Juphy’s Weekly E-Commerce News Express – 05-09 May 2025
Ceyda Duz
As the e-commerce landscape becomes increasingly competitive, Shopify is doubling down on AI to give merchants a sharper edge. With a major upgrade to its AI assistant, Sidekick, Shopify is redefining how store owners interact with their data, create content, and solve complex business challenges. This week’s top stories reveal a broader trend—AI is not just a tool but a growth enabler, as seen in new launches from Affirm, ShipBob, Volt, and the evolving strategies of US SMBs navigating global markets. Let’s dive into what’s shaping the future of commerce.
Shopify’s AI Assistant, Sidekick, Gets a Significant Intelligence Boost
Shopify merchants are gaining a more powerful ally within their platform. The latest enhancements to Sidekick, Shopify’s built-in AI assistant, promise to elevate how sellers manage their online stores. This update introduces a more sophisticated level of analysis, enabling Sidekick to process information from various aspects of a merchant’s business simultaneously. Instead of providing simple answers, the upgraded AI can now deliver strategic recommendations to tackle complex challenges.
Deeper Insights Through Multi-Source Analysis
Imagine a scenario where a Shopify store owner notices a dip in sales. The new Sidekick can delve into potential contributing factors across different areas like marketing campaigns, stock levels, and customer behavior patterns. By correlating these data points, Sidekick can pinpoint likely causes and suggest concrete, actionable steps to rectify the situation.
Integrated Visual Content Creation
Beyond its enhanced analytical prowess, Sidekick now features integrated image generation capabilities. This allows merchants to create professional-looking visuals for their products and marketing materials directly within the Shopify admin. This eliminates the need to juggle separate design tools, streamlining the creative process and potentially saving time and resources.
The Vision of Declarative Commerce
Shopify emphasizes that these improvements align with their vision of “declarative commerce.” This concept centers around empowering merchants to articulate their desired outcomes in natural language, with Shopify’s AI handling the underlying execution.
Key Upgraded Capabilities of Sidekick
The expanded capabilities of Sidekick now encompass:
- Contextual Data Analysis: Leveraging Shopify’s vast ecosystem and specific store data for highly relevant support.
- Comprehensive Problem Solving: Employing multi-step reasoning to identify the root of business issues and suggest complete solutions for sales, inventory, and customer-related challenges.
- Versatile Content and Image Creation: Generating product descriptions, marketing text, and now visual assets using generative AI.
- Streamlined Daily Management: Assisting with tasks such as inventory control, product organization, customer segmentation, and automated responses in Shopify Inbox.
- Continuous Learning and Adaptation: Refining its support over time based on interactions with merchants.
Powered by Shopify Magic
Sidekick’s intelligence is driven by Shopify Magic, the company’s suite of integrated AI tools, which also powers features like suggested replies in Shopify Inbox, an AI-driven media editor, and automated product categorization. This update signifies Shopify’s ongoing commitment to embedding intelligent assistance directly into its platform, aiming to empower merchants with data-driven insights and streamlined workflows.
US SMBs Embrace AI and Global Ambitions Amidst Trade Worries
A recent survey conducted by DHL Express sheds light on the strategies and outlook of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in the United States. Despite ongoing anxieties surrounding international trade policies, a significant majority of these businesses are not only surviving but thriving, with 68% reporting that they are on track to meet or even surpass their performance targets for 2025.
The Driving Force: Tackling Operational Costs with Tech
The survey of hundreds of DHL’s US small business clients reveals a clear trend: the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and other digital tools. A substantial 57% of respondents identified rising operational costs as their primary internal challenge. This pressure is fueling investments in automation and AI solutions as businesses seek ways to streamline processes and improve efficiency. Encouragingly, only a small fraction (6%) reported difficulties in integrating these new technologies, indicating a successful wave of digital transformation across the SMB landscape.
While domestic performance remains strong, the survey also highlights the complexities of international growth. A significant 67% of businesses cited tariffs as the major impediment to their global expansion plans. However, this obstacle isn’t deterring most SMBs from pursuing opportunities beyond US borders. Europe emerged as the most sought-after growth market (35%), followed by Asia (28%) and Latin America (25%). This resilience underscores a strong appetite for international engagement despite the trade policy uncertainties.
A Promising Outlook for Global Trade
The findings of the DHL Express survey are further supported by the newly published DHL Trade Atlas 2025, a report produced in collaboration with New York University Stern School of Business. This comprehensive analysis projects an acceleration in the growth of global trade over the next five years, outpacing the growth seen in the previous decade. Notably, emerging economies such as India, Vietnam, and the Philippines are expected to be key drivers of long-distance trade.
Easing Workforce Concerns
Interestingly, the survey also indicates a positive shift in workforce challenges. Only 10% of respondents now consider talent shortages a top concern, a significant decrease compared to previous years. This improvement likely reflects the increasing acceptance and implementation of hybrid work models, providing businesses with greater flexibility in accessing talent pools and fostering a greater sense of staffing stability.
In conclusion, the DHL Express survey paints a picture of US SMBs that are proactively embracing technological solutions to manage costs and maintain strong performance. While trade policies present a clear hurdle to international expansion, these businesses remain ambitious in their global outlook, buoyed by a promising forecast for overall global trade and an easing of previous workforce concerns.
Streamlined Payments Down Under: Volt’s One-Click Checkout Arrives for Shopify Australia
Australian Shopify merchants can now offer their customers a significantly faster and more convenient checkout experience thanks to a new integration from Volt, a global real-time payments platform. Volt has expanded its partnership with Shopify to bring its one-click PayTo solution to the Australian market. This innovative payment system mirrors the familiar ease of a saved card, but instead leverages the speed and security of real-time payments. Upon their initial purchase, Australian shoppers can establish a payment agreement with the merchant, often by simply providing their payment ID. This streamlined setup means that subsequent purchases become virtually effortless, as they are automatically pre-authorized, promising a frictionless path from browsing to completed order. This development has the potential to significantly enhance conversion rates and improve the overall online shopping experience for Australian consumers on the Shopify platform.
Enhanced Fulfillment for Growing Brands: ShipBob Plus
ShipBob, a player in the e-commerce fulfillment space for small and mid-sized businesses, has unveiled a new, premium service tier: ShipBob Plus. This offering is specifically tailored to meet the complex needs of rapidly expanding mid-market and enterprise-level brands. ShipBob highlights that Plus delivers a comprehensive fulfillment solution built upon four key pillars: robust supply chain management, advanced technology integration, dedicated and high-touch support, and enhanced access to resources and expertise. The core aim of ShipBob Plus is to empower these high-growth businesses to accelerate their expansion, bolster their operational resilience against supply chain disruptions, and achieve greater cost efficiencies through a more personalized and strategically aligned fulfillment experience.
Affirm Unveils AdaptAI: Personalized Promotions Powered by AI
Affirm, a player in the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) space, has introduced a new AI-driven platform called AdaptAI, designed to empower its merchant partners with sophisticated promotional capabilities. AdaptAI enables merchants to offer tailored financial incentives directly to consumers through the Affirm app and the Affirm card. These personalized benefits can include exclusive interest rates, flexible repayment schedules, and immediate savings, all dynamically optimized based on a customer’s unique shopping behavior, spending patterns, and specific purchase details. This innovative tool allows merchants to deliver the most relevant offers at the crucial point of purchase, potentially enhancing conversion rates and fostering stronger customer relationships through individualized value.
Where Juphy Fits In
As Shopify Sidekick moves toward more natural, humanlike interaction, it highlights a growing expectation in e-commerce: AI tools should be as intuitive to guide as a real team member. That’s exactly how Juphy AI is built. Merchants can “train” Juphy simply by chatting with it—no coding, no complex setup. Whether it’s teaching the AI how to handle specific questions, suggest certain products, or follow your store’s unique tone of voice, Juphy adapts through real conversations. It’s AI that learns the way your team would—quickly, naturally, and with context—so it can start delivering helpful, on-brand support from day one. Start your free trial now and add your new team member to your Shopify store in no time.
Key Takeaways
Shopify Sidekick Gets Smarter: Shopify’s AI assistant, Sidekick, has received a major upgrade, now offering advanced data analysis and strategic business recommendations. Merchants can troubleshoot sales drops, analyze marketing campaigns, stock levels, and customer behaviors all in one place.
US SMBs Turn to AI: A recent DHL survey shows that 68% of US SMBs are on track to meet or exceed 2025 performance targets, despite challenges like trade uncertainty. Many businesses are turning to AI and digital tools to reduce operational costs and improve efficiency. Despite the hurdles of tariffs, SMBs are pushing ahead with plans for international expansion.
Volt Launches One-Click Checkout for Shopify: Volt has expanded its partnership with Shopify to bring a game-changing one-click checkout solution to Australia. The PayTo-powered feature simplifies the payment process for customers, offering the convenience of saved card information while leveraging the speed and security of real-time payments.
ShipBob Plus: Fulfillment Built for High-Growth: ShipBob has launched ShipBob Plus, a new premium service tier tailored to the needs of rapidly growing mid-market and enterprise-level brands. This solution focuses on improving supply chain management, offering advanced tech integrations, personalized support, and access to a wide range of resources.
Affirm Debuts AdaptAI: Affirm is taking its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offerings to the next level with the launch of AdaptAI, a platform that uses AI to deliver personalized promotions directly to consumers. Merchants can now offer tailored incentives, including exclusive interest rates and flexible repayment options, based on individual shopping behaviors.
