Shopify Unveils New Features Including AI-Powered Image Editor
Shopify, a leading commerce platform, is introducing several new features as part of its Winter Edition rollout. These enhancements include an AI-powered media editor designed to elevate product images, an upgraded semantic search feature, and improved tools for showcasing product variants.
In recent times, companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon have enabled advertisers to utilize generative AI for creating backgrounds. Following suit, Shopify aims to assist merchants in editing product image backgrounds and scenes using this technology. Through the Magic Media Editor, merchants can choose from seven different styles—Minimal, Vibrant, Natural, Urban, Regged, Refined, and Surreal—or input a prompt to generate a new background. Moreover, merchants can align the background style of an image with an existing one to maintain brand consistency, while the tool also offers the capability to remove unwanted backgrounds.
Shopify has previously explored generative AI-based tools for merchants, having launched the Sidekick bot last June to aid merchants in navigating various parts of the platform.
Furthermore, Shopify is introducing a semantic search feature that transcends simple keyword matching from search queries. For instance, customers can input queries like “warm clothes for winter” to receive diverse results, including thermal wear options.
To enhance merchandising capabilities, Shopify is facilitating merchants in showcasing different variants of a product. The platform’s product creation and classification tool now supports up to 2,000 variants, allowing for more comprehensive product management. Shopify is also introducing a new app for combined listings, exclusively available for Shopify Plus customers, enabling sellers to maintain unique descriptions, galleries, and URLs for different product variants.
Additionally, Shopify is launching headless storefronts tailored for B2B merchants, providing flexibility in utilizing custom front-end solutions while accessing Shopify-specified APIs to interact with the backend.
Despite challenges, including staff layoffs and divesting its logistics business to Flexport in exchange for 13% stock, Shopify continues to demonstrate resilience and growth. In Q3 2023, the company reported $1.7 billion in revenue, reflecting a 25% year-on-year increase.