Shopify introduces first AI commerce assistant

Shopify, a company that offers crucial internet infrastructure for e-commerce, has introduced over 100 enhancements during its Summer ’23 Edition. This event is held twice a year to present their newest products and innovations.

The recent updates introduce Sidekick, an innovative AI-enabled commerce assistant designed specifically for Shopify business owners. These updates aim to empower merchants with increased productivity, creativity, and capabilities, ushering in a groundbreaking era of commerce filled with exciting new opportunities.

The Magic of AI in the hands of entrepreneurs 

AI progress is rapidly speeding up, bringing about significant transformations in various aspects. It is already reshaping customer shopping experiences and revolutionizing business operations. At Shopify, we recognize the immense possibilities AI offers to entrepreneurs and enterprises alike. By addressing this unmet demand, we aim to unlock endless potential for business owners.

Tobi Lütke, founder and CEO of Shopify, said: “I can’t actually think of any corner of the internet that will benefit more from AI than the pursuit of people building and growing their own businesses. I’ve been part of the technology industry since the mid-nineties. I have never seen anything like AI. This will be an unbelievable boon to entrepreneurship.”

Sidekick is a unique AI-powered commerce assistant designed specifically for business owners using Shopify. Its primary function is to provide comprehensive support to entrepreneurs as they initiate and expand their ventures. With Sidekick, regardless of their level of experience, business owners can engage in meaningful conversations to kickstart their creativity, enhance their store’s quality, boost efficiency, simplify their processes, and gain valuable insights for making more informed business choices.

Merchants can task Sidekick with things like:

• “Set up a discount for my holiday sale.”
• “Help redesign my store to feel more like summer.”
• “What are my best-selling products?”
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• “Walk me through a tutorial on preparing an email campaign.”

Sidekick, which will be available in early access soon, is the centrepiece of Shopify Magic: a suite of AI-enabled features integrated across our platform, specifically designed for commerce. Shopify Magic combines the latest AI technology with our platform’s data to help millions of businesses work faster, smarter, and more creatively.

Summer ‘23 Edition is also unveiling nine new Shopify Magic features, including:

• FAQ and response recommendations personalised for a merchant’s store. Shopify Magic drafts custom replies for a business’s most common customer questions, and a merchant can review, edit, and publish those answers via Shopify Inbox. Those answers are then automatically shared with customers who ask questions, instead of needing to respond in real-time.
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• Instantly generated blog posts for any holiday, business milestone, or campaign idea, with the ability to customise tone of voice and quickly translate content into different languages.
• Instantly generated emails built for commerce with compelling subject lines, engaging content, and recommended send time for optimal performance.
• Read about the rest here.

By integrating AI into its backend, Shopify is keeping businesses on the cutting edge and helping them thrive in today’s competitive market.

One such business seeing the benefits of Shopify Magic when adding new products to their shop – saving both time and money – is Glitch Anomaly, a UK-based lifestyle brand specialising in sustainable and eco-friendly premium menswear.

Kwame Chambers, the CEO, and co-founder of Glitch Anomaly, stated that he utilizes the tool to craft product descriptions by incorporating relevant keywords for better SEO optimization and precise product information. If the initial output is not satisfactory, he quickly generates alternative versions or rephrases the content, adapting the tone according to the product type, all within a minute. As an independent brand, this capability is crucial for their survival and expansion. Kwame finds the feature to be intuitive and highly effective, considering it a revolutionary advancement for their business.

Sell on many marketplaces — all from within Shopify

As merchants grow their businesses, they also grow the number of platforms they use to sell products. 42% of online sellers operate through four or more marketplaces.

Managing these additional sales channels adds complexity, and merchants often need separate business processes or apps for each marketplace to handle orders, fulfilment, inventory, and product listings.

That’s why Shopify is launching Marketplace Connect: a single app for merchants to sell on all the biggest marketplaces — like Amazon, eBay, and Walmart — while connecting, managing, and fulfilling every order directly from within Shopify.

Marketplace Connect is an all-in-one solution that allows merchants to reach millions of new customers, and streamline business operations. This app is now available to all merchants everywhere, starting today.

The world’s best Checkout just got better

Shopify Checkout is the best in the world, and recent data from a Big 3 global consulting firm confirms this. That study revealed that Shopify Checkout has a 15% higher conversion rate on average compared to other leading commerce platforms.

Shopify’s Checkout has processed over half a trillion dollars of sales, and supported 561 million online shoppers in 2022 alone. With this unmatched volume of data, Shopify gains powerful insights to improve its checkout at an amazing pace.

For Summer ’23 Edition, Shopify is doubling down on checkout extensibility with 17 new APIs and updates that enable partners and developers to create unique checkout experiences with apps, and manage them right from within the checkout editor.

If, for example, you wanted to offer customised delivery options, now Checkout can be modified to include things like pickup points, delivery dates, and suggested addresses. This is just one category example of the many that these new APIs enable.

Introducing Shopify Credit & Shopify Collective

Also being announced today for Shopify merchants in the US is:

• Shopify Credit: a zero-fee business credit card* with up to 3% cash back designed exclusively for Shopify merchants. Built-in partnership with Stripe** and accepted everywhere Visa is.

• Shopify Collective: allows merchants to cross-sell from their own storefront, adding new products to their store from other Shopify merchants without buying inventory or finding new suppliers, and earn a margin on each sale.
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Deann Evans, MD, EMEA at Shopify, expressed that the recent announcements, along with over 100 others unveiled in Shopify’s Summer ’23 Edition, introduce unprecedented possibilities for entrepreneurs and enterprises. These advancements turn previously imagined opportunities into reality.

In the current commerce landscape, AI plays a crucial role in accelerating business creation, enabling people to establish their ventures at a much quicker pace. Shopping experiences are now accessible anytime, anywhere, and consistently available. Shopify’s products effectively address the challenges of running a business, significantly reducing the associated difficulties. This marks a re-imagining of commerce in this new era.

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