Takeaways from UNITE 2018

In May, the ReCharge team headed to Toronto for Shopify’s UNITE 2018 conference. While we were there, we gleaned some major takeaways subscription retailers need to know about — so we’ve gathered them here in this post. From an increase in global commerce to mobile and multi-channel optimizations Shopify is making, here’s everything you wish you’d heard about during the live event.

1. Global Commerce Growth

One of the biggest themes at UNITE this year was global growth. That means finding new ways to empower merchants so they can reach customers on a global scale.

Shopify is doing this through a multi-pronged approach that includes more languages (six, in fact) built into their platform, context-aware local payment methods for a variety of currencies, and customer-friendly international storefronts.

Customers around the world will soon be able to see storefronts in French, German, Japanese, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, or Spanish — and they will be able to buy with information about currency exchange rates during checkout thanks to Shopify Payments. Multi-currency officially launches in fall 2018 for Shopify Plus merchants using Shopify Payments.

Overall, this shift means greater consistency in the customer experience for international shoppers. Here at ReCharge, we’re starting to think about the evolving payment ecosystem as well.

2. Developer Sandbox

One of the new features for Shopify Partners is what they call a “developer sandbox”, which is essentially an environment in which Partners can preview the customer-facing view of their sites to test UI/UX around custom website builds.

This is an extremely valuable developer tool for partners (like ReCharge, which falls into the technology category of the program). Before, all changes would have to be manually previewed through a sample merchant account, but this change will make previewing and improving customer experience elements much simpler and faster.

3. Multi-channel Selling: Retail is Not Dead

In one of the keynotes for UNITE, the theme was that retail isn’t dead (despite what you’ve heard.)

What is true, however, is that shopping habits are evolving. Social tools like Facebook and Instagram are shaping the modern product discovery process, but there are still specific industries that perform better in physical retail spaces (and big box stores) rather than online. From Amazon to physical spaces to a standalone web store, merchants need to use multiple channels to reach the largest possible audience.

Shopify is responding to these changes in buyer behavior by making improvements to their multi-channel selling opportunities for merchants — so they can have all the bases covered.

They’re doing this through:

• A PCI-compliant point of sale system that merchants can use anywhere and everywhere
• Increased relevant payment methods based on the buyer’s location
• Offering their own physical retail space where merchants can get hands-on guidance about setting up a store with Shopify “Gurus”
• Hosting in-person events to train merchants (including an event in LA — stay tuned for details)

The main takeaway here is that retail is changing, and it’s important for all of us to think about how we stay on top of those changes.

4. Accommodating Mobile Shoppers

Look around almost anywhere you go, and you’ll notice that most people are glued to their smartphones. This isn’t anything new — but it is something that merchants now need to think deeply about in regard to their stores. Mobile optimization is a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.

Shopify is making things a bit easier by implementing mobile optimizations on their platform — from a dynamic checkout experience that reduces friction during checkout to mobile-friendly store elements that work well on smaller screens. What’s more: Many of their presentations and demos during the event were done in a mobile context, which we found pretty impressive.

Overall, these improvements may seem small and insignificant, but they could easily have major positive impacts on conversion for merchants.

Wrap Up

Even if you couldn’t attend UNITE 2018 in person, we hope this recap of the highlights gave you some good ideas on what Shopify is focusing on in the year ahead (so you can plan accordingly).

Keep an eye out for other event and conference recaps in the future — we’ll always do our best to share our insights with you!