Recently, Shopify announced a feature that instantly allows merchants to give customers more product choices than ever before, and earn commissions in the process. This helps turn searches into sales, stops product gaps from hurting your revenue, and helps companies collaborate on Shopify.
What is the Shopify Product Network?
According to a blog post from Shopify, the Shopify Product Network helps you provide your customers with access to more products, without having to worry about stocking or shipping them yourself.
Traditionally, if someone visits your ecommerce store, searches for something, and finds out you don’t carry it, they’ll leave your store and go somewhere that sells what they’re looking for. This new network feature prevents the customer from leaving, as they’ll receive personal product recommendations for items that fit what they’re looking for, even if you don’t sell them.
For example, if someone searches for a particular type of lotion in your online beauty store, even if you don’t carry it, they’ll be able to buy it on your page from another participating merchant.
While the other merchant actually selling them the lotion will get the sale, you’ll get a commission for your role in the transaction. In addition to being triggered by a search, customers may also be given native personalized product recommendations in your store, related to the products you do sell.
So instead of companies competing for customers, Shopify merchants can now collaborate and each get a piece of the pie.
How Does it Work?
The way this network works for Shopify merchants is simple. To get started, just go to the Shopify App Store and add the Shopify Product Network app.
Within the app, you get full control over how the feature works. You can decide what products are able to show up in your store, where the placements end up, and more. As a result, this ensures you can exclude certain brands, categories, or products that don’t fit within your store.
Whenever a customer buys a recommended product, you get a commission. In addition to using this feature to purely collect commissions, you can also use it to gain insights on your customers/visitors to help you decide future merchandising decisions.
What Benefits Does it Offer to Ecommerce Sellers?
In addition to earning passive commissions, this feature offers several other benefits to ecommerce sellers.
First, it turns potential bounces into conversions by seamlessly filling product gaps. Instead of a customer leaving your store when they see you don’t have what they’re looking for, they’ll be given a product from another merchant that they can purchase without leaving your store, saving them time and effort.
This feature also lets you instantly expand your catalog with products from other sellers, filling your gaps and ensuring that no matter what your customer searches for, there’s a good chance they’ll be able to find it on your site. Not only that, but you don’t need to worry about handling the shipping, returns, or customer support, as that’s handled by the merchant actually selling the product.
You also own the information of the customer, as they check out on your store, even if they buy another merchant’s product. As a result, you have control over the relationship, which lets you build loyalty with them over time.
