Shopify launches an influencer sales platform to activate a $100 billion market!

On August 16, Shopify announced the launch of a new platform called "Shopify Collabs". Through this platform, creators can search for merchants and products that interest them, and apply to cooperate with the corresponding merchants. When consumers place orders, creators can earn commissions.

Shopify Collabs is a new business model that Shopify has built for creators and merchants. According to Shopify, although the total size of the creator economy is huge and is estimated to be over $100 billion, there are currently only 4% full-time creators on the Shopify platform, because most platform creators cannot support themselves full-time, and creators have previously found that the channels for brands and establishing partnerships are troublesome, and they all want to spend their time on producing content.

In the second quarter of this year, Shopify's adjusted operating loss was $41.8 million. In order to seek growth points, Shopify acquired the e-commerce company Deliverr, launched YouTube Shopping in cooperation with YouTube, and cut 10% of its employees in the second half of this year. Now, the launch of Shopify Collabs is also an attempt by Shopify to seek growth points.

For merchants, after installing Collabs and making their store and products discoverable, creators can apply to join the merchant's community. Shopify Collabs allows merchants to manage their relationships with creators, providing everything they need, such as unique product links or discount codes, so that creators can share the merchant's products with their audience.

Since Collabs is built on Shopify, the entire process is centrally managed by the merchant's Shopify backend. Merchants can view inventory, orders, and customer information in real time in the backend.

Currently, Shopify Collabs is only available to all merchants in the United States and Canada.

As early as March this year, Shopify made a similar attempt and launched a new tool called Linkpop to help sellers sell products through social media platforms. On the Linkpop website, merchants can create a link that allows consumers to purchase products directly on the link without leaving the website.

As the e-commerce industry develops, competition among brands is becoming increasingly fierce, and the way to find new customers is also changing. Close cooperation with cross-platform creators has always been a key component of many merchants' sales and marketing strategies. New platforms also mean new opportunities. On Shopify Collabs, whoever can gain the favor of more creators will be able to gain product exposure and product recommendation opportunities brought by these creators.

Shopify

American e-commerce