Shopify, the e-commerce platform, has announced that it will expand its Shop Promise program to all eligible US merchants in the coming months. The program provides consumers with accurate delivery dates, which has helped merchants see up to a 25 per cent increase in conversion rates.
Previously, the program was only available to those using the Shopify fulfillment network. Shopify sees Shop Promise as part of its efforts to simplify logistics for merchants across the supply chain. To help move products from manufacturers to US ports, a Flexport app focused on ocean freight has launched on Shopify’s app store.
The app allows merchants to gain SKU-level visibility for in-transit inventory and choose the most appropriate ocean freight shipping option. Once a merchant’s products enter distribution hubs and fulfillment centers, Shopify’s acquisitions of 6 River Systems and Deliverr come into play, enabling merchants to fulfill and deliver orders quickly and reliably from warehouses.
To determine a merchant’s eligibility to use Shop Promise, Shopify looks into which brands consistently ship reliably. Eligibility requirements include fulfilling orders from at least one US location, having the Shop channel installed and Shop Pay activated, maintaining a shipping volume of at least 25 orders within a 28-day period, delivering 90 per cent of Shop Promise orders within the communicated delivery expectation, and offering shipping prices of $20 or less on 90 per cent of total orders shipped domestically in the US.
The Shop Promise badge indicates that a product has been verified for delivery in five calendar days or less. However, some have questioned whether this timeframe is competitive with Amazon Prime's "Buy with Prime" offering, which allows Prime members to shop on outside websites, with Amazon handling those orders through its own fulfillment network. The program expanded to all US merchants earlier this year. Despite this, Shopify believes that providing greater visibility and confidence in delivery dates can help improve store conversion rates, which is why it launched Shop Promise in the first place.
