Shopify’s uninspired vision of the future of shopping

For example, I’d love Shopify to tell me the best possible discount code for any store — it knows all of them! Or, if I’m in a retail store, to let me scan a barcode or photograph an item and see if there’s a Shopify shop, either nearby or online, with the same item for cheaper, or at least one that has my size in stock. Or to help me find products... See more

There is nothing interesting about a grid of totally random-seeming product shots on white backgrounds. There is no context, no allure, no storytelling, no social cues, no desire, no thrill, no fun.

But any attempt will need to compete for attention from the ultimate discovery network, Instagram, or the ultimate search engines, Google and Amazon. And right now, at launch, the Shop app is nowhere close to the magic of either of them.

For one, this idea of a multi-store or multi-brand shopping aggregator app has never taken off in the US market, and that’s not for a lack of trying. The well-funded startup Spring was perhaps the best example — its big thing was a “universal shopping cart” to make it easier to shop across brands — but there’s very little that’s compelling about sh... See more

We can serve as a discovery service, not just based on prior customer relationships, but also geography — especially for physical retail stores that use Shopify for their e-commerce — and eventually a personalized taste graph.

People want to support independent retail and indie brands, especially now.

Because Shopify powers so many stores — more than 1 million worldwide — it’s in a good position to build a “global” profile for consumers for personalized recommendations.