The Nuances and Advantages of Shopify AI for Storeowners

Shopify is getting on the artificial intelligence (AI) train with a new Shopify AI technology of its own. Its product, Shopify Magic, has the potential for a significant impact on how you operate and manage your store.

But how exactly does Shopify AI function, and what does that mean for how you build and optimize your online presence? That’s what we’ll discuss in this guide. But first, let’s dive in with a quick background and refresher on the current state of AI in eCommerce.

Shopify AI and the Larger eCommerce AI Context

Short for artificial intelligence, AI describes the process of using computers to perform tasks that require more intelligence than just following a pre-set formula. Recent examples include:

• The ability to ‘see’ and understand the meaning of different pictures
• Recognizing and emulating speech patterns
• Making independent, data-based decisions
• Translating between languages while considering broader cultural contexts and nuances
• And more

The past year has seen a rapid increase in AI applications in business, including eCommerce. Current forecasts expect an annual market growth of nearly 40% over the next seven years, meaning that we’re not anywhere near the end of this increase.

We recently wrote about one of those eCommerce AI applications in ChatGPT. In that article, we outlined applications that range from data mining and machine learning to demand forecasting and content creation. The newly announced Shopify AI solution focuses primarily on that content end of the equation.

What Is Shopify Magic?

Put simply, Shopify Magic is an AI tool within the platform’s backend that can automatically generate product descriptions. This is significant, given the fact that according to the company’s internal data, millions of Shopify product descriptions across stores do not have a product description.

Shopify is also currently running a beta test on the same tool for email subject lines and page headers. However, as of this writing, only a few merchants have received early access to this tool as the platform looks to iron out some final kinks before the official release.

At its core, the process is simple. First, within the Shopify Magic platform, you enter a few keywords related to your product and your intended tone. From there, the tool uses Large Language Models (LLMs) similar to ChatGPT that analyze books, articles, and web pages to generate draft descriptions for review.

Crucially, Shopify Magic is a machine-learning solution that learns and improves over time. As you provide feedback, it can discover patterns and relationships between words to make slight improvements for the next time it’s used.

How Can You Generate Product Descriptions With Shopify AI?

Generating good product descriptions on Shopify Magic is relatively simple. But it does take a few steps that help you calibrate the tool for the best possible output. Those steps include:

Setting Your Target Language

Shopify’s AI tool currently supports American English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), and Chinese (simplified). That said, you can also use the Special Instructions box to ask for product descriptions in a different language.

Adding Relevant Keywords

Shopify recommends using keywords describing the type of product you’re selling, along with materials, fit, and intended use. Information about the buyer, important brand keywords, and other product details can also help to improve the description.

Choosing Your Intended Tone

The tone you choose will impact the vocabulary, sentence structure, and even the punctuation of the description produced. Pre-set options include expert, supportive, persuasive, daring, playful, and sophisticated. You can also choose a custom tone option and write in your own alternative, like experienced or witty.

Checking the Accuracy of the Content

Because the tool is automated, it might include inaccuracies that you’ll need to check. Because it draws from external sources, it could list care instructions or product benefits that don’t actually apply to your product. Shopify specifies that the store owner is responsible for verifying and maintaining accuracy.

Providing Feedback in the Tool

By using the integrated feedback mechanism, you can teach the tool how to improve in building product descriptions for you over time. The process is simple. Hover over a piece of content, then click thumbs up or down for positive or negative feedback. The more detail you provide, the better.

Especially in the beginning, you might need to spend some time training the tool. But that investment can pay off big time by improving your efficiency in generating and optimizing product descriptions.

How Shopify Magic Can Benefit Your eCommerce Store

Despite its name, this is not a magic tool that will help your products sell automatically. It requires some manual work, especially in the beginning. But at the same time, Shopify Magic does come with a few benefits that make it well worth a try for any eCommerce merchant:

• Efficiency. Even with some manual touch, the above steps will take significantly less time than writing product descriptions from scratch. That increased efficiency means more time available to spend on other parts of building and promoting the business.
• Consistency. When using similar keywords and the same tone across products, Shopify Magic will ensure that the product descriptions are consistent across the entire store. That, in turn, creates a more integrated experience for customers just browsing your website.
• SEO. Use SEO-optimized keywords, and then Shopify Magic will integrate them into the product descriptions. Given the importance of SEO optimization for product descriptions, this can help your store gain increased visibility and traffic through higher search engine rankings.

Add it all together, and one thing becomes clear. This is a tool specifically designed to help you save time, build a more consistent store, and build the visibility you need to increase your sales and build your business.

Optimize Your eCommerce Store With Future Holidays

Even with recent announcements like Shopify Magic, we’re only at the beginning of the impact artificial intelligence can and will have on eCommerce. As Shopify AI solutions continue to change how you do business, it helps to have a reliable partner to continue optimizing your online store for sustainable business and revenue growth.

That’s where Future Holidays comes in. Our extensive experience in eCommerce across multiple industries positions us well to work on building and optimizing your store. This experience becomes especially relevant as new solutions like Shopify Magic get introduced. Contact us to learn more about this feature and how we can help you optimize it on your end.