Shopify has released its Summer ’22 Edition, adding more than 100 new features – including NFTs, Twitter shopping, and tap-to-pay on iPhone.
Called Connect-to-Consumer (C2C), the ecommerce site aims to help sellers find customers and scale their businesses with the most recent version of its semi-annual showcase of new products.
Tobi Lütke, founder and CEO of Shopify, said in a press release:
“We work hard to solve the complex challenges merchants face today while imagining entirely new ways for them to grow their businesses. With Shopify Editions, we’re sharing our big bets and latest innovations in commerce so that those ambitious enough to try their hand at entrepreneurship can start and scale faster than ever before.”
Release Marks Shopify’s Foray Into B2B
In addition to adding direct-to-consumer functionality, C2C also includes Shopify’s first incursion into the business-to-business marketplace. The feature, called ‘B2B,’ connects merchants with wholesalers.
B2B is designed to create a seamless experience for Shopify Plus merchants who want to sell to other businesses on the same platform they sell to consumers.
It will automatically integrate essential data into the solution via integrations with partners like NetSuite, Brightpearl, and Acumatica.
Other Key Features Aim To Open New Commerce Channels
C2C showcases the breadth and depth of the e-commerce giant’s initiatives. Some of the key new features include:
- Tokengated commerce: Shopify’s introduction into the NFT market links crypto wallets to online stores and allows merchants to create commerce experiences gated by tokens.
- Twitter sales channel: Retailers can now highlight their products directly on their Twitter profile, providing access to the social media company’s hundreds of millions of users.
- Tap-to-pay on iPhone: As part of its initiative to make point-of-sale transactions easier, merchants can sell offline with no extra hardware or investment.
- Local inventory sync: Mirroring Google’s focus on local search, this update allows merchants to notify customers a product is available in-store.
- Shopify Functions: This update allows developers to create their own backend code, providing the flexibility of an open-source platform without having to handle their hosting and security.
- Dovetail: This makes it easier for Shopify merchants to find and connect with influencers and affiliate marketers.
With so many updates released at once, it may take some Shopify sellers time to figure out just what will work for them. But many of these tools serve the same function: increasing exposure and generating new sales.
More ecommerce stores that have traditional SEO and their own websites to attract consumers may now face new competition in the form of Shopify sellers.
Likewise, Shopify sellers may find optimizing their sites for more clicks beneficial.
Source: Shopify
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