Yesterday (April 28), e-commerce platform Shopify released a new app to support one million merchants currently affected by the current economic changes to better connect with consumers and smaller businesses.
The app is an update and rebrand of Shopify’s existing app Arrive, used for tracking packages from Shopify merchants and other retailers, which the company states has been used by 16 million consumers already.
Shop features the same package tracking capabilities, but in addition, allows consumers to browse a feed of recommended products, learn more about each merchant and make purchases using the one-click Shop Pay checkout process.
With the e-commerce market in a constant shift due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, Shopify’s response in launching Shop is one to support merchants who are feeling the impact from budget cuts, commission rates etc, in addition to supporting consumers in getting the products they need while in lockdown.
“Shopify has focused the last decade on solving complex problems for entrepreneurs by making commerce seamless and accessible,” said Carl Rivera, general manager of Shop; “Now, we want to do the same for customers. We set out to solve the common pain points in the customer’s shopping journey today while developing specific features, like local business discovery, that will be relevant today and in the future.”
This comes in a timely manner as Google announced they will be advancing plans to make it free for merchants to sell on Google. As of this week, search results on the Google Shopping tab will consist primarily of free listings, helping merchants better connect with consumers, regardless of whether they advertise on the platform – in a bid to support brands during this period.