Shopify unveils new features for shopping app, fulfillment network in latest products update report

Shopify released its Winter Product Update Report, which highlights the product improvements it’s made over the past six months while weathering shifts in retail sales and consumer patterns.

Calling itself “Winter Editions 23,” Shopify claims in its product update report that it made over 100 product improvements in the second half of its fiscal year. A number of these product updates put Shopify in even more direct competition with Amazon as it expands its mobile commerce capabilities and fulfillment network.

Shopify will announce its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022 on February 15.

Shopify releases new “editions” twice a year, highlighting all of its latest product releases with context and guidance. The first edition was launched in summer 2022.

Much of the new functionality included in Shopify’s latest product update report focuses on strengthening Shop, its mobile shopping app, which is its own version of an Amazon marketplace.

Shopify launched the Shop app in 2020 as part of a larger game in its mobile commerce strategy. Amazon launched its mobile app almost a decade earlier, in 2013.

According to Shopify, some of the new features it’s added to Shop over the past year include more customization options for merchants, as well as different customer acquisition channels, such as. For example, a new rewards program for Shop Cash that allows Shopify Plus merchants to target shoppers with promotions and offers. Shopify has also introduced biometric sign-in experiences for stores, such as B. the use of face recognition or fingerprint.

Shopify also announced new features for its platform’s checkout functionality. Shopify checkouts are one-page by default.

Competing against Amazon’s world-class delivery services and a growing number of e-commerce suppliers, Shopify continues to grow its own fulfillment network. In its winter product updates, Shopify said it added several features, including an improved self-service ocean freight booking system, a unified Shopify and Deliverr fulfillment network, and a Loops Returns integration.

RELATED: Shopify CTO Allan Canvas Leaves Company Citing “Personal Reasons”

Referring to Shopify’s 100+ new product enhancements over the past six months, President Harley Finkelstein said the Ottawa-based company “needs to be the fastest-moving commerce company in the world because our merchants depend on Shopify’s innovation for their own longevity.” are”. Finkelstein said the company was quick to respond to offer more tools for traders.

These shifts come with shifting consumer behavior patterns as pandemic-related restrictions on in-person shopping ease and the rising cost of goods impacts the spending habits of ordinary people.

In late 2021, Shopify’s growth began to slow. Coupled with a broader tech downturn fueled by rising interest rates, Shopify’s revenue growth slowed and its stock price plummeted.

As a result of this retail crisis, Amazon announced it would cut over 18,000 jobs. Shopify reduced its global workforce by more than 10 percent.

Shopify’s stock price, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has fallen over 40 percent over the past year. The share price is currently at $66.98, a significant difference from when it was trading at CAD$117 at the same time last year.

The share price of Amazon, which is listed on the Nasdaq, has fallen by almost 40 percent in the last year. Amazon is trading at $100 at press time, compared to $161 in February 2022.

Shopify will announce its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022 on February 15.