The Springbot Team rounded off another great experience at Shopify Unite 2018. Unite is the largest event of the year for Shopify’s developer and partner community. This year, Toronto, Ontario was the host city of Shopify Unite 2018, bringing the company back to its roots. There were many new product-related announcements at Shopify Unite, but here is a glimpse at everything you need to know from this year’s conference below:
POS Upgrade
Image via Shopify
If you have a retail store, Shopify is upgrading its POS system with multi-channel returns and exchanges, in-store pickup options, a companion app for a customer facing checkout experience and a developer SDK.
Another new feature Shopify is adding to their lineup is the new Tap & Chip Reader. This device will accept all major contactless payments, including Apple Pay and Google Pay for in-store customers. The features that are designed for retail will be bundled with the standard Shopify Plan at no cost.
Image via Shopify
Shopify Releases a Multi-Lingual Beta Platform
Shopify CEO and keynote speaker, Tobias Lütke, announced the release of an early beta in six languages. Users will now be able to get their store started and complete in their own language. Some areas, including the mobile app, are still in English, but Shopify is working hard to continue to improve the experience for everyone. Learn more here.
Shopify Ping
Shopify Ping is a mobile workspace that brings customer conversations, marketing workflows and much more together in a single app. Merchants will be able to interact with and respond to customer messages from Facebook Messenger, Rep.ai, and Chat Kit all within the Shopify Ping app. Learn more about this announcement here.
Re-designed Developer Experience
A new developer platform feature, app extensions, was also announced during Shopify Unite 2018. The purpose of this new feature is to simplify the process for a merchant’s experience in the dashboard, making more available to them in one place. Shopify will also automate many functions that are currently manual with the introduction of Shopify Flow. This platform brings apps together through connectors for Shopify Flow. Learn more about the new developer experience and other announcements from Unite in Nicely Built’s Shopify Unite 2018 Recap blog.
New Inventory Management System
Image via Shopify
Shopify Announced that this summer, merchants who sell across multiple locations will be able to track and manage their inventory within their Shopify app with a new feature, called Locations.
If a merchant stocks inventory at multiple locations, sources from dropshipping apps, or stores products at home, they will be able to easily add, update, and track their inventory across all their locations.
In addition, Locations will also allow merchants to optimize order the fulfillment process. This means that if an order contains items stored at different locations, Shopify will split the order into multiple shipments.
Interested in learning more about this new feature and what it will look like in the Shopify Admin? Read more here.
International Audience and Local Payment Solutions
Image via Shopify
In the fall, Shopify will begin rolling out local payment solutions to address the needs of a global eCommerce business. Shopify will be providing additional payment options to open up a whole new market for global merchants.
Merchants using Shopify Payments will soon be able to offer certain alternate payment methods, automatically rendered during the checkout process, based on the geolocation IP or their selected currency.
Fraud Protection
Image via Shopify
Fraud Protect, was announced as a new release for Shopify Payments. This feature will analyze each purchase for fraud and makes a protect decision. Fraud Protect will save sellers a huge amount of time, allowing them to focus on selling their products and not worrying so much about protecting themselves. Shopify stands behind this product and will reimburse the chargeback costs if an order ends up being fraudulent after all.
Special Guest Appearance: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Perhaps one of the most exciting things to happen at Shopify Unite was the fireside chat with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Prime Minister of Canada joined Tobias Lütke and moderator, Amber Mac, on stage to discuss Shopify’s successes and the innovation it has brought to Canada. You can watch the entire discussion here.
There you have it- the highlights from Shopify Unite from the springbots who attended. Thank you to the Shopify team and the Shopify Partner community for hosting an incredible event. We are looking forward to next year!
