Shopify Entrepreneur Weekly

Hi there! Welcome to this week's newsletter!

Here’s what’s new:

• The latest Shopify and ecommerce updates.

• This week's freebies show you how to use ChatGPT's image creation.

• How a Shopify store got banned: lessons on emails and order fulfillment.

• New premium Shopify theme for wine, coffee, watch, and jewelry stores.

• Photo of the week!

Ecommerce news and updates

Shopify’s Geolocation app was automatically uninstalled from all stores on March 25. Built-in geolocation features now handle market and language redirects, offering smoother regional shopping. While these updates work for most merchants, stores with multi-store setups or advanced needs may require a third-party app for customized geolocation solutions. Act now to ensure your store’s functionality isn’t disrupted!

Sidekick is now available to all Shopify merchants in all languages.

​Shopify partnered with Bitrise, a mobile DevOps platform, to improve its mobile app development process. This partnership streamlines workflows, reduces complexity, and accelerates app builds by up to 50%. Shopify previously used an in-house DevOps system but says this collaboration expands app capabilities to better serve its growing merchant base.

Life is Good has joined Shopify, upgrading their tech stack for a better customer experience. Key improvements include faster checkout with ShopPay, personalized support with AI tools like Kustomer and Nosto, and seamless returns using Loop.

Block has rebranded Afterpay to "Cash App Afterpay," integrating the BNPL service directly into Cash App. This move gives Cash App's 57M monthly users access to Afterpay's Pay-in-4 and upcoming Pay Monthly products while managing loans directly within the app.

TikTok ad prices are falling in the US, with CPMs dropping 80% between January 2024 and January 2025, according to AdRoll data from 20,000 advertisers. Digiday notes this price drop is due to fewer advertisers participating, driven by concerns over a potential TikTok ban, reducing competition in its auction system. These lower prices present a chance for TikTok advertisers still active.

Freebies you don’t want to miss this week

OpenAI just launched image editing in ChatGPT, and it’s amazing! No Photoshop, no extra tools — just type, tweak, and refine. All within the chat. Now you can create more unique visuals, faster, and stand out from the crowd.

Check out this LinkedIn post for a step-by-step guide on how to generate and edit images without ever leaving the chat!

Overheard on the socials

A Shopify store owner shared their story on Reddit about how their store got banned. Here's what happened and some helpful takeaways:

Missed Emails: Shopify sent the owner an email asking for documents with a short deadline. Unfortunately, the owner didn’t see the email in time and missed the deadline, leading to the store being shut down.

💡 Takeaway: Make sure to keep your Shopify account email inbox organized and always prioritize emails from Shopify.

Order Fulfillment Issues: Shopify’s email mentioned verifying fulfillment details. Turns out, the store hadn’t fulfilled orders for two months because a third-party app wasn’t updating Shopify’s system properly.

💡Takeaway: Double-check that your order statuses are always up to date, especially if you’re using third-party apps.

The store owner has tried contacting Shopify support but hasn’t received a response yet.

👉 This is a good reminder to stay on top of your emails and order tracking to avoid running into similar issues.

New theme alert

Purely by BoostifyThemes – $150 USD 💵

Designed for conversions, this theme is perfect for wine, coffee, watch, and jewelry stores. With features like upsells, cross-sells, quick buys, and sliders, it captures customer attention and drives sales. Optimized for mobile and speed, it ensures seamless engagement with your brand.

Photo of the week

OpenAI has surprised everyone in the AI image space with 4.0 image generation! Now, you can use ChatGPT for almost anything visual. Users are sharing incredible ad creatives and marketing assets fully generated by AI—think print ads, Studio Ghibli-style memes, graphic design, Wikipedia pages with detailed explanations, diagrams, and all kinds of art styles. While some worry about what this means for the future of artists and graphic designers, others are having a blast creating visuals for their posts, blogs, and products. What do you think?

That's it for today!

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