(Re)Unite Recap: New Product Launches and Updates on Shopify

On May 20th, Shopify announced the latest finance, retail, shipping, and other crucial product updates for its ecommerce platform at their Reunite event. All these great new updates and tools promise to make ecommerce better and help merchants respond and adapt to these unpredictable times.

What is (Re)Unite?

Shopify Reunite is the first virtual event hosted by Shopify after cancelling Shopify Unite, their annual in-person event due to COVID-19 concerns. Through a different medium available to a much larger audience than ever before, Shopify unveiled relevant updates that will dictate the future of ecommerce.

Exciting product launches and updates

Retailers are adapting to the new ways of selling during the COVID-19 era by quickly moving online to be where customers are. The massive growth of ecommerce means more flexibility for consumers to make purchases of any kind. Based on the data shared by Shopify, consumers are buying from brands they haven’t bought before as more and more brands are new online.

Here at VL OMNI, we are excited to see all these great features and updates roll out this year. We’ve put together a handy recap of the latest Shopify’s product news. Learn what these exciting updates mean for your ecommerce store. Read on!

1. Finance updates

Shopify Capital

Through Shopify Capital, the ecommerce platform is looking to help merchants in need of funding to continue or start their online store operations. Merchants can easily apply and get quick access to cash advances and financing help in a matter of a few days upon approval.

Shop Pay Installments

With Shop Pay Installments, customers have the option and flexibility to buy for purchases in equal four installments. This “buy now, pay later” payment method is an excellent solution for merchants looking to reduce abandoned carts while letting customers pay over time and without interest. This feature will be launched in the U.S. later this year.

Shopify Balance

With Shopify Balance, merchants in the U.S. – and from other countries in the future – can manage all their business finances in one place. It will include a planned business account and payment card called Shopify Card along with a rewards program designed with start-ups and entrepreneurs in mind.

2. Checkout features

With customers in mind, Shopify is rolling out in the coming months the following features for merchants with custom checkouts:

• Online tipping feature: Customers can easily leave tips for your staff and/or any charity you are supporting, all straight from the checkout.
• Curbside pickup offering: As retailers adjust to reopen their brick-and-mortar stores, curbside pickup is one of the most viable ways to deliver products to customers these days. It allows for a fast, safe, and trusted transaction without any physical touching.
• Local delivery: Shopify Local Delivery app is soon to be released and will let merchants see all local delivery orders in one place, offering a simplified delivery experience and letting you plan optimized delivery routes.
• Local pickup: With this new feature, merchants can easily fulfill orders pickup from their Shopify admin, mobile apps, or Shopify POS. This not only offers customers ultimate convenience and accessibility but saves you time and shipping costs. Available today for eligible merchants.

All these great features will not only increase the customer experience your online store offers but will give customers the flexibility to buy from your store from various sales channels and methods.

3. Ways to help merchants reach more customers

Shopify POS

Now more than ever, creating a unified experience online and in-store is critical for retail businesses. With Shopify POS, merchants can unify their online and offline business on one single platform, allowing you to create a seamless online-offline experience for your customers. From online to checkout lines and everywhere in between, Shopify POS gives retail businesses the tools to succeed now and in the future. Fulfillment options such as local pickup, rich analytics to monitor store performance, and custom staff permissions are just a few of the features that Shopify POS includes.

Other channels

• Google Shopping app:  Merchants can list their products on Google’s Shopping tab via Shopify’s Google Shopping app.
• Shop app: From product discovery to package delivery, Shop takes care of the little extras, making online shopping more personal and convenient for your customers. They can speed through checkout, track their order and shipment details, and rediscover brands they love.

New platform capabilities

• Easily make changes to the store: With Sections Everywhere, editing sections on any page of your online store is easy, plus you can add apps of any kind.
• Create pages, save them for later: With Product States, merchants have the flexibility to create a product, save it as a draft and come back to it to add necessary details later.
• Fulfill orders faster: Plus merchants can create more efficient workflows so orders are shipped faster with Order Interface.

Exclusive features for Shopify Plus Merchants:

These new features include:

• An upgraded Shopify Plus admin, allowing merchants to manage key areas of their business from one central point.
• New Flow and Scripts templates to easily automate tasks, checkouts and promotions.
• A Page activity feature to show who else is working on a product page and avoid losing work.
• The Storefront renderer, a feature to accelerate site speed and performance.

Learn more here.

Beyond local ecommerce

Cross-border ecommerce is not something new to growing merchants. Whether you manage your business from one store or multiple stores, the new Local Domains feature will allow you to tailor the currency and language based on your customer’s location for a better local buying experience. Additionally, Custom FX is a feature to lock in a set price for a specific currency your online store is selling you. This gives merchants more flexibility and control over price lists.

Shopify Fulfillment Network

This full-service network allows Merchants to control their data, guarantee fast shipping, and seamlessly deliver exceptional customer experience from checkout to delivery. Shopify Fulfillment Network allows retailers to scale and grow their fulfillment strategy thoroughly.

What’s Next for Ecommerce 

All these announcements made by Shopify prove that the ecommerce platform is continuously innovating to stay on top of Merchants’ needs. While these new product launches are in the process of launching, they highlight a roadmap of what is coming next and how Merchants can adapt to new customer expectations, the rise of online shopping, and lead at this time.

Reunite brought reality to perspective and has shown us what the future of ecommerce and a post-COVID world could look like. While we live in unpredictable, changing times, we at VL OMNI cannot stress enough the importance of investing in the right technology to grow your online store.

If you are looking for ways to increase accuracy and productivity for your business or need the advice to access the capabilities of your systems and application, we’re genuinely here to help! While the future is promising, you can rely on VL OMNI and our experience directly or we’ll refer you to the right Partner in our network. At times like these, it’s about how we come together!