SHOP continues to innovate, this time helping their customers. This should help them take a little more from Amazon. I like the idea of finding local businesses.
The commerce platform powering more than 1 million businesses introduces first-of-its-kind shopping assistant app combining discovery of local businesses, personalized recommendations, seamless payment and tracking
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shopify-unveils-consumer-app-…
Still has a small position in SHOP.
Kind of defeats the “arming the rebels” idea. They are trying to become the new empire now.
“Personalized Recommendations” sounds rather Stitch-Fixy. Very interesting. That is a big undertaking. -Karen
You have to understand this app in terms of Shopify’s long term vision. Shopify sees every store in the United States as part of its total addressable market. They want to build a bridge between e-commerce and brick and mortar. The big box retailers already have their e-commerce divisions. Shopify wants every small store to have an e-commerce shop, just like Walmart. They want my local yoga studio to be able to sell me a yoga mat from their very own online store. They want my local hair salon to be able to sell me shampoo online. They want my local skating rink to be able to sell me roller skates online. The guy who comes over to walk my dog can have a store where he sells all of his pet care supplies. And on and on.
This is a pretty awesome vision. We live in a world where retail has been overshadowed by the conflict between big commerce and the little guy. There are people who sold their stores and bought Amazon stock with the proceeds because it would make them more money than trying to run a retail business. Shopify wants to give small business owners a way to take the power back.
Especially in the post-covid world, this is really powerful. There is a lot of solidarity right now in the world with everyone hurting so bad. I and other are ordering take out from local restaurants not simply because I want to support these businesses. People are going to want to keep helping people in their community. If I walk into my local sushi house and they have a link to their shopify store, you bet that’s the place where I’m ordering my next set of chopsticks or teacups.
Shopify’s narrative in investing right now is all about the PLUS platform and the ability for boutiques to rapidly scale a business. Kylie Cosmetics is their big story. But that’s not their vision. Their vision is way bigger than that and I hope they can pull it off.
I am a big Shopify fan and stockholder. I downloaded the SHOP app today. It advertises itself as being able to easily connect the consumer to local businesses.
Shop’s features include:
Local filters: Shop’s users can locate nearby merchants to support local businesses. The app identifies businesses currently offering shipping, pick-up, and highlights return policies.
The Find Your Favorite Shops button/feature asks me to input a vendor’s name in a search bar. Really? How about making it easy by prompting me to shop local by showing all participating local businesses on the Shopify platform that are near me by simply geolocating me and the participating businesses. Seems like there is work to be done on the app.
Unless, I’m too old for this stuff and haven’t quite figured it out.
I got a prompt in the middle of the screen “Find Shops Near You” and after following the link, it gave me ~30 options. It also gave me the opportunity to follow each shop. (you may have to allow it track your location in settings)
It also displayed the tracking information from an order we placed earlier in the day, which is helpful to have it in one location.
It’s the little bag icon at the bottom…maybe give it another try. Never too old,
P