The GA4 Upgrade

Posted on August 25, 2022May 4, 2023 by Taylor

Have you received notifications urging you to upgrade to Google Analytics 4 on your Google Analytics account? Are you wondering what that is, whether to commit the time to it, and why?

Well, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest version of the Google Analytics platform. It was released in the fall of 2020, and is now the standard method for measuring digital analytics. In March of 2022, Google announced the full transition from Universal Analytics (UA). This means that if you are currently using UA on your website, you will need to upgrade to GA4. If you are unfamiliar with how to do so, we have you covered. And, if you need additional assistance after this article, drop us a line, and we’d be happy to hop on to talk about our services.

Why Upgrade?

Although it can be intimidating to explore the upgrade to GA4, we suggest doing so as soon as possible. We’ve assisted merchants in the transition to Google’s advanced event monitoring, automatic insights, and additional features to all of its users. By upgrading now, you will be able to onboard the team and have enough data to compare year-to-year by this time in 2023.

In addition to that, Google has announced that they will discontinue UA (GA3) by July 1st, 2023. Without upgrading, your GA tracking will cease at this date, and Google plans to purge all historical data pertaining to your UA account in 2023 or early 2024.

Major Changes

Events

From UA, event tracking was surrounding three dimensions, and one metric. So, when a visitor subscribes to your newsletter on your website, you can send a customized event based on this customer journey. Then, you are able to establish a value on how much cost that action is worth. This type of naming convention did not allow much customization outside of these parameters with UA.

GA4 is designed to employ deeper thought-process when planning naming conventions of events. In this example of a visitor signing up for a newsletter, you could use the event name “generate_lead”, then use parameters recommended by Google, or (in many cases) customize toward your lead and customer journey, which you could not do as effectively with UA.

Parameters

As discussed, with each event in Google Analytics 4 properties, you can provide parameters. These additional bits of information will further define the user’s behavior or provide more context for an event. Parameters can be used to define the cost of a transaction or to give background information like how, why, and where the event occurred. For example, page_title is one of the parameters that is automatically sent. You can log up to 25 parameters with each occurrence in addition to the parameters that are automatically logged.

Sessions

A session occurs when a user views a page or screen. Regardless of activity, any new occurrence in UA would begin a new session, which may muddy the analytics when the user may just have your page open in the background. With more sophisticated development, a new occurrence does not start a new session in GA4, and lower session counts in your GA4 property could result from this. In GA4, a session is considered engaged when the user is active on your site or app for over 10 seconds.

Consider the possibility that a person lost service while using their mobile device to browse your website and then got it back 48 hours later. In contrast to UA, GA4 will process the late hit, which results in a greater session count.

If hits arrive within 4 hours, they will be attributed to UA. In GA4, they will be attributed up to 72 hours in GA4. You might notice more sessions in your GA4 property as well as fluctuations in reported data within these 72 hours. This is because GA4 events are processed over a larger time period.

Comparing Data

Prior to GA4, a business that had both an app and a website would have one account with two separate properties; one for the app and one for the website. This made it difficult to switch views and track one user’s journey across the two platforms. With GA4, you have the option to view the data separately or together, and you’re now able to track the journey between the app and the website. A user who visited both was previously considered two different users, but GA4 works to track users individually who interact with your brand across platforms.

There are a few differences and notes on tagging and configuration between GA4 and UA:

The same web pages are being tracked by both your tracking ID (UA property) and tag ID (GA4 property).
Equal tag implementations are available for both properties. Review these factors, for instance, before utilizing related site tags.
Every tag is successfully firing. You can use Google Tag Assistant (GTA) to make sure your tags are functioning properly.
(Property settings > Reporting time zone) Your UA property and GA4 property share the same time zone.
You contrast a single web data stream in your GA4 property with an unfiltered view in your UA property.
In order to compare data in the Realtime reports, both the UA property and the GA4 property must have been collecting data for at least 30 minutes.

Data Retention

The data retention policy has been a confusing topic to many, as Analytics Help outlines that GA4 properties, conversion and user-level data, can be set to a maximum of 14 months of retention. Regardless of your preferences, the age, gender, and interest data are always retained for two months. Additionally, data that has already been gathered is carried over when the retention term is extended, and there is a 2-month limit for XL properties.

So, the concern is around the need to compare data for more than the maximum retention period for more in-depth reporting. And, how does this work with custom segments and/or aggregated reports?

As of right now, you are able to view more than 14 months of data with an aggregate report. However, this is not the case if you are using the Explorations reporting feature in GA4. Remember that even if you make comparisons in the reports, the data retention setting in your GA4 property has no impact on basic aggregated reports (including primary and secondary dimensions). Only reports from Explorations are impacted by the data retention setting.

The Transition

Invest the time to structure your events and customer journey. Essentially, you will need to build a new set of tags that are utilizing GA4 if you currently have UA implemented in your container and want to switch to it. Try not to go too narrow, or too broad with your naming conventions. Instead, try to find the middle ground, making your parameters descriptive where you can guess the value of those leads without going overboard in specificities.

We have recently assisted a few merchants on their transition into GA4, and above are some of the few key points we’ve learned. We won’t go too in-depth about how to upgrade, as Google has released detailed instructions (and this may be a whole other article in and of itself). But, it is important to consider GA4 as a necessity, a fresh endeavor, with a new naming scheme, new data format, and new platform.

If you’d like to migrate smoothly with our expertise, and have more questions, we’d love to help. Drop us a line here to fully discover the expertise of our team at Ambaum, and make sure you sign up for our newsletter to keep up-to-date for all things Ambaum.

Let’s Get Ship Done

Posted on July 15, 2022November 9, 2022 by Taylor

The order is not really complete until the customer has the product in their hands, but getting from point A to point B can be arduous and time consuming. There is so much involved such as packaging to planning, to strategy. In this article, we’ll dive into why we suggest ShipStation as our top pick for “getting ship done”.

Seamless and Fast Connection

For Shopify merchants ShipStation can connect in seconds and offers extensive customer onboarding and support along the way. ShipStation can integrate with marketplaces, shopping carts, carriers, fulfillment centers, ERP and inventory management platforms, and more. This allows the service to grow with your business, ensuring scalable success.

Shipping Carriers

ShipStation works with the most widely utilized shipping companies such as FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL, and more, across the globe. ShipStation also holds their finger on the pulse of updates on these shipping carriers, and can offer premier discounted rates from select carriers. This can be extremely beneficial as these discounted rates do not typically have any volume requirements. Alternatively, ShipStation allows the merchant to connect to any existing negotiated rates, as well as the ability to compare prices and delivery times in-app and in real-time.

Bulk Processes

Whether fulfilling orders through your e-commerce site or other sales channels, manually processing these orders can quickly become extremely overwhelming. With ShipStation’s cloud-based assisted software, bulk order processing and multi-channel fulfillment creates a superiority over other shipping solutions. ShipStation allows the merchant to print shipping labels in batches, up to 500 orders at one time. The UI allows the merchant to set up their shipping settings easily so these batches can be processed successfully every time. This is a huge advantage for merchants wanting to create a one-stop shop for streamlined and organized fulfillment.

Fulfillment Operations

In that vein, being able to customize internal operations toward the specific needs of the business is integral to streamlined and scalable growth. ShipStation allows the merchant to take out the guesswork of processes by fully customizable merchant UI, so with a bit of work the process can be as simple as a click of a button. ShipStation works if the business has multi-channel fulfillment, so creating those standard operations becomes a possibility.

Integrations

ShipStation has created and connected a vast number of APIs, making the process of setting up ShipStation on a Shopify store incredibly simple. Additionally, ShipStation will connect other third-party tools that are already integrated into a business model such as:

This ability to connect to the marketplace, selling channel, and other business integrations makes ShipStation’s fit right at home into the success of an e-commerce store.

And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg; there are many additional advantages to using this industry standard. In short, ShipStation’s flexibility allows the system to grow with the business, becoming as robust as one might need.

Excited to get started? We’ve got a special partner deal where, after starting a 30 day free trial, ShipStation is offering an additional 30 days for merchants coming from Ambaum. So, start a free trial today to get ShipStation in the toolbelt. Questions for us on how to optimize with ShipStation or our other Shopify tech partners? Drop us a line.

Updates on the horizon for our Shopify tech partner, Rebuy

Posted on June 27, 2022November 9, 2022 by Taylor

Rebuy recently held a town hall to kickoff their agency and tech partner programs.

Back in 2017, John Erck and his brother James came up with the idea of Rebuy, born from a love of ecommerce. Rebuy is a personalization tool for driving increased AOV, LTV, and conversion rates. Personalized product recommendations can be implemented throughout the entirety of a merchant’s website to leverage the true power of upsells and cross-sells. (also offers omnichannel personalization for ecommerce brands on Shopify and ShopifyPlus!). Recently, we had the pleasure of attending Rebuy’s partnership town hall, and to say we are excited for their Q3 and Q4 would be an understatement. Let’s check out a few highlights from the event.

First, Rebuy has partnered up with Klaviyo, a leading email marketing and SMS automation platform, to bring personalized and customized email flows to customers and potential customers. This integration brings a unique product experience by directing the user to a dynamic landing page based on their behavior on-site, increasing conversion. They also plan on launching the Rebuy Smart Cart™ App Store, allowing developers to build a customer checkout experience for a more personalized and valuable customer flow.

Next, Rebuy has partnered with Recharge to launch the Recharge Customer Portal Recommendations. This partnership sprung from the need to offer up relevant product add-ons directly to the customer through their portal. With this solution, merchants can offer one-time items, subscription products, and include dynamic discounts for the customer, increasing CLV. Customers can expect to have desired product recommendations automatically added to their next delivery date, creating a seamless experience for both their Recharge subscription products and Rebuy upsell or cross-sell recommendations.

A huge asset update here is their library for developer resources – the Rebuy Developer Hub. This includes comprehensive guides and streamlined resources to assist developers to work with Rebuy quickly and efficiently. A unique element of Rebuy is that its founders are also developers, allowing the company to have a fuller spectrum of understanding toward the merchant’s needs, and a more seamless flow of communication internally.

“We implement Rebuy in about 3 or 4 different places and it’s immediate ROI.” – Brandon Armoroso, Founder & CEO of Electriq Marketing

With a mind prioritized for personalization, Rebuy wants to continue merchant and partner driven development. We look forward to our continued partnership!
Want more information on how we can integrate you with partners like Rebuy? Drop us a line.

Interview with the Project Manager

Posted on June 10, 2022November 11, 2022 by Taylor

Meet our new Project Manager Anne Howrey!

I had the pleasure of discussing the unique background and experience of our new Project Manager, Anne Howrey. Native to Texas, Anne achieved a degree in Math from the University of Texas, where she honed her problem-solving skills. She then began her journey into entrepreneurship and gained an MBA from Northeastern University.

“I wanted to get to a place where I could lead other people to solve problems better.”

“The way I’m going to be able to help clients is that I’ve been there.”

Anne then launched two companies, building the e-commerce of both from the ground up, growing into a Shopify Expert by necessity. Anne has been on both sides now, and the empathy that she is able to bring to the client service experience is sure to impress. Check out the full interview below for her full perspective.

Let us know how we can help you here, and meet more of our team here. Stay hungry!

Top 5 Marketing Trends for 2022

Posted on May 11, 2022November 25, 2022 by Taylor

trend: /trend/ “a general direction in which something is developing or changing.”

While consistency is always important, being consistent also means incorporating change. Keeping your finger on the pulse of what’s new and useful toward your marketing efforts is key to growing your reach and your new converting customers. Let’s break it down to some pivotal elements for success.

1. A/B Web Testing with SEO

Trends wouldn’t be trends without testing – this is a way to truly understand your audience and their subtle changes. Although A/B testing is traditionally used as a tactic toward paid advertising, a brand can also utilize A/B testing for organic reach and search traffic to the site. A low-cost tactic; identify the blog post or page that drives the most traffic and run some A/B tests. Track conversion, duration, and bounce rates to optimize your site.

Check out how we were able to help in our partnership with Pair of Thieves to optimize their site and improve their SEO.

2. Motion Graphics and Video

With a reported 8-second average attention span in 2021, grabbing a user’s focus quickly and efficiently is more important than ever. And, with fast moving apps like TikTok, the average attention span is sure to shrink even further. So, how do you compete in this high speed highway of content? Try motion graphics and video content. This can be as simple as switching out a .jpg with a .gif, or creating full-blown videos for social posts and ads as they are proven to be more effective. Leverage and strategize the effectiveness of channels such as TikTok and Instagram Reels. Try different approaches to stop-the-scroll within the first 5 seconds of your content. Of course, as in all things marketing, keep brand authenticity at the forefront.

Pro Tip: Make sure all video content includes captions. This promotes inclusive usability and allows the user to enjoy your content in spaces where having sound on is not possible or preferable. This can also increase conversion rates.

3. Mobile Optimization

With the marketing world becoming even more fast paced, on-the-go convenience will be vital to a brands success. In fact, we know that in 2020, about half of global website traffic came from mobile devices. Having the ability to purchase, navigate, and otherwise interact with your site is pivotal as millennials and Gen Z increase their buying power. Always check how the output of your content interacts on mobile devices, and with different mobile devices, ensuring the user’s journey is reflective of a more fast-paced and cross-channel user for the following key elements:

Ensure products are explained with the least amount of clicks. Include FAQs about the product, reviews, and images that can be zoomed in on a mobile device.

Consider additional customer service options. Be sure to give users many options if they have questions about your product or service – via email, phone, or live chat.

Make the payment process as easy as possible. This can be done by allowing the user to create an account and save their credit card information for easy check-out in the future, to allowing alternative payment options such as ApplePay or GooglePay. But, keep the fillable forms as short as possible so you do not lose the users interest or attention. In this independent study, creating payment options resulted in a 101% increase in conversions.

Pro Tip: Do a double-check on your email content, as well, to make sure it is optimized for mobile.

4. User-Generated Content (UGC)

Often overlooked, and with minimal effort on the brand’s part, is cultivating brand loyalty through UGC. This is a direct way for users to feel like they have a voice, are valued, and increases word-of-mouth awareness. User-generated content can incentivize influencer and partnership programs, as a clearer channel toward customer reviews and feedback. Incorporating UGC into your marketing channels is cost effective, and takes a bite of content-creation off your Social Media Manager’s plate. Shopify offers a UGC app to make this easier such as Cevoid or even Shoppable Instagram & UGC.

Another tactic here is to make sure you give back to the community, especially the users helping through UGC. This could be in the form of a promo code for them and to share with friends, free product for their review, or feature them in a sweepstakes to build followers mutually.

Featuring these users as Brand Ambassadors gives them a VIP feeling, and creates a partnership between them and your brand. But, don’t stop there. Reach out to your team, and empower employees to advocate for your brand. Word-of-mouth is statistically proven to be one of the most effective forms of lead-to-customer conversion, so take every opportunity to promote real-life interactions with your product.

5. Personalization

Especially in times of bulk discounts or times where KPIs need to be met, personalizing your content output can get lost in the fray. A few ways to tighten the scope:

Identify buyer personas

How can you create content without knowing who the audience is? See how granular you can make the buyer personas. Find stock images, write out what their hobbies are, if they consume content on a Mac, PC, or mobile (and, if so, what type of mobile?), what music they listen to, what they do after a long week, etc. Writing content toward a specific audience will evoke a more emotional response and keep them engaged.

Email segmenting

Keeping a good email database is like keeping a carefully pruned bonsai. It takes careful attention and pruning to ensure that the overall channel is healthy and growing. Segmenting your email list by data points identified in your personas and customizing those emails and promotions toward the consumer increases open rates, click-through-rate (CTR), and ultimately conversions.

Think of the consumer’s journey

From usability to personalization, keep trying to think of each personas experience as they navigate through the journey you’ve built for them. If a user converts from an email, how is their journey different from a user converting from word-of-mouth? From a social media post? From digital paid advertising? Even, from traditional physical advertising? Then, how does that user journey change over time after they are now a converting customer? Taking a look at the Human Design of each user’s path toward the main road of your core customer is key to maintaining and measuring a user’s customer lifetime value (CLV).

Listen to your audience, provide opportunities for them to express their feedback, and try for those subtle changes to your interface. Interested in talking more about how we can help you on optimizing your user experience? Drop us a line.

Your Need-to-Know for Shopify Online Store 2.0

Posted on May 3, 2022November 25, 2022 by Taylor

What’s new in 2.0, and should your brand upgrade now?

The summer of 2021 saw some significant changes from Shopify with the launch of Online Store 2.0. As a partner that is ever-listening to their customers, and optimizing their service, this upgrade offers streamlined solutions for developers and merchants alike.

But, when has anyone ever accepted transition without a modicum of hesitation? We’re here with our expertise and services to help. Let’s dive into some of the major updates.

Themes and Editor Update

On earlier versions of the online store, we were limited in the number of blocks we could include in the store, with a wide range of templates for products. Now, usability is improved with adding sections to each page (not just the home page). As opposed to needing Liquid code for templates, we can now use templates with JSON files to get even more granular with the UI both frontend and backend. With the updates to the app extension and app blocks, apps can also integrate with the themes for greater consistency across multiple themes. This means a development team can greatly improve the site for faster and easier functionality.

Metafields

Although integration to external apps is easier, Shopify’s Online Store 2.0 has implemented user-friendly metafields that can be edited directly from the admin view, making those apps or special urls obsolete. This is a major change, as the merchant is now able to modify metafields, as well as add content to product pages (i.e. lists and size charts). This update makes metafields more flexible and simpler for developers to keep the UI for merchants clean across market verticals.

The metafields can simply be linked on the frontend through a field already in a section’s settings so now supported PDF files and images can be directly integrated without needing to hard code into the theme. Last, the theme editor now showcases a side view, with movable sections to allow frontend arrangement of those sections.

Developer Tools

Previously development teams needed to create complex systems in order to deploy updates. Now, the Shopify GitHub integration provides streamlined use of the Shopify CLI tool and theme check for a more direct experience on deploying changes.

Another fantastic update is the functionality to scan the theme for errors with Theme Check. This scan highlights the possible errors of the platform and Liquid language, providing best practices before implementing. These tools enable developers to test their work, improving overall processes in Sandbox. The Shopify GetHub integration into the themes allows the developer greater collaboration in deployment before pushing updates live, with the new CLI tool giving developers a more exact view of the final customizations.

Do I need to update now?

At this moment, Shopify does not plan on disintegrating any older versions, but the advancements in the Online Store 2.0 deployment are hard to deny. In some examples of the clients we helped migrate, we saw a significant jump in pagespeed. Previously, even the most optimized Shopify stores would score in the mid 50’s, but our clients are now seeing 98 – 100 Google pagespeed scores with the switch to Shopify Online Store 2.0.

With the Online Store 2.0, new and expansive opportunities are available for developers and merchants alike, making the Shopify experience easier than ever before. Having more extensive sections means we’re able to reuse templates rather than repeatingly building out new ones, and simple content updates no longer require lengthy development recycles.
Shopify has detailed the process of migrating to Online Store 2.0, and we’d love to help. Questions? Drop us a line.

Web 2 and Web 3 Collide, NFTs and Shopify

Posted on April 5, 2022November 25, 2022 by Andrew Crawley

Web 2 and Web 3 Collide, NFTs and Shopify

As the founder of Ambaum, most of my 9-5 is spent on hiring, strategy and client services in support of merchants. However, in my free time, crypto (web 3) has been a passion of mine – I bought my first Bitcoin in 2014 and the Pandemic reignited my interest, especially in NFTs. I thought of my time in the NFT space as a way to learn new technology and when I started out I didn’t think it would impact ecommerce, at least for a few years. Fast forward to 2022 and NFTs and ecommerce are converging in unique and fun ways and it’s happening much quicker than I could have imagined.

I just got back from ShopTalk 2022 and it was fantastic to see our partners in person, shout out to ShipStation, ReCharge and Rebuy from the Shopify ecosystem. There was an energy in the air following the almost 2 year absence of in person events. The majority of the exhibitors at the conference were in the following categories: payment providers (buy now pay later, so many!), headless commerce and retail analytics. I was amazed at how many of these exhibitors had raised more than $100M in the last year with a handful raising more than $300M.

ShopTalk and NFTs

The first session the Ambaum team attended was a Shark Tank theme pitch presentation event, companies had 3 minutes to present and then 3 minutes for questions. Out of the first batch Niftmint, a NFT Commerce Infrastructure company stood out – loved the QR code on the back of Jonathan’s t-shirt. We have already partnered with NFTeapot, a NFT minting app that allows customers to purchase NFTs through the Shopify checkout, but it’s exciting to see more companies jump in the space.

NFTs are so new that most brands don’t yet have a clearly articulated strategy, which is why I was so impressed by PacSun’s President Brieane Olson and her Metaverse presentation on the ShopTalk main stage. PacSun has minted their own NFTs: Pac Mall Rats and they clearly have considered scarcity, authenticity and long term value which is very important for brands as they get into NFTs. In addition PacSun has partnered with Roblox to show off clothing NFTs in Roblox, this is ideal as PacSun’s average customer is 17-24 years old.

Shopify and NFTs

Tobi Lutke, Shopify CEO has started warming up to NFTs since the summer of 2021 and the first clue was changing his profile picture on Twitter to a Cryptopunk. Then in the Fall of 2021, Shopify created a landing page for selling NFTs on Shopify, that explains how merchants can mint and list NFTs for sale through their Shopify store. In February 2022, Shopify and Doodles (a popular NFT collection) combined to create an in person experience for people to use NFTs as tokens for gated merchandise, all powered by Shopify and their POS system.

It’s still very early for NFTs and brands have to be careful how they choose to introduce their customers to the concept while staying true to their core. Here at Ambaum we are following very closely and getting engaged with our brands already as we want to help our merchants navigate the NFT landscape. This is an exciting time for Shopify and NFTs, I see an opportunity that could be as large as subscriptions are on the Shopify platform. It’s going to be an exciting time for those who are willing to get out of their comfort zone and dive in!

Shopify Unite 2021

Posted on June 29, 2021June 27, 2022 by Andrew Crawley

Shopify Unite 2021

Online Store 2.0

3 Areas Rebuilt

Themes and editor improvements
- Completely modular and built out of sections
- All of the themes codes in in sections
- Theme editor – template picker – multiple templates per page
Store content – populates the design – metafields
- Metafields – define and edit directly in admin + bind data sources to sections directly in the editor – no more hardcoding metafields
- Can add validations and descriptions
- Metafields will also power a new content management platform – entirely new custom types using metafields – create content once and publish to different channels
- Pages and even collections have templates now
Developer tooling
- Theme app extension, apps can have their own sections and blocks, apps can contribute liquid in their own app blocks
- Easier for apps to inject scripts
- Blocks, assets and snippets – can ship in one single repo, script tags will be deprecated in the future

Migrating to Online Store 2.0 – https://shopify.dev/themes/migration

Liquid improvements

Dawn, new open source theme available https://github.com/Shopify/dawn
Dawn was built:
- For modern browsers, focused on semantic markup and progressive javascript
- Creative visual design – improving features that affect funnel – collections
- Lean and maintainable – cart api lines of code reduced
- Performance – fast theme by default

Performance and Developer Tooling

Full git integration and extended Shopify CLI
10% first page speed increase equates to a 7% conversion rate bump

Storefront Renderer – 5x speed improvement
GraphQL – shopify admin and shop App both built on graph ql and supports 60K active partner projects

Averages 1M queries/minute
Shopify within 50MS of every buyer is the goal

Storefront API

Can retrieve via storefront API
Can query local pickup via storefront API
Selling plans – can enable subscriptions and Admin APIs released. Can retrieve selling plans, price adjustments + other relevant metadata
New cart capabilities – rebuilt for speed, can pass cart ID, support for discounts
Storefront schema redesign later this year – removing cruft

Checkout

450M people checked out on Shopify in 2020
5B processed on BFCM
Checkout page load times 2X as fast
In past could make changes to editor, can now extend checkout through apps – from simple changes to complex logic: checkout UI, overhaul of scripts + new payment platform
Checkout extensions – example adding warning message for prop 65 in CA using metafields and looking at customer address
Component library for checkout extensions
Checkout promotions example app – build a free gift with purchase checkout extension
Works on Shop Pay and for all merchants
Post Purchase extension – show offers post checkout – opening this up for devs in Q4

Shopify Scripts v2 – rebuilt using web assembly, improved speed and can scale up, can build scripts and deploy using apps

Can turn your script into a public app available for everyone

Payments

Shopify merchants sell all over the world – for all payment developers – can create payment gateways as Shopify apps
Payment apps will be easy to customize and quick to install
Once approved merchants can onboard directly, will rely on OAuth for onboarding

Build an app from scratch

Subscription app extension – go to shopify dev docs and tutorials
Shopify create node to scaffold it and look at partner dashboard
Bulk of the setup from the command line
Developer console – can test with real data and render from local environment

Power of Discovery

1.7M merchants on the platform – matching and recommendation algorithm
New app home page catered to each merchant
Enhancing app ads program

Partners and Developers

2020 – 12.5B in partner and dev revenue – 4X what Shopify did
12.5M app installs in 2020
August 1st, removing first 1M in rev share earned

Hydrogen

Built on JavaScript and React, Hydrogen provides a quick-start toolkit and set of components, so you can focus on building the fun parts that make your store unique
Add “Hydrogen channel”, then connect Git Hub
Similar to React projects, uses react router
React server components – going all in on this
Shipped with Tailwind CSS

https://shopify.dev/hydrogen

Shopify Wholesale Orders

Posted on May 20, 2021December 15, 2022 by Andrew Crawley

Shopify Wholesale Orders

Shopify Wholesale; State of the Union as of May 2021

The Pandemic was a major event that changed how businesses operate and will continue to operate in the future. Manufacturers saw many of their physical retail channels dry up as consumers began to order more online in 2020 and that trend has continued into 2021. Manufacturers are waking up to the fact that to sell their products they need a website to connect with their wholesale customers, this isn’t new, but the Pandemic has accelerated the trend here.

Even now in 2021, most companies use spreadsheets, emails and phone calls to process wholesale and B2B orders. Not only is this inefficient and very manual intensive and it creates friction in the ordering process. When you move your wholesale ordering process online you eliminate manual processes and you will see an increase in your wholesale orders.

Wholesale Functionality You Want for Your Site

There is a baseline level of functionality you need for your online wholesale system: custom price lists, unique customer logins, product recommendations and data analytics to name a few. The typical workflow is that a wholesale customer will log into your site and see a custom curated catalog with specific pricing. In addition, you can include sales rep information, data and analytics about their account and give them the ability to reorder from previous purchases. Most companies will also include new products, upsells and related products so wholesale customers can get an idea of all your potential products. So now the question is how do you set this up on Shopify?

What are the Wholesale Options on Shopify?

There are three primary ways Shopify merchants setup wholesale ordering, here are the 3 most common options:

Shopify Wholesale Apps
Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel
Custom Development

As a Shopify Plus development agency we will consider all 3 options for our clients. Which of the 3 options you choose for your business will depend on your current business process and how much you are willing to flex your process to work with a technical solution. The best implementations are where you adapt a bit to the technical solution AND take the opportunity to streamline your business process and remove inefficiencies at the same time.

Shopify Wholesale Apps

We recommend looking at Shopify wholesale apps to start as many of them can help set you up with a simple solution for accepting wholesale orders. There are two wholesale apps we have seen our clients use:

There are more than these two apps, so invest some time in the Shopify app store and try and find one that is right for you.

Shopify Wholesale Channel

The Shopify Plus wholesale channel lets you expand your business into wholesale by creating a separate, password-protected storefront that’s an extension of your online store. All your wholesale customers and orders are trackable under your current store’s Shopify admin.

Your wholesale store is based on your online store, so you can offer your wholesale buyers (referred to here as wholesale customers) the same products that you offer your online store customers, but at different prices. You can also add wholesale-only products that are available in your wholesale store only.

Your wholesale store has a different storefront (and requires different login credentials) from your online store. Customers cannot access your online store from your wholesale store.

Our recommendation is thoroughly vet the Shopify wholesale channel to make sure it works for your Plus store. Only a small percentage of our clients end up going with this option as the native functionality isn’t typically robust enough to meet their needs for processing wholesale orders.

Custom Development

If you can’t find a Shopify app that works and you’re not a Plus merchant, custom development might be your best choice for implementing wholesale ordering. Custom development for wholesale doesn’t have to be super complicated, often by using tag and metafields in addition to updates to the Shopify liquid templates we can create a wholesale process that works just fine. In addition, you only need to use one site and your wholesale customers log in and based on their tag they see the appropriate pricing specific to them. Another popular option is using both a Shopify public app + doing some custom development around the app to create the ideal system for your company.

Handshake

Shopify purchased Handshake in 2019 and relaunched the service in late 2020 as a wholesale marketplace for suppliers and retailers. There are rumors of a deeper integration with wholesale and it will be interesting to find out if Shopify has more plans for Handshake here in the future.

Shopify Unite 2021 and Wholesale

I am looking forward to Shopify Unite 2021 to find out if there are announcements planned for wholesale. Shopify has a huge opportunity to attract B2B clients that are on the fence about migrating to Shopify until they see a wholesale solution that works for their business. Stay tuned in this area, I expect big things from Shopify in 2021 and 2022 in the B2B space!

Behind the Scenes With the Ambaum Rebrand

Posted on November 2, 2020December 15, 2022 by David Stober

Reinventing the Shopify Plus Partner Agency experience.

BTown Web, a Seattle based Shopify Plus agency, announced they have fully rebranded to Ambaum Labs, LLC, or Ambaum, for short. As a Shopify Plus Partner Agency, Ambaum brings both merchant and agency experience – helping clients navigate and grow their business through the online shopping path. With a seasoned team of Shopify Plus developers, the agency supports client’s technical needs with site development, migrations, integrations and custom development.

Over a cup of coffee from Seattle’s Seven Coffee Roasters (Ambaum client), we went behind the scenes to chat about the exciting rebrand with Founder & CEO Chad Fisher and COO David Stober.

Why initially BTown Web?

“I grew up in Burien, Washington and the name BTown Web was a special name for me when we created the company 7 years ago. The Company began its life in a one-room office next to a small ‘locals’ restaurant in downtown Burien called Angelo’s. Like the restaurant and City of Burien, BTown Web was started with grit and boot-strapping with my first two development hires, Andrew Crawley and Matt Peters (both still with the Company). Early on, our small little Company cut our teeth on custom WordPress, WooCommerce and really any other little development projects we could take on. We not only survived in the early days, but managed to add team members and more clients. Fast forward to 2014 when everything changed with the broad acceleration of eCommerce and the emergence of a new SaaS technology platform company Shopify,” said Chad Fisher.

What made you decide to rebrand?

“BTown Web was a perfect name in the early stages of our company, but as we grew it became clear we needed something with a broader appeal. One of our first Shopify Plus clients came by way of an elementary school friend of mine who I had recently reconnected with, David Stober. David at the time was running a print manufacturing business that happened to be scaling to include online small-run custom print and packaging services as a Shopify Plus merchant (he later found out he was one of the first 50 merchants on Shopify Plus). Through this business relationship and friendship, one thing led to another and then in 2019 he and I began to map out a plan for David to join BTown. Then in 2019 David formally came on board as COO to help scale our growing Shopify Plus Partner Agency and one of the first things he began to drive was the need to rebrand,” explained Chad Fisher.

The meaning of Ambaum

“Ambaum is the road that our agency is located on in the heart of Burien, WA. Ambaum started off as a muddy wagon trail built in 1912 by locals with wheelbarrows, picks, shovels and hard work. Jacob Ambaum was a German immigrant from Ohio that had the inspiration for the creation of the road after which he is now named. Ambaum for us is a symbol of the hard work it takes to build something out of nothing and the power of connecting people and places,” said Chad Fisher.

Jacob Ambaum and wife Mary Sit on their porch with family house guest in 1905. Photo credits to Mary Ambaum Deleuw & WestSeattle.com

Why should merchants choose Ambaum as their Shopify Plus growth agency?

“Ambaum is a team of Shopify Plus Experts, development professionals and business builders that partners with brands looking to grow their digital business and online revenue. Historically, selling online was at best a single channel and at worst, simply a box checking exercise for most CMOs. In today’s commerce climate though, a digital strategy is no longer simply a nice to have – now digital is an absolute necessity which has been accelerated even more by Covid-19,” said David Stober.

“As fellow merchants, we have intimate knowledge of the daily challenges our clients face. The reality is there isn’t a one-size-fits-all method when it comes to scaling an eCommerce business. It takes an openness to change, correct context and a holistic approach. Success takes not only building a great digital foundation and the marketing systems to acquire customers, but also a true owner’s empathy- taking into account the broader business objectives and impacts to operations and finance. At Ambaum, we believe we set ourselves apart as an Agency by viewing our merchants through the lens of the merchant and really putting ourselves in the shoes of the business owner, acting as if it were our own Company,” continued David Stober.

A look ahead and the future of Ambaum

Chad and David shared that Ambaum aims to be the premier Shopify Plus Growth Agency for high-growth digital merchants and passionate brands. “We will accomplish this by heavily investing in our team of eCommerce and development professionals to scale a world-class organization that delivers best-in-class design, development, growth marketing and custom apps to our clients and the broader Shopify ecosystem,” said Chad Fisher.