Deann Evans, who joined Shopify as the Director of EMEA Expansion & Partnerships, has been promoted to EMEA Managing Director. She would look after the Canadian company’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The London-based professional joined Shopify in August 2021 after GoToDigital as CEO. Earlier, she worked with companies like Mettrr, Spencer Park Consulting, Sizmek, ClearSaleing, eBay, PointRoll, Dennis and TargetCom.
We’re focused on how do we and grow our business in EMEA, to continue to support our partners that are gonna be driving growth in retail.
Deann Evans, EMEA Managing Director, Shopify
Expectations From Evans
In her new role, Shopify expects Evans to expand the company’s regional growth by developing its merchant base and the partner ecosystem. Shopify values its partner ecosystem like no other e-commerce company. In August last year, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein revealed that Shopify Partners helped his company make a revenue of $32 billion in 2021.
“$32 billion. That’s how much revenue the ShopifyPartners ecosystem generated in 2021. That’s up 45% from 2020 and nearly 7x Shopify’s 2021 revenue – and we’re proud of their success,” reads his tweet.
Shopify Partner Program is an ecosystem of merchants, app developers, agencies, designers, freelancers and affiliate marketers associated with Shopify. The partners are offered an earning of 20 percent revenue share along with an impressive e-commerce solution and product roadmap.
The program allows all partners to join for free, without any trials and offers them a 99.9 percent uptime.
Evans is also expected to represent the team culture in the EMEA market. “Shopify is on a mission to make commerce better for everyone, and I’m excited for the challenge of taking on a role that will empower our merchants and partners in EMEA to continue to grow,” she said as quoted by internetretailing.net.
The Power of AI
Before her promotion, Evans spoke about the power of artificial intelligence in assisting retail merchants. “Customers want to stay connected with a brand, they want to have the same experience wherever they are, whether that is online or in-store,” Evans told internetretailing.net.
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She was part of the panel at the IRX in Birmingham. “Since the pandemic, we have seen a huge growth in the e-commerce market, with more brands and retailers trading online and direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies that started during the pandemic, now opening pop-up stores and testing the high-street,” Evans said.
Last month, when Shopify terminated 20 percent of its staff, CEO Tobi Lutke said we stand “at the dawn of the AI era”. He believes that the opportunity comes with unprecedented new capabilities. “Shopify has the privilege of being amongst the companies with the best chances of using AI to help our customers. A copilot for entrepreneurship is now possible. Our main quest demands from us to build the best thing that is now possible, and that has just changed entirely,” Lutke said, addressing his team on important team and business changes.
Evans agrees with Lutke, saying that “we are currently living in the AI era.”
“When you have humans working alongside AI, the productivity levels are going to be something we have never seen before,” she added.
Brands With AI Assistants
Recently, popular brands like Gymshark, Decathalon and Fashionnova launched AI assistants in their stores. Gymshark is based on Shopify and it recently helped its founder Ben Francis become one of the youngest newcomers to join the 2023 World’s Billionaires List.
“A billionaire built on Shopify. I’ve watched Ben Francis grow from our Shopify starter plan in his parent’s garage to having a flagship on Regent Street. Proud to call him a friend and Shopify merchant since day 1,” Finkelstein tweeted in praise of Francis.
Francis started the sportswear brand Gymshark in his parent’s garage in 2012 and opened its first brick-and-mortar store in 2021. Thanks to his incredible success on Shopify, Francis started the physical store in London’s most popular shopping destination Regent Street.
Potential in the EMEA
Evans sees a lot of potential in merchants based in the EMEA. “The UK and the EMEA region as a whole are vital to our future success and the future of commerce,” she said.
“We’re focused on how do we and grow our business in EMEA, to continue to support our partners that are gonna be driving growth in retail,” Evans concluded.
Shopify Magic For Product Descriptions
In February, Shopify launched an artificially intelligent tool called Shopify Magic to help merchants write product descriptions on their Shopify store. Designed for commerce, Shopify Magic is a suite of software tools that write attractive and high-quality product descriptions on their own. While you save energy by not planning descriptions, it helps you save time as well as compelling product descriptions are generated within a few seconds.
The time and energy you save using Shopify Magic can then be used to sell more and focus on the right promotions to reach your target audience. Evans believes: “Product descriptions being already generated for retailers and brands on the platform will make trading a much easier experience”.
The product description is an explanatory text that summarises the features of a product, its benefits and specifications. It aims to provide potential customers with an accurate and detailed understanding of what the product is and what it can do, helping them make informed purchasing decisions.
A good product description must feature details like the name of the product, brand, dimensions, materials used and colour options. It must also include other relevant technical specifications and highlight the product’s unique features and benefits, such as its performance, durability, ease of use, or any additional value it may offer to the customer.
Connecting Consumers With Retailers
“Shopify is all about meeting shoppers wherever they are shopping and giving them the experience they want,” Evans said.
“Facilitating that connection between consumers and retailers is vital, especially now where we are seeing more businesses moving to cross-border commerce,” she added.
In September last year, the Canadian e-commerce giant launched Shopify Markets Pro and Shopify Translate & Adapt to capture the international selling market. Both products help merchants to online sell their products to anyone across the globe.
The initiative is aimed to democratize small business owners’ access to international commerce. The new Shopify Markets Pro helps them expand their business globally. It covers more than 150 countries. Shopify Translate & Adapt, on the other hand, localizes the customer journey to boost international selling chances for merchants.
In 2021, Shopify launched Shopify Markets to enable cross-border selling options for online merchants. The initiative has helped over 175,000 merchants sell their locally produced articles across the globe. Talking about the biggest e-commerce market — the United States, Shopify Markets claims to have helped an average merchant to sell products to over 14 other countries.
