Where people and ideas unite
Where
people
and
ideas
unite
At Unite, our partners and developers come together to celebrate shared accomplishments, forge new connections, and ignite the future of commerce technology.
2018 Keynotes
Tobi Lütke
Shopify’s Canadian history, the value of diversity, and why the future of commerce should have more voices, not fewer.
Satish Kanwar
The evolution of retail, and the new hardware and other announcements that will help merchants sell anywhere.
Lynsey Thornton
The announcement of multiple releases designed to help merchants make the most of of their valuable time.
Brandon Chu
The complexity of commerce and exciting advancements to Shopify’s App and Partner platform.
Harley Finkelstein
A look back at how much we’ve grown, the value of community, and why commerce needs to be shared by as many people as possible.
Tobi Lütke & Rt Hon. Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sits down with Tobi and author Amber Mac to discuss the future of commerce.
Releases
Sell simply
Marketing is about getting the right product in front of the right people at the right time. We announced several leading-edge features to help merchants do just that, including ways to develop marketing campaigns, and quickly boost customer retention.
Sell more
Retail isn’t dead, the next evolution is just beginning. That’s why we built a brand new lineup of products that will help retail merchants create even more compelling customer experiences, and integrate multiple sales channels.
Shopify goes multilingual
At Unite 2018, we took two significant strides forward in our mission to make commerce better for everyone. Our first multilingual beta for Shopify is now available in six languages, and we’re releasing Local Payment Methods for Shopify Payments.
Empowering Partners
Wherever you are in your entrepreneurial journey, getting your business to the next level can be a challenge. We made three updates to the Shopify Partner ecosystem that will help you connect with clients and scale your business.
Tracks
Building
This track focuses on the user experience and technical capabilities of building and developing with Shopify. You’ll experience new APIs, tools, and resources to enhance your app, as well as examine advancements in Shopify’s web design, development, and theme toolkits. This track is best suited for developers and app business owners.
Welcome to Track 1: Building
Kickoff the afternoon with an introduction to the track from Shopify’s Sr. Vice President of Engineering, Jean-Michel Lemieux.
Locations: Unlocking New Opportunities
Merchants with multiple locations face a unique set of roadblocks when it comes to moving products. This session will detail the development opportunities across this large and expanding segment, and how you can help us increase flexibility, visibility, and accuracy for these merchants however and wherever they sell.
Building Apps with GraphQL
Consuming Shopify data and building apps with GraphQL unlocks a ton of potential for developers. Come learn about new resources, tools, and best practices for what to build.
Extending Your Apps Into Shopify
This session will walkthrough the conceptual model of our latest release and the resulting optimization of developer workflow. Learn firsthand what to expect in payload, what API to call if necessary, what to set in partners, and more.
Boost Your App with Discounts
Learn how to leverage the Price Rules API features to boost value in your marketing app. This talk will detail how to create exciting discounts and report on them, so you can help more merchants move more products.
Building Marketing Apps for All Entrepreneurs
Come get a comprehensive look at new opportunities to improve and offer marketing technology to merchants. Designed to help simplify merchant’s marketing efforts, this session will explore how we’re enabling app partners.
Navigating the Implications of GDPR and Building Trust with Merchants
The deadline for GDPR compliance is fast approaching, are you ready? Learn about the most relevant sections of the new rules and how compliance is not only a cost but an opportunity to build trust with merchants.
Architecture of a Shopify App
Learn common pitfalls and best practices for building your Shopify app. We'll walk through mistakes you might be making using our APIs and how to fix them. You'll also learn what Shopify's new APIs and libraries can do to help you build apps and track down bugs with renewed efficiency.
Building Scalable Apps
Learn how to effectively scale your Shopify app. We’ll draw from our own channel integrations to discuss minimizing bottlenecks and contention, how to deal with large volumes of webhooks, and what happens when these areas are overlooked.
Creating Accessible Themes
A merchant’s storefront needs to meet the needs of its shoppers. However, building accessible themes doesn’t mean compromising its design or the end-user experience. This session will talk about how to begin auditing the accessibility of your storefront and improve the experience for all its shoppers.
Scaling
This track deep dives into the opportunities available within the Shopify Partner Ecosystem. We’ll define product management, marketing, and growth techniques to help scale your business, as well as explore product and feature updates to help you market Shopify to clients. This track is best suited for agency owners and business development teams.
Welcome to Track 2: Scaling
Kickoff the afternoon with an introduction to the track from Atlee Clark, Director of the App and Partner Platform.
Increasing App Visibility and Lead Quality
Learn about upcoming changes to the App Store that will serve up personalized experiences for each and every merchant, and send more highly qualified leads to your app listings. We’ll take an in-depth look at each enhancement before diving into additional tips on how to leverage these updates to grow your business.
Selling Shopify Plus
Big merchants represent big opportunities, but they often have big expectations. This panel will discuss pitch-proven best practices and share insights into the needs of Plus merchants, so Partners of any size can ink deals and realize big dreams.
Designing High Impact Teams for Scale
Choosing how and when to scale your team can be just as daunting as it is exciting. This panel will tackle selecting the right growth model, managing remote workers, maintaining culture, and onboarding to Shopify.
Scaling Retail
Retail is the world’s largest sales channel and it is evolving quickly. In this talk, we’ll dive deep into how we’re building the future of retail, and where the best opportunities exist for partners. You'll get a transparent look at the product and commercial initiatives that will power the next generation of retail stores on Shopify.
Scaling Support Systems
A well-designed support system is absolutely integral to maintaining your service levels and driving customer value during growth. This talk will detail how to build, augment, and scale your support offering from an operational and strategic perspective.
Project Management and Building Client Trust
Project Management is tricky. It is as much an art as it is a science. This panel will explore the fundamentals and guiding principles for managing projects, including setting expectations, dealing with scope creep, and building client trust through effective onboarding and communication strategies.
Growing your Customer Base
From small businesses to rapidly scaling enterprises and everything in-between, this panel will cover the key principles Partners need to select a niche, define an audience, and build the optimal customer acquisition funnel.
The Power of Community
The Shopify community can open a lot of doors for those who contribute to or engage with it. This panel will cover opportunities to get involved, both online and off, for partners of all sizes looking to make an impact or provide reassurance to others.
Venue
Evergreen Brick Works550 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON, M4W 3X8
Toronto, Canada is the fastest-growing market for tech jobs in North America. Shopify is proud to be a part of this growth, and is excited to bring Unite to such a dynamic city packed with potential.
We’ve negotiated hotel rates with the Hilton Garden Inn Toronto. Find out how to book your stay as well as how to get to Evergreen Brick Works in the FAQ
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Event Sponsors
Unite is proud to collaborate with some incredible organizations to offer an unforgettable experience
