Shopify has launched its new ‘Collabs’ feature that aims to pair product creators with merchants in order to open up new sales opportunities.
Shopify says Collabs will bring brands and creators together, making it simple for creators to monetise while giving merchants a new sales and marketing channel.
“Shopify is where the world’s best independent brands go to build their businesses,” said Amir Kabbara, Shopify’s director of Product.
“With Shopify Collabs, we’re making it simple for creators to discover and partner with these brands so they can make more money and reach economic independence.”
“For Shopify merchants, Collabs is a new way to find potential customers at a time when it’s never been more difficult or expensive,” Kabbara continued.
“By giving merchants the ability to discover and partner with creators that align with their brand, they can tap into the power of community-driven commerce to reach consumers in new and meaningful ways.”
This is one of a number of moves Shopify has made in 2022 to arrest its falling market value.
Less that a month ago, the company has forced to cut 1,000 jobs, roughly 10 per cent of its workforce, after a rapid expansion didn’t yield the expected results.
“We bet that the channel mix — the share of dollars that travel through e-commerce rather than physical retail — would permanently leap ahead by five or even 10 years because of the pandemic,” CEO Tobi Lutke admitted.
“It’s now clear that bet didn’t pay off. What we see now is the mix reverting to roughly where pre-Covid data would have suggested it should be at this point.”
In June, Shopify teamed up with Twitter to allow merchants to launch a virtual storefront through Twitter’s shopping platform. They can display links to up to five separate products on their Twitter profile, as well as selling directly through Twitter Shops – which is still in beta mode.
Similar deals with Facebook and Instagram were struck earlier in the year. The company also launched Linkpop, its “link in bio” product to help merchants sell products directly from one Linkpop URL via a set of basic links.
Shopify’s shares are down 71 per cent this year alone.
