If you want to beat Amazon or Walmart or any of the other big-bad-boys of eCommerce at their own game … this is one of the ways to do it.

Shopify Is Crushing It

We love all the great eCommerce platforms … really, we do. And we have tons of customers running BigCommerce. But Shopify seems to be where all the action is right now. We’ve said it before and it’s worth saying again – Shopify has a vision of eCommerce that fits with the way customers shop and spend online today.

It’s that vision that keeps driving innovation on the Shopify eCommerce platform. Over the last few months we have documented some of their recent achievements, including the eBay Channel integration, the Arrive Mobile App, and social media integrations, among others. Not only are these very cool features that help eCommerce merchants sell more online, they also elevate the small-business entrepreneur because they are the kinds of features that have previously only been available to only big-name-corporate-behemoths.

With every feature Shopify adds to their platform the eCommerce competitive playing field gets leveled a little bit more.

Back in April of 2017, Shopify added a feature that we think is really important. So, technically, this is old news. But we haven’t written about it yet and it’s definitely it is worth talking about as one of those power-to-the-people features that can help you compete.

Use Shopify Pay and Accelerate Sales

One of the core features in the Amazon shopping experience is its ability to “remember” you. When you come back to Amazon, it remembers what you looked at previously, displays related products to try and hook you in, and – importantly – make buying really easy by remembering your payment and shipping details. There is no re-entering all your details and credit card info over-and-over again.

This is no small technical feat – especially given the technical and security issues related to retaining customer payment information in a secure system. This is the problem that Shopify Pay addresses. 

Sure, in order to implement Shopify Pay you need to be using the Shopify Payments service – which means using their credit card payment service. But the service and rates are competitive, so that’s not a big obstacle. So, once you are on Shopify Payments you can easily add Shopify Pay.

It Works Like This

When a customer enters their shipping and payment info on their first order with you, they will have the option of opting-in to have their info save inside Shopify Pay. The next time they check-out at any online store across the Shopify ecosystem, they can simply type in their email address. Shopify Pay will recognize it and send them a SMS text message to their cell phone.

This kind of two-factor authorization process is extremely secure and has been proven in lots of high-end services for several years now. And Shopify Pay has been used in live environments for more than nine months. It’s definitely ready for prime time. That means that your customers will not have a steep learning curve. And when shoppers arrive at your eCommerce site, if they have opted-in to Shopify Pay on any other Shopify store, the purchase experience on your site will be faster, secure, and therefore more satisfying.

And adding Shopify Pay doesn’t cost you a dime extra. Boom!

Why Things Like Shopify Pay Are Important

Think about it this way … it is a great way to make customers as comfortable within the universe of Shopify stores as they are when they are browsing Amazon. And this is an important part of Shopify’s long-term eCommerce vision.

They seem to understand two things really well:

1. We are not in the eCommerce business … not really. What we are is in the plain-old commerce business. The world is not divided into online winners and offline losers. Selling today is about marketing and selling to all customers no matter when and where they are or how they want to buy. Shopify "gets it."
2. The triumph of technology is not that it creates efficiency advantages as the playthings of big, institutional players. The overwhelming, natural direction of the internet is as a democratic force putting tools and resources in the hands of more entrepreneurs and individuals.

Sure, the Shopify eCommerce platform IS their business and they want to win and make a profit. But ultimately, they know they win when their ecosystem wins. As they keep on building and innovating into their platform they are helping all of us win too. And Shopify Pay is one of those tools to drive that philosophy – which is what makes it cool. 

If You Need Shopify Help, Let Us Know

You can get more information about Shopify Pay on their website. They have a dedicated webpage to explain the service to your customers that you can link to is a customer ever has a question. And you can learn more about Shopify Payments here.

If you need a little help setting up Shopify Payments or Shopify Pay, just let us know by creating a task. We help with this kind of thing every day. And if this article has convinced you to take the leap and build your own ecommerce business on the Shopify eCommerce platform – or even migrate to Shopify form another eCommerce solution – this link will take you where you need to go to set up your account.

Thanks for reading!