• Shopify Winter ’23 Edition sees 100+ product updates designed to help merchants convert better, sell faster, and win consumers
• New releases for next generation Shop app and one-page checkout to help merchants boost conversion amidst challenging economic conditions
• Shopify powers 25% of all ecommerce in Australia, including for ambitious retailers like JB HiFi, Culture Kings, and July

Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), a provider of essential internet infrastructure for commerce, has today unveiled a major set of 100+ platform updates, with new features that unlock the power of mobile commerce and meet shifting shopping preferences with a seamless checkout experience.

A new suite of features for Australian merchants comes as retailers seek new ways to get more from less, as they double-down on customer experience in an effort to convert more conscious and considered shoppers in 2023. Shopify research conducted ahead of the holiday sales season found that 92% of retailers are focused on strengthening direct brand-consumer relationships to retain loyalty during the cost of living crisis, with 79% stating it is more important compared to a year ago.

“Not even a year ago we launched our first Edition, and now our Winter ‘23 Edition showcases over a hundred more products and features we’ve built in the last six months alone,” said Harley Finkelstein, President at Shopify.

“We know we need to be the fastest moving commerce company in the world because our merchants depend on Shopify’s innovation for their own longevity. So with this Edition, we moved quickly to offer tools that help merchants access the promise of mobile commerce, meet customer expectations for fast delivery and seamless checkout, and sell more with AI — it’s the best version of Shopify yet, and will shape the future of entrepreneurship.”

Optimising Checkout to drive higher conversion for Australian merchants

With more than 5.5 billion orders processed, Shopify Checkout is reliable, scalable, and lightning fast. However, with 74% of Australian consumers saying that price rules purchase decisions in the current economic environment, we’re launching new levels of extensibility to help merchants optimise for conversion.

Using our learnings from Shop Pay — which converts 72% better than a typical checkout and 91% better on mobile, while boasting the processing power of 40,000 checkouts per store per minute with 99.99% uptime — Shopify Checkout now offers:

• Drag and drop Checkout Editor so Shopify Plus merchants can install apps to checkout that add greater functionality, like upsells, recommendations, loyalty programs, and more,
• Enhanced developer tooling to make it possible for developers to customise their over version of Checkout to curate a brand-specific customer experience,
• One-page Checkout to streamline our existing Checkout and adding app-based customisations to create a faster, friction-free, and higher-converting standard for checking out.

More functionality for the Shop app to help merchants win in the mobile era of commerce  

Sales in third-party mobile platforms are continuing to rise — with Australia ranking third globally when it comes to social commerce adoption. While more channels and selling opportunities may seem like a positive, it actually presents a challenge for independent merchants in that they lose ownership of customer relationships at a time they need them most. 

Shop is a shopping destination and delivery tracking app that is available to Australian customers on both iOS and Android, with more than 100 million users globally. As mobile commerce continues to grow, we’re introducing new functionality to the Shop app to give Aussie merchants the tools needed for an out-of-the-box mobile strategy without needing the technical resources and personnel to build an app on their own. This means they can maintain ownership of their customer relationships on mobile, with a customised in-app shopping experience to acquire new high-impact shoppers, and convert browsers to buyers.

New for the Shopify Winter ‘23 Edition includes:

• Launching Shop Minis, to give developers a new way to build for mobile. The Shop Mini software development kit (SDK) enables developers to extend their Shopify app functionality to Shop, creating innovative in-app shopping experiences.
• Shop Store customisation delivers an increase of up to 15%  in conversion by giving merchants greater control over the look and feel of their Shop Store (a merchant’s storefront on the Shop app) with features like product collections, best sellers, reviews, and branding elements.
• Sign in with Shop seamlessly integrates with Shop Pay on Apple and Android devices with new biometric passkeys for an even easier sign in experience. 

Shaun Broughton, Managing Director, APAC highlighted the impact these changes will have on Australian merchants who are navigating significant economic and consumer shifts in 2023, “Commerce looks different this year as consumer behaviour and shopping habits shift in response to the current economic environment. Those who stay on the current edge will win, which is why we’re doubling-down on our investment in innovation and product development to keep Aussie retailers ahead of the curve and give them an advantage over their competitors that’s built to last. I can’t wait to see the incredible experiences retailers here build with these newest updates.”

In addition to these new releases launching with our Winter ‘23 Edition, we’ve also launched the following Down Under over the last six months:

• Shopify Capital: Provides quick and easy funding up to $2.5 million AUD for thousands of merchants to accelerate growth, expand to new markets.
• Shopify Translate & Adapt, a new app that works with Shopify Markets, to help merchants quickly and accurately translate a merchant’s store into different languages with both manual and machine translations.
• Shopify x YouTube Shopping allows creators and merchants in Australia to sell their full range of products on YouTube via livestreams, in-video clickable product shelf and store tabs.
• Shopify Starter Plan helps merchants that are just starting out and who want to sell to their customers through social media platforms or messaging apps, without maintaining an online store.