For every order, Shopify now fights climate change

♻️ Buyers love green

A recent Shopify survey of more than 24,000 shoppers and 9000 small to medium-sized businesses, revealed a growing inclination towards sustainability practices.

• 54% consider sustainability when shopping, and 43% say they're more likely to purchase from a sustainable brand.

🍃 And it’s easy to do

Shopify is making it easier than ever to shop sustainably. Their Planet app allows businesses to offer carbon-neutral shipping on every order. Here's how it works:

• Every penny you spend through Planet goes towards funding technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

• Planet estimates a merchant's shipping emissions. Businesses then choose a subscription plan, typically costing just between 3.5 and 15 cents per order, to fund these carbon removal projects.

📈 More results, more initatives

As of mid-December 2023, Shopify's initial investments have already removed 84,400 metric tons of CO2.

• The Planet app is simple to set up and can be added with your Shopify store.

Shopify's commitment to sustainability goes beyond the Planet app. They're constantly innovating:

• Shopify Sustainability Fund: This initiative invests at least $5 million each year in companies developing new carbon removal technologies.

• Shop Pay: Every time you use Shop Pay at checkout, Shopify automatically offsets the carbon emissions from your purchase.

• Black Friday and Cyber Monday: During these peak shopping periods, Shopify goes all-in, funding carbon removal for every single order placed.

Zappfresh wants to be the king… of meat

🍖 Meat Zappfresh

Deepanshu Manchanda saw a gap in the market: he wasn't happy with the experience at meat shops. This frustration in 2015 became the spark that ignited Zappfresh.

Zappfresh offers a wide variety of meats, including seafood, poultry, cold cuts, and even exotic options like duck and turkey.

🥇 What makes them unique

Most ecommerce platforms struggled to deliver a satisfying meat buying experience. Zappfresh saw this gap and decided to bridge it.

Here's what Zappfresh did:

• From the farm straight to you: Zappfresh sources its meat and seafood directly from farms. They process it hygienically and cut it to your preference before delivering it straight to you.

💵 New funding

Zappfresh recently secured funding of $4.3 million. This will go to:

• Setting sights on the North and South Indian markets

• A faster and more reliable delivery network

• Introduce new product lines based on evolving preferences, including premium meats and ready-to-eat options

• Acquiring or partnering with others in the online meat delivery space

Here's how AI is helping against shopping scams

Shopify reports that in 2023, the US suffered ecommerce losses amounting to $38 billion from online payment fraud.

They might pretend they never got that cool jacket you ordered, or claim they received something totally different.

The good news is, there's a secret weapon in the fight against fraud: AI.

Here's how:

• It can identify suspicious patterns, like a bunch of orders coming from the same location or device – a red flag for potential fraud.

• It can also be used to improve customer service like spotting high-risk transactions. AI can flag them for human review, allowing for a more personalized approach to preventing fraud.

• AI can analyze return data to see if there's a trend. Maybe a dress has a sizing issue, or perhaps customer tastes have changed. This helps businesses keep their inventory fresh and relevant.

Here's examples of companies doing these:

• Fire with Fire: Companies like Visa are using their own AI that analyzes transactions in real time and reviews up to 500 risk factors in 300 milliseconds.

• Sharing the Knowledge: Companies like Sift work together to share information about risky transactions. This way, if a scammer tries their tricks on one platform, they're less likely to succeed on another.

• Verifying You, the Real You: AI-powered verification systems are getting smarter at distinguishing real users from fake accounts. This can involve things like facial recognition or voice verification.