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An overhaul of search, listings and categorization is being prepared, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein shared in tweets.
A forthcoming release in the Shopify app store will overhaul the marketplace itself.
Shopify is preparing to roll out changes to its app store that are designed to improve discoverability, a top executive shared this week.
The “major update” was previewed Sept. 15 in tweets by Shopify President Harley Finkelstein. Shopfiy’s app store is a marketplace where brands and merchants can access apps for their online stores that were built by both Shopify and third-party developers. It has created a software ecosystem around Shopify’s ecommerce infrastructure, empowering startups and developers that don’t work for Shopify to build new capabilities, and tech businesses of their own.
With the volume of apps on the store growing, Shopify is now making moves to overhaul search and categorization.
“It’s going to be much easier for merchants to find & learn about your apps so you can get more installs & build your biz,” Finkelstein wrote.
\u201cWe've got something awesome cooking with a major update to the @Shopify App Store. TLDR; it\u2019s going to be much easier for merchants to find & learn about your apps so you can get more installs & build your biz. Here are some initial changes & what you can do to make it awesome\ud83d\udc47\u201d— Harley Finkelstein (@Harley Finkelstein) 1663260219
The changes include a reorganization of categories within the app store.
“We made things simple & cut down the categories to help merchants discover apps as they browse through categories that are more in line with how they think about commerce problems.”
There will also be a new-look search page.
“We gave the search page a facelift,” Finkelstein wrote. “We’ve updated the search page design to have more of a focus on apps and reduce noise from filters that were rarely used.”
The listing page is in line for an overhaul, as well. This area was the source of an action item in the announcement.
“If you’re a developer, update your app listing,” Finkelstein wrote. “We're redesigning the listing page. The new listing page will make it simpler for merchants to get the key information they need in a format that's best for them.”
Finkelstein didn’t provide a date for the new release, but a public announcement from the company president makes it a fair bet that it is getting ready to ship.
The update comes in the months after the release of Shopify Editions, which detailed more than 100 recent product updates from Shopify. This included a host of new apps built by the company itself to enable functions such as checkout customization, B2B selling, cross-border commerce and sustainability.
This fall, Shopify is hosting a trio of developer-focused events under the umbrella of Shopify Unite. The first was held last week in London. Events in October are planned in Toronto and Melbourne.
Commerce Components by Shopify allows enterprise brands to customize their software stack.
Shopify has long been known for helping new and emerging brands get off to a fast start in ecommerce. To kick off 2023, the software company is planting a flag in the enterprise market.
The news: Shopify on Tuesday launched Commerce Components by Shopify (CCS), a product offering that allows larger, more established brands and retailers to access parts of its ecommerce infrastructure. With the new package, Shopify is aiming to provide a modular approach for enterprise retailers that typically require more customized systems to run their digital commerce operations. “Enterprise retailers can take the components they need, and leave what they don’t, and developers are free to build with any front-end framework they choose,” Shopify writes.
What's in it? As part of CCS, Shopify said it is rolling out new back-office management that is designed specifically for enterprise retailers. At launch, the product offerings include:
Key quote: “Commerce Components by Shopify opens our infrastructure so enterprise retailers don’t have to waste time, engineering power, and money building critical foundations Shopify has already perfected, and instead frees them up to customize, differentiate, and scale,” said Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify, in a statement.
Who is using it? Mattel, for one. The Barbie and Hot Wheels maker is bringing its entire portfolio of toy brands to Shopify. The companies first worked together on a creator platform called Mattel Creations, and are now expanding their work together.
Shopify goes bigger: Tuesday’s launch is a product-level outgrowth of rhetoric that has been emerging from Shopify in recent months. With existing clients like Coty, Spanx and Staples, Finkelstein recently told analysts that growth of enterprise clients using the existing offering Shopify Plus outpaced that of Shopify’s overall GMV in the third quarter. Coupled with recently-launched hardware that powers in-person retail, the strategy reflects an aggressive roadmap for Shopify that sets up the Ottawa, Canada-based company to serve markets beyond the digitally-native, direct-to-consumer brands and small businesses with which it has long been associated. This comes as DTC brands are facing challenges following post-lockdown shifts in shopper behavior, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency changes and a pullback of once-plentiful venture capital. Many in retail are also bracing for a difficult year as a result of inflation and interest rates. Landing larger clients can deliver sizable and stable recurring revenue from brands with established footholds in the market. That’s a good way to ride out the storm.
Let’s be clear: Shopify is not alone here. There is already a big, existing market for enterprise ecommerce, and more platforms are gearing up to make a splash in it. In recent weeks, BigCommerce also shared plans to shift its entire sales and marketing infrastructure toward growing its enterprise account. Both companies conducted layoffs in 2022 as they shifted course.
Trends to watch:
Composable commerce. Remember the term. This launch also points to a trend in ecommerce software: Brands and retailers, especially on the larger side, are increasingly opting to build commerce technology stacks by combining elements from a number of different providers. They want to create their own systems that meet their needs, and they want the different parts to be able to easily work together. This points to an environment where choice is prized, and the best components get selected. With CCS, Shopify is signaling that it believes it can stand out with checkout. In turn, partnerships with consulting firms like Deloitte, EY, and KPMG show it is tuning for how these solutions are sold in the market.
Land and expand: The progression with Mattel shows how enterprise sales presents the opportunity to take a "land and expand" approach, as Finkelstein put it to analysts. Start with one part of a brand's work, delight them and there may be a chance to bring in the whole account.