Welcome to the August edition of What’s New at Shopify. With an exciting event announcement and loads of feature updates and launches for merchants, this will help you stay in the know and give your clients all the info they need to succeed.
Let’s dive right in.
1. Shopify Pursuit
Two weeks ago, we announced Shopify Pursuit, our international conference series to help Shopify Partners learn, grow, and connect. Running from September to November 2018, Pursuit will travel across four continents and stop in five different cities: New York, London, Berlin, Melbourne, and Bangalore.
The conference is a great opportunity to network with like-minded freelancers, agencies, and developers. You’ll have a chance to chat with your peers, and learn some valuable takeaways from veteran Shopify Partners and Shopify team members.
The two day schedule will consist of a full day conference, office hours, networking spaces, an exclusive Master class (sold separately), and an evening meetup.
To purchase tickets, visit the official Shopify Pursuit website. Make sure you don’t miss out—some locations are already almost 50 percent sold out!
You might also like: What’s New at Shopify: June 22, 2018.
2. Shopify Academy
Shopify Academy launched last week to Shopify merchants, offering free training to help merchants build and grow a profitable business. Similar to Shopify Partner Academy, Shopify Academy aims to help merchants get started with Shopify, stay motivated, and keep on track—from their first day, to their first sale, and beyond.
Shopify Academy is a great resource to highlight to new and existing merchants you work with, to help them navigate success using online courses, live workshops, business tools, and a supportive merchant community. From Getting Started with Shopify to How to Start a Dropshipping Business, Shopify Academy is packed with useful training that benefits both ecommerce and retail entrepreneurs.
To learn more, check out the full blog post.
3. Retail Package retirement
Shopify will be retiring the Retail Package as a $49 add-on, and rolling it into the Shopify and Advanced Shopify plans. Within the next couple weeks, the new plan structure will be implemented, so anyone on the Shopify or Advanced Shopify plans will automatically get the Retail Package features.
Communication will be going out to merchants who currently have to the Retail Package to opt into the new structure to save money. We will also be launching an email campaign and the new pricing page.
Please highlight this money saving opportunity to your clients who have the Retail Package, as they can and should benefit from this change.
To view more information about Shopify plans and pricing for merchants, visit this page (but please remember the Retail Package update will only occur within the next couple weeks).
You might also like: Announcing Shopify Partner Academy Technical Exams: Test Your Knowledge and Elevate Your Craft.
4. Facebook checkout will no longer be available
On August 3rd, the Facebook checkout will no longer be available to merchants using the Facebook sales channel. All merchants who have the Facebook checkout enabled will be automatically switched over to Shopify’s checkout. Merchants can continue listing their products on Facebook, but customers buying products will check out on Shopify instead. This change will not affect merchants’ Shopify reports.
Although affected merchants have been notified directly of this change, we feel this is important information to know if you are a partner who sets up new stores, or services existing merchants using collaborator accounts.
5. Google Shopping channel
Merchants can now create Google Shopping campaigns directly in their Shopify Admin, as long as they have Google Adwords set up.This new feature allows merchants to create ads quickly and efficiently, to promote their products and increase traffic to their online store.
To set up a campaign, merchants can simply input their daily ad spend and then allow to campaign to run. The campaign can take up to 2 weeks to be fully optimized, as it uses machine learning.
If you work with new or existing merchants, be sure to highlight this new marketing feature to help them save time and build their customer base.
To read more, including the full list of eligible countries, check out our help documentation.
6. Admin bar 2.0
Admin bar 2.0 offers merchants contextual shortcuts while browsing their own storefronts, and the option to click directly into the most relevant parts of their admin. For example, they’ll be able to ‘edit this product’ or ‘edit this collection’ while navigating their online store.
We know store owners have busy schedules and lots on the go, and so value every minute of every day. This update will allow them to run their stores more efficiently, so they can spend more time working on their business, and less time working in it.
This is a useful feature for you to highlight to potential clients who are not yet on the platform, as well as to existing clients who could be saving loads of time as they work.
For more information about the capabilities of the Shopify Admin, check out our help documentation.
You might also like: What’s New at Shopify: June 8, 2018.
7. Store Cam for Shopify
On July 12th, Shopify launched a partnership with Google and Nest. We now carry Google hardware—including Nest Cameras and Google Wifi—in our U.S. and Canada hardware stores. We also introduced the Store Cam app, which integrates with the Nest Camera, and is available anywhere that Shopify supports POS.
Nest Cameras are a great tool for merchants with a retail location to prevent theft and monitor what’s going on in their store, using one of the best cloud-based wifi camera systems available. The Shopify Store Cam app integrates with Nest Cameras, making it easier for merchants to check in remotely and monitor store activity right from their Shopify Dashboard.
Shopify retail merchants can now also access Google Wifi hardware to power their stores with reliable, high-speed Internet connectivity. Google Wifi is easy to set up, and great for merchants who need to power their Nest Cameras, provide high speed internet for customers, and more.
To learn more about how the these products benefit retail merchants, read our full blog post.
Tools for merchant success
These updates empower you with knowledge to help merchants make the most of their businesses, and continue to grow within the Shopify ecosystem. Stay tuned for next month’s updates on everything that’s new on the Shopify Platform.
What update are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below!
