Shopify is hoping to lure advertisers looking for the same level of marketing data once provided by tracking iPhone users, with its new ‘Audiences’ tool.

‘Audiences’ will allow retailers to upload customer data to both Meta and Google’s advertising platforms, and then use this pooled data to target so-called “lookalike” customers who shop for similar items to what the retailer is selling.

Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein (pictured below) told the Financial Times the Canadian retail hub had struck alliances with Meta and Google, and will look to plug the gap left by Apple’s newly-enforced privacy rules, which caused massive unrest in the digital advertising sector.

“Especially right now, merchants want to be able to find more customers,” Finkelstein said.

Amazon has so far been the biggest beneficiary of Apple’s recent rule change, which forces app developers to ask for consent before tracking users between apps and websites. By allowing third-party merchants to advertise products on its marketplace, Amazon saw its advertising revenue jump by 30 per cent in the third quarter of 2022.

Amazon’s own ad targeting is based on first party data, gathered from its own customers, which Apple allows. Shopify argues it can offer similar ‘first party’ targeting for advertisers, but with a wider scope than Amazon, taking in Instagram, Google search results, and YouTube.

By allowing merchants to add their own first-party customer to a larger pool, Shopify neatly skirts Apple’s rules.

“There’s always going to be some apprehension about sharing data,” Finkelstein said of the merchants, who may feel they are sharing trade secrets with their competitors.

“But that’s often offset by, ‘Am I making more money, am I selling more?’”