set rules for handling returns.
Store owners can automate the return by setting up rules that will be applied to an order when customers place an order and request returns. You can set multiple conditions in advance, including eligible products, days of request, return fees, etc.
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How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: These updates empower merchants with more efficient inventory and fulfillment management. Order Routing simplifies order prioritization, reducing shipping costs and accelerating product delivery. The Fulfillment Constraints API allows for dynamic inventory allocation, optimizing fulfillment based on various parameters. This leads to better reporting and data-driven decision-making, ultimately enhancing eCommerce operations.
- As a partner: Shopify Partners are encouraged to innovate and tailor solutions to address specific eCommerce challenges. With foundational features in place, partners can create specialized apps leveraging Order Routing and intelligent inventory management using the Fulfillment Constraints API. This opens up new possibilities to offer bespoke solutions and provide added value to Shopify's merchant base.
7. Operations
Key takeaways:
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Shopify understands that to run an efficient and successful business, operations must be well-planned, organized, and managed. Thus, they prioritize improvements that can facilitate the operations of businesses.
This Edition, like many previous editions of Shopify, focused mainly on Administrative and Financial operations. With 14+ updates, merchants and partners can now streamline their everyday operations. Let’s take a deeper look at the main updates to understand more about the benefits they brought about.
7.1. AI-based functions
AI is now a global trend both in daily life and in business operations. By integrating AI solutions into every aspect of the business, organizations can optimize processes and workflows, gain a competitive edge, and ultimately accelerate growth. Shopify paid attention to this need and released many AI-based functions in this Edition.
The most highlighted AI-based update is Sidekick - the AI commerce assistant that can improve your store, tackle time-consuming tasks, and make smarter business decisions. This AI assistant does not just stop at analyzing and answering your questions, Sidekick can put words into action, set up your store to solve certain problems, and help you get more work done, faster.
Image source: Shopify
Besides Sidekick, Shopify also introduced many other AI assistants to generate smart chat responses, helpful FAQs, and compelling content for products, blogs, and emails.
Learn more about new AI assistants.
7.2. Analytics
Data analysis is an essential process in business operations to help businesses understand their customers better, thereby improving customer targeting, reducing costs, and allowing for the creation of better problem-solving strategies. In this Edition, Shopify added new features and improved available features to streamline and advance this process.
The most prominent update is new benchmark data in reports. With this feature, you can now measure yourself against other businesses similar to you by industry, geography, and volume.
Another noteworthy update is that ShopifyQL Notebooks now supports the ability to incorporate Python code blocks into existing and new Notebooks. This lets you retrieve data (via http request), combine it, and visualize it within Notebooks using some of the most powerful data libraries available.
Image source: Shopify Editions Summer'23
Shopify also improved GA4 analysis and updated some new pixel events like cart views, discounts used, and checkout progression to get a more accurate and deeper analysis.
7.3. Capital & payment management
Financial operation is not only about making money, but also about managing it. Shopify notices that and provides some updates to help you manage your finances, from payment support to spending, borrowing, and banking tools.
With newly-added Shopify credit - a pay-in-full business card designed for entrepreneurs, you can turn everyday purchases into cashback rewards and put real money back into your business with no fees and no interest.
Some other relevant updates are Shopify Bill Pay, which enables you to schedule, pay, and manage your expenses for all your business bills; enhanced Shopify Tax which provides more detailed and accurate US sales tax report, expanded Shopify Payments that now available to more categories (CBD, tobacco, sexual wellness, and pharmaceuticals).
There are still many more updates related to capital and payment management, explore them here.
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How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: With the power of AI, Shopify is creating a new era for merchants and brands so they can spend more time managing and less time executing. By utilizing Analytics, merchants can have a deeper dive into the business data, this is especially useful for big brands. Moreover, with solid capital and payment management, they can solidify their relationships with Shopify now, as their business partner and now their business manager.
- As a partner: Partners are nearly forced to join 3 waves of development: AI, analytics, and financial management. These trends are shaping the future of eCommerce, and failing to adapt could leave partners trailing behind market demand. By aligning their expertise with these evolving areas, partners can continue to meet the needs of brands and merchants in a dynamic landscape.
8. Developer updates
Key takeaways: Developer-centric updates are a cornerstone of any SaaS edition, and Shopify's Summer '23 Edition is no exception. This release features over 9 significant updates, with a primary focus on APIs, the Shopify App Store, and enhancements to metafields and metaobjects.
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Developer updates are always one of the most important sections for any SaaS editions, and there is no exception for this Shopify Editions Summer ‘23.
In this edition, Shopify has executed 9+ big updates with the main focus on APIs, app store, and metafields and metaobjects.
8.1. New APIs for customized checkout and Shopify functions
Shopify has launched 17 new APIs and updates to help you create the best checkout experience for your business.
Some significant changes are: injecting custom validation logic to cart and checkout, validating and suggesting changes to manage order delivery, offering customized delivery options, and previewing pages directly in the checkout editor.
Image source: Shopify Editions Summer'23
These APIs empower partners to develop solutions that meet demand from merchants for a more flexible and intuitive online store.
8.2. Shopify App Store
If you have ever felt overwhelmed by the long list of reviews with diverse perspectives, the new AI-powered review summaries are for you. From now on, you will see a small section that summarizes the key points of all reviews at the top of the review section. It is generated by Shopify AI to help you understand the most by reading the least.
Moreover, Shopify has just introduced a badge named “Built for Shopify”, which shows that this app is of the highest quality by following high-standard requirements from Shopify. Needless to say, whichever app gets this badge, the app will not disappoint you if it matches your demand.
Lastly, this edition also updates the App Design Guidelines and beta release of Polaris version 2, which will open a new era of app design and development.
8.3. Metafields and Metaobjects
Metafields have witnessed some great improvements. Developers now can add custom data 4X faster. More than that, metafields can be synced through the order lifecycle and filtered in the admin for easier management.
Metaobject is now used as a new way to build and manage custom landing pages. You can use metaobjects to structure content and launch new landing pages for each entry. It allows merchants to showcase the store's appearance and functionality in less time.
Learn how to set up an online store using metaobjects:
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How do they affect you?
- As a partner: The introduction of 17 new APIs opens the door to creating unparalleled shopping experiences with various functions including custom validation logic, managing and offering customized delivery options. Moreover, the improvements in metafields and the introduction of metaobjects offer developers greater efficiency.
Wrapping up
Throughout this Shopify Editions Summer ‘23, it’s clear that Shopify is continuing to innovate its platforms to provide both merchants and partners with the best solutions possible. These enhancements in this edition not only increase the efficiency from the internal side but also improve the experience from the external side.
Key takeaways: Shopify is aware of the fact that brands and entrepreneurs are trying to cut down operations costs, as well as optimize marketing spending. Therefore, Operations and Conversion witness the most updates.
How do they affect you?
- As a merchant: These updates deliver tangible benefits by directly boosting Return on Investment (ROI) and operational efficiency. The optimization of Operations and Conversion processes means that you can achieve more with less. It translates into cost savings, improved marketing effectiveness, and ultimately, higher returns on your investments.
- As a partner: These strategic actions unlock new avenues for growth. Simultaneously, they raise the bar for the quality of solutions Partners provide. In response to these updates, Partners are challenged to elevate the quality of operations and conversions for the brands they serve. It's an invitation to innovate and create solutions that not only meet but exceed the expectations of brands and entrepreneurs.
Overall, Shopify is developing itself from a multi-aspect to realize its mission of “making commerce better for everyone”. So, let’s stay tuned for more updates from Shopify and utilize them to leverage the success of your online store.
