Grok bot and Gemini can now manage your Shopify store

Sponsored by

Happy Monday, 10,000+ Shopify rockstars!

Ada here, with your weekly dose of ecommerce insights designed to boost your store's sales by at least 1% this week.

Here is what is inside today's edition:

• Industry: Shopify just dropped three new AI connectors.

• Growth Hack: Before you kill an underperforming ad, check these three things first.

• Weekly Challenge: Run a post-mortem on your last flopped ad in 60 minutes.

• Trend: Baby Head Protectors

Let's get into it.

Your store just got a new team member. It lives inside Gemini.

Shopify is making it easier to work with your store without spending your day clicking through the admin.

On October 9, Shopify announced new connectors for Gemini, Grok and Salesforce Agentforce. The idea is simple: you can interact with your business through AI tools instead of doing everything manually inside Shopify.

The Gemini connector lets you work with your store from the Gemini app, including tasks such as adding products, checking orders and pulling reports. Grok gives you another way to ask questions about your business data, while Agentforce lets businesses build AI agents for workflows such as customer service, inventory and marketing.

So why does this matter?

Think about the time you spend switching between dashboards, looking up order information or pulling together reports. If these connectors can help you handle some of those repetitive tasks faster, you get more time back for the work that actually grows your business.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday approaching, that time could come in handy. Just remember to review the access you grant and check important changes before applying them.

Growth Hack: Before You Kill a Flopped Ad, Check These Three Things

A media buyer managing $1.3 million in monthly ad spend shared his approach to reviewing failed ads. His first checks aren't about the hook or copy. They're about whether the creative makes sense for the audience.

First, check the format. Different formats can appeal to different audiences. Before scrapping an idea, look at whether the format suits the people you're targeting. Sometimes the concept isn't the problem.

Second, check how the customer is portrayed. Does the person in your ad feel relatable, or does the portrayal come across as exaggerated or condescending? If your audience doesn't recognise themselves in the creative, it may struggle to connect.

Third, check your testing history. One or two failed ads don't necessarily mean the underlying idea is bad. Try a different hook, opening or format before giving up on a concept you still believe in.

The point is to figure out what failed before deciding the whole idea is a write-off. One bad execution doesn't automatically mean a bad concept.

Unify Your Teams and Tech Stack With HubSpot

Connect your customer data, teams, and tools without the hassle of complex integrations or lengthy setups. One easy platform gives marketing, sales, and service teams a unified customer view and the tools to turn it into growth.

Why HubSpot and what's new
• Generate leads and automate marketing with Marketing Hub
• Build your pipeline and close more deals with Sales Hub
• Scale customer support and drive retention with Service Hub
• Keep customer data clean, connected, and actionable with one, unified platform

Join 306,000+ in over 135 countries using HubSpot to grow their businesses.

See what a more connected approach to growth can do for you and your team. Get setup quickly and start checking off your hardest tasks.

Get started free

Weekly Challenge: Run a Post-Mortem on Your Last Flopped Ad

This week, spend 60 minutes reviewing an ad you stopped running before giving it another shot.

Step 1 (20 mins): Pull up your last underperforming ad. Look at the format and audience first. Does the creative feel suited to the people you're trying to reach?

Step 2 (20 mins): Watch the ad again. Look at the person on screen, the setting, the opening and the message. Would your target customer feel understood, or does the portrayal feel exaggerated or out of touch?

Step 3 (20 mins): Check how many versions of the idea you've tested. If you've only tried one or two, write a new hook or opening for the same concept and add it to your next creative batch.

Don't throw away a potentially good idea because one version didn't work.

Trend: Baby Head Protectors

Baby head protectors, including soft helmet-style coverings and padded backpack designs, are marketed to parents whose babies are learning to sit, stand and walk. The appeal is easy to understand: parents want to feel more prepared for those wobbly first steps. Your trend research points to growing interest, with one helmet reportedly selling more than 1,000 units on Amazon in a month and a backpack-style design generating around $100,000 in monthly Amazon revenue.

3 ways to cash in on this trend

Make the use case clear. Show how the product is designed to be worn during supervised play and early walking practice. Explain its features honestly, without suggesting that it guarantees protection against head injuries.

Get useful parenting content in front of shoppers. Work with relevant parenting creators to demonstrate the product, explain how it is intended to be used and answer common questions. Practical demonstrations give shoppers more information than another product-only ad.

Build a new-parent essentials collection. Group products around stages and everyday needs, such as first steps, feeding or outings. This helps shoppers discover complementary products and gives them a reason to browse your store beyond a single purchase.

Till next Monday,

Ada