Hey! Pepijn here, President of Zipify and Smart Marketer.
I’m in Toronto, Canada for Shopify Unite, an annual conference that brings together Shopify developers and partners to network, celebrate shared accomplishments and look toward the future of commerce technology.
In this video, I’m going to share the most exciting new features and updates that were announced…
PLUS, you’ll get a demonstration of Shopify’s new 3D / augmented reality technology. (It’s absolutely mindblowing!)
So, without further ado, here are the top takeaways from Shopify Unite 2019:
1. Shopify Positions Itself as “The World’s First Global Retail Operating System”
If, like us, you’ve been following Shopify since the early days, then this is something you’ve seen coming. They are connecting independent sellers with their global audiences like never before, and I love that they’ve started using this description.
2. Shopify Fulfillment Network
This is huge. Even if you do as few as 3 orders a day, you can enroll in Shopify’s new fulfillment service with just a few clicks. They have warehouses all over the U.S., and they offer fast shipping at very reasonable rates.
This new service will be released later in the year.
3. Multi-language API
Shopify is rolling out full language support, which is great for stores operating in multiple countries (especially countries with different languages).
So if you sell products in Germany, for example, it will now be easy to make your buyer-facing content — like product descriptions, blog posts, etc. — available in German as well.
4. Shopify Plus Redesign
For all you Plus stores out there, there are some really exciting changes to how you manage multiple stores.
For example, if you have 3 or 4 stores in different countries, you can now view data from all your stores in one convenient interface. You can look at sales data, customer data and more.
No more signing in and out of accounts to access this information. (Thank goodness!)
5. Shopify’s Online Store
Shopify announced several updates to their core interface and functionality. Here are the most noteworthy:
- Native Support for Subscriptions – Now you can use subscription apps like ReCharge without leaving the native Shopify checkout. Yes!
- Shipping Profile Support – This sounds small, but it’s huge. Now, you can set up dynamic shipping rates based on product specifications. So if you’re shipping a t-shirt, you can easily set shipping to $5, whereas for your fancy vinyl record, you can automatically offer a higher shipping rate.
- Improved Order Tracking – The Post-purchase Thank You Page will now have more tracking options, and as the merchant, you will receive more transparent tracking information from your fulfillment center.
- Video and Native 3D Support – This was previously only available to a small group of Shopify merchants, but it’s about to roll out to everyone!
- Order Editing – In the past, if a customer wanted to change their order — say they ordered a Large when they meant to order an X-Large — it was a major hassle because you couldn’t edit that order… but now you can. This is a big deal with a lot of implications for many apps.
- API Updates – All of your favorite apps will benefit from this update, because this makes it way easier for developers to deliver a great user experience when integrating with Shopify.
Those are the top takeaways from Shopify Unite 2019.
Don’t miss your chance for a behind-the-scenes tour of the conference, and a sneak peak at Shopify’s new 3D / Augmented Reality technology.
Watch the video to check it out!
