#5 - Shopify News, Italy Ecommerce landscape & AI impact in online retail
Tech and Commerce Unveiled: Shopify's AI, Ecommerce Insights, Fintech Expansion, and Executive Farewell
Hello 👋
This week I’m writing you from my mobile. I’m out of the office with my team on our annual meet-up. Don’t worry - that didn’t stop me from preparing our already traditional weekly digest.
5 - Shopify's Vice President and Product Leader, Satish Kanwar, has bid farewell after serving for 10 years
, a long-serving executive at Shopify, is leaving after 10 impactful years. He helped transform the company from a Canadian tech startup into an e-commerce giant, playing key roles in product development, operations, and corporate development. Kanwar's departure marks another change in Shopify's executive lineup during the pandemic years of significant growth and transformation. He plans to spend more time with his family, pursue angel investing, and work on his family office. Wish him all the luck on this new phase of his life.
4 - Shopify Expands Further into Fintech with Credit Card Venture
Shopify introduces Shopify Credit, an exclusive business credit card for merchants, offering 3% cash back on the top spend category and 1% on others. No fees involved. This move aligns with Shopify's fintech and commerce expansion strategy. Currently available only in the USA 🇺🇸
3 - A Look at Italy's Key Ecommerce Landscape
Italy's ecommerce sector saw significant growth with 49.6% of the population shopping online in 2021. The market is expected to reach 70% in a few years. The top online retailers include Amazon, eBay, and Zalando. Luxury goods, especially in clothing and shoes, are popular online purchases. The government's "Italia Cashless" program promotes cashless transactions. Cross-border opportunities exist, with many Italians already buying from international merchants, especially from China, Germany, and the UK. Key considerations for selling in Italy include free shipping, local payment methods, and efficient logistics. It’s no wonder that the demand for Shopify solutions keeps growing there.
2 - Shopify Sidekick: The ChatGPT for E-Commerce Merchants
Shopify has expanded its generative AI capabilities under the brand Shopify Magic, which utilizes proprietary data and large language models like OpenAI's ChatGPT. With this, Shopify Magic can generate customized blog posts, product descriptions, marketing email content, and answer customer questions. Merchants can review the content before going live to avoid biased or toxic content. A new conversational AI assistant called Sidekick was also announced, trained to understand all aspects of Shopify. Sidekick can assist with tasks such as setting up discounts, segmenting customers, summarizing sales data, and modifying shop designs. Shopify aims to make the power of AI accessible to businesses of all sizes and continuously evolve features to meet merchant needs.
1 - AI Transforming Ecommerce CX: Insights from CX Network Board Member Gautaam Borah
In this interview, Gautaam Borah discusses the impact of AI on CX. Currently, AI applications in CX are discrete but show promise in areas like personalization, complaint resolution, and emotion analysis. Ecommerce has seen successful AI deployments, including recommendation engines and chatbots. Measuring the impact of AI projects in CX should focus on revenue generation, cost reduction, and customer experience improvement. The future of AI integrations in CX will involve more seamless and natural customer interactions, hyper-personalization, and cohesive omnichannel experiences. To foster a culture of innovation, organizations should establish systems that nurture innovation from within, ensuring long-term adaptability to digital disruption.
Annual Company Meet-up
This week our team at soundsgood.agency is out of the office. We came together from different cities and countries to spend 4 days together in the beautiful city of Prague. More photos will be shared soon 😉
More on Shopify Summer Editions 23
I’ll be posting soon a detailed overview of the most important Shopify updates. That article will be released on my LI monthly newsletter. Subscribe to stay in the known 💚