Shopify

The Build Awards, presented every year at DotDev, recognize the best of the Shopify ecosystem. This year’s winners represent excellence across apps, storefronts, merchant impact, and community. Meet the 2026 winners: Smile.io Discount Kit Easyteam Human NYC Commerce-UI Unlikely Technology Elephant Room Prosper Digital | Platinum Shopify Partner Emili M Horncastle More on what they built → https://lnkd.in/gR-gFUg8 

57% of U.S. founders who waited before launching a business wish they’d started sooner. We surveyed aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners across five countries to find out what holds people back. The top reasons: not enough money, an idea still taking shape, and not feeling prepared. They’re the same reasons current founders once gave. But the conditions have changed. Most respondents say starting a business is more accessible than ever and requires less formal training or credentials. AI has lowered the cost and complexity. Founders aren’t waiting for a plan either. In four of the five countries, around 70% worked through their earliest challenges by trial and error. Ready isn’t a feeling you arrive at. It’s what happens after you start.  https://lnkd.in/gMCKE5Yn

From analog phones and repair parts to World Cup gear, June shopping covered a lot of ground. We analyzed month-over-month sales from thousands of Shopify merchants in the U.S. to see what defined the month. Here's what stood out: → Better sleep was top of mind. Night light projectors (+661%) topped the list, followed by sleep sprays and mists (+632%), mouth tape (+69%), and neck and cervical pillows (+33%). → Analog phones made a comeback. Landline phones rose 277%, while corded phones (+115%) and feature phones (+99%) followed. → Shoppers chose repairs over buying new. Phone screens (+185%), coffee grinder parts (+92%), replacement TV stands and legs (+74%), and vacuum batteries (+62%) were all up. → Brighter smiles were a priority, with toothbrush sanitizers (+105%), tooth gems (+83%), whitening gels (+36%), and whitening kits (+24%) in high demand. → As World Cup matches heated up, sales increased for jerseys (+89%), decorative flags (+63%), sports fan accessories (+53%), and soccer balls (+24%). Five trends. One month. A clear reminder that shopper demand rarely moves in one direction.

Every online store can now have their own AI shopping assistant from Shopify Inbox. When your assistant recognizes a customer from other Shopify stores, it uses their purchase history and preferences to recommend the best products on yours. It’s like having a sales associate on call for every customer, right on your store. https://lnkd.in/gxgNz9T5

This is how search should work: every shopper gets recommendations shaped by their unique taste and purchase history. That’s how search on Shop works now. Less like a traditional search bar, more like a personalized shopping assistant. With every conversation, it gets smarter about what you like and who you’re shopping for. Take it for a spin → https://lnkd.in/gkpBz8RW

What if Shop Pay…worked everywhere? Now it does. The Shop button is now available to any brand on any platform. Setup is simplified too. You’re welcome → https://lnkd.in/gGt-Ep_n

Sidekick now works with your apps. Get answers and take action in third-party apps like Klaviyo and Checkout Links, right from your conversation. Developers: build a Sidekick app extension to connect your data and workflows. https://lnkd.in/gcqy2atf

Marketing on autopilot. Built into Shopify. Introducing Campaign Autopilot: run campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, Shop, and email right from your Shopify admin. Set your budget, add guardrails, and approve what goes live. Autopilot handles the rest, launching ads, shifting spend, and recommending what to do next. Now available in early access, with ChatGPT Ads, Snapchat, and Microsoft Advertising coming soon. Find it in the new Growth tab in your admin → https://lnkd.in/gSiAcX7V

Commerce used to need a destination. With AI, discovery can happen everywhere: while planning a trip, reading a horoscope, watching a film, picking out a board game, or styling a room. For the Spring ’26 Edition, we built five shopping apps in just a few days that do exactly those things, turning everyday moments into shoppable ones. Each app was built by a small team on top of the Catalog API and Universal Commerce Protocol. But these apps aren’t the point. It’s that they show what’s possible with Catalog and UCP. As code becomes easier to create, the threshold for who gets to build commerce has dropped. And for merchants, anything built on Catalog is a new surface where their products can show up. Check out the demos for inspiration → https://lnkd.in/gTVejrhm

Agentic has a new home in the Shopify admin. More shopping is happening in AI channels like ChatGPT and Copilot. If you’re on Shopify, your products are already there. Now you can manage all your channels in one place. Track performance, see which search queries your products appear in, and get tips to improve your rankings. https://lnkd.in/gKMDTmbw