Shopify is one of the original innovators in the shoppability movement. As Localogy Insider readers know, this is our term for the rise of buy buttons and transactional functionality across consumer touchpoints. Everything is becoming shoppable – from Instagram Stories to YouTube videos.
Back to Shopify, it has democratized eCommerce by making it easier for anyone to have a storefront. Beyond just a “destination” it has struck deals with everyone from Walmart to TikTok to let merchants amplify their wares in well-traveled environments and feeds – a hook for merchant acquisition.
Now it’s making big bets that visually-rich shopping will become table stakes, and the next big retention hook for online merchants. Inspired partly by the IRL-deprived Covid era, it wants its merchants to use tools like AR to offer their online shoppers more product dimension and confidence.
This makes Shopify the latest victim of our shopability analysis. Following Snap and Pinterest’s recent moves to bring visual dimension to their shopping flows, Shopify is looking to modernize its platform for the camera-forward and increasingly buying-empowered Gen Z. Call it future proofing.
Tech-Illiterate and Time-Starved
Going deeper on Shopify’s latest, it now lets merchants launch 3D and AR versions of their products. To define those modalities, 3D involves zooming and spinning a given product on your desktop, while AR activates the camera to do the same thing in your physical space (ideal for cosmetics and couches).
Some of the benefits include IRL dimension and buyer confidence, as noted above. And the numbers bear that out. Shopify has reported that merchants who have integrated 3D shopping have experienced 94 percent greater conversions. It’s also been known to reduce returns – a big merchant pain point.
But though these benefits are evident, it’s easier said than done to execute 3D and AR shopping, especially for tech-illiterate and time-starved SMBs. For example, one major bottleneck is all the moving parts required for creating 3D models of product catalogs, including color and size variants.
This is where Shopify DNA and penchant towards democratization comes in. According to Inc. magazine, it has begun working with AR platform Poplar Studio (via its third-party app marketplace) to offer an easy way for merchants to capture and process 3D scans using only a smartphone.
As quick historical background, Shopify has offered 3D model generation in the past using the USDZ file format that’s output to Apple’s QuickLook AR feature. But this required a fragmented set of capture and processing tools. For SMB merchants it needs to be mobile, app-based, and dead simple.
Cosmetics & Couches
Backing up, AR shopping or “camera commerce” isn’t a silver bullet, but it is aligned with certain products that can benefit from IRL perspective. That’s the case with bulky items like couches and TVs (see if they fit in your room). It also shines in style items like cosmetics and even shoes.
There are also demographic and generational factors at play. As noted, the Snapchat generation is particularly camera-forward and AR comfortable. As this generation phases into the adult population, it will continue gaining spending power. We’ll say it again: 3D shopping is a future-proofing play.
Shopify is on board with all of this, as can be seen in its latest 3D integrations and recent acquisitions such as Primer. As we wrote at the time, this was its move to test product visualization in a specific category (in this case paint colors). And more is surely coming in other product categories.
And if foresight and future-proofing aren’t heavy enough motivators for Shopify, competitive pressure may be. As noted, Snap, Pinterest and several others are blitzing visual shopping. To add to that list, 800-pound gorilla Google is likewise moving into this area, given its Google Swirl offering.
Altogether there are two trends at play here: shoppability and visual shopping. These trends are on a collision course that could transform shopping by compressing the purchase funnel through a visually-informed decision flow. We’ll keep watching as other eCommerce players jump on board.
