Shopify adds Shopgate as m-commerce platform for merchants

Brief:

E-commerce company Shopify added mobile app developer Shopgate to its program of approved technology vendors. Shopgate already provides a mobile commerce platform to several Shopify Plus merchants such as Grunt Style, Black Rifle Coffee Company, NanaMacs and Elite Queens, according to a press release.
As part of the Shopify Plus Technology Partner Program, Shopgate can provide a better integration for its mobile app to Shopify Plus merchants. The platform lets Shopify Plus's retailers access a mobile app with digital wallets, bar code and QR code scanners, and other features based on the native capabilities of a mobile device.
Shopgate's technology also offers segmented push notifications, which let merchants create native app experiences that are personalized by demographics, location and user behavior. Shopify Plus merchants will be able to modify and optimize their app through Shopgate's admin portal with no coding.

Insight:

Shopgate's integration with Shopify gives online merchants another option in developing their mobile commerce offerings. Mobile is the biggest disruptor to the retail industry since the internet was commercialized in the mid-1990s, as shoppers use smartphones to look at shopping sites and while they browse brick-and-mortar stores. Retail sites have seen the share of web traffic from mobile devices grow to 60% this year from 53% in early 2017, per a study by Salesforce. While the retail industry's total digital orders have grown 14% this year, mobile orders have jumped 37%, the study found.

Developing an app for mobile commerce can be a costly proposition, but companies like Shopgate are working to give merchants another way to reach shoppers on their smartphones without as much heavy lifting or costly development. More than 66% of mobile revenue was earned through an app in 2017, and mobile apps on average provide a three times higher conversion rate over a mobile website, Shopgate CEO Marc Biel said in the release. Average order volumes in apps are about 55% higher than on mobile websites, and app customers convert 120% more often than mobile web users, Shopgate said in a separate report. This highlights the importance of a strong mobile strategy for commerce.

Shopify last month introduced a free app that connects to popular messaging apps its merchant customers already use, such as Facebook Messenger, Rep.ai and Chatkit. The Shopify Ping app lets merchants interact with their customers through social media, their respective online storefronts and email in a single interface. Earlier this year, the company launched an integration with Google Pay to give shoppers a quicker checkout on mobile devices, pointing to the company's continuous development of its mobile offerings to attract more merchants to its platform.