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NEWS · MILK BOTTLE LABS · 134 ARTICLES
Notes from the team on Shopify, Klaviyo, B2B and everything that moves Irish and UK ecommerce.
LATEST
Shopify's Spring 2026 Editions release is the most ambitious yet — 150+ updates spanning AI-native commerce, a rebuilt Sidekick, Campaign Autopilot, and the most significant developer platform shift in years. Here's what matters most for merchants and agencies.
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Shopify
Key Takeaways Klaviyo in Ireland matters because Irish ecommerce is growing fast, and Shopify brands need better automation, analytics, and customer success without adding headcount.
Shopify
Introduction This guide explores Shopify's advanced B2B features as of 2026, showing how merchants on any Shopify plan can leverage native tools for wholesale and business-to-business sales.
As of April 2026, Shopify has rolled out its core B2B feature set across all plans, including Basic at $39/month. More than 36 features previously locked behind a Plus contract are now available to any merchant — a move that fundamentally changes how accessible wholesale commerce on Shopify can be.
NEWS
For Shopify Plus merchants, customizing the checkout experience traditionally required editing the checkout.liquid file for checkout pages. This process was often complex and costly, necessitating developer assistance and limiting the ability to create a unique checkout flow. Recognizing these chall
We've been inside hundreds of Shopify & Shopify Plus stores. Here are the 5 Shopify apps we recommend you install to secure your data, boost revenue and improve the store experience for your customers.
A huge congratulations to the five winners of the Backing Business Campaign. It was an inspiring initiative to be part of and we were joined by Minister Robert Troy T.D. on it's successful completion.
Congratulations to the final 5 in Virgin Media's Backing Business initiative. There was a great response and an array of Munster businesses applied. See who the successful 5 are...
Are you a small business in the Munster region? A €100,000 programme has been announced to provide 5 businesses in Munster with bespoke Digital Transformation packages.
In May 2021 Google will roll out a major update known as the Page Experience Update. In this update Google include page experience signals, when interacting with your Shopify store, in their search rankings.
Event
Want to know how ecommerce agencies can capitalise on the biggest industry trends for 2021? Ecommerce Partnerships has teamed up with industry experts to share their insights with you.
Developer
Selly Promotion & Pricing Shopify app allows merchants to display offers that will increase sales, such as flexible discounts BOGO, free gift, free shipping, 20% off and more.
marketing
Due to the pandemic, we have more retailers than ever trading online. We highlight some of the key retail dates to make the most of selling online in 2021.
marketing
Kimonix Super Collections Sort&Create allows merchants to optimise sales and inventory by showing the right product, in the right place, at the right time, in any collection.
marketing
With Smile: Rewards & Loyalty you can turn one-time sales into repeat customers with a loyalty program with this flexible and easy to manage app.
marketing
Your loyal customers are the ones who are going to buy your products even if they aren’t on sale and recommend you to friends and family. They are your most valued customer.
Developer
Frequently Bought Together is a great way to sell two or more products together. You’ve seen how Amazon invests enthusiastically on recommendations; Shopify merchants can now too.
Developer
Searchanise supercharges the search function of your store, so store visitors can find exactly what they are looking for with ease. It goes beyond the limitations of Shopify’s standard search function. It is more than a search app.
Covid-19 Online Retail Scheme
The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) has opened a second call for retail businesses to apply for the Covid-19 Online Retail Scheme. The maximum grant available is €40,000.
App
OrderlyEmails helps merchants to create great-looking Shopify notification emails that sell more. It's an easy to use design tool with a focus on branding, conversions, and efficiency.
Magento
Magento went with ‘End Of Life’ when deciding to effectively bury the first release of their ecommerce software for good. Unfortunate timing, given what is happening around the world at the moment. We list 5 reasons to re-platform from Magento to Shopify.
app of the month
Zapiet has seen its fastest growth ever in response to Covid-19. It's been a stepping stone for merchants that have never traded online to move online. It has allowed many businesses to adapt to survive this unsettling time.
meetup
Our Managing Director, Peter Corkery, held Irelands 1st ever virtual Shopify Meetup on Thursday, May 21st 2020. With the surge in business owners and entrepreneurs selling online for the first time due to the COVID-19 crisis, we discussed going back to basics!
We’re not going back to normal, we're going back to better. Join us at our Virtual Shopify Meetup on May 21st to learn more with special guests from Shopify about how to thrive online during the Covid Pandemic and build the ideal team for your business.
enterprise ireland
The COVID-19 Online Retail Scheme by Enterprise Ireland will open for applications today, Wednesday, April 29th. If you run an Irish owned business of more than 10 people you may be entitled to a maximum grant available is €40,000.
magento
Magento merchants have had 2 ½ years to get used to the idea that their e-commerce platform will be pretty much defunct by June 2020. 1000's of merchants now need to decide about whether to continue or switch to Shopify.
Shopify
Running a busy Shopify store is a complicated business. It is so important to automate as many tasks as possible. Shopify Plus merchants have access to 2 useful automation apps in the App Store: Shopify Flow and Launchpad.
shopify
We want to support small bricks & mortar brands directly affected by the current COVID-19 situation. Small business needs e-Commerce more than ever right now. We are offering a Courtesy Shopify boarding service which is 100% FREE.
marketing
The objective of a product description is to provide enough information to your potential customers to encourage them to buy. It’s not enough to just list the specs of the product (which is important too) but you need to entice them with the benefits.
emailmarketing
Email is a tried and trusted method to reach new customers and to up sell to existing customers. It's requires complex setup to maximise returns. Once Klaviyo automations are set up correctly, Shopify store owners can drive sales up by 10 - 20%.
email marketing
Personalising your email campaigns is a proven way to increase your open and click-through rates by delivering relevant content to your customers. It can have a measurable impact on your ROI and revenue by also adding value to their experience.
audit
In January we always advise store owners to do an app audit - a simple review of all of the apps in their store. Very often Shopify merchants pay multiple times for services that could be delivered on one single app purchase.
marketing
As more and more people buy online, there are ample opportunities for online retailers to take advantage of key dates and events. We've listed 18 ecommerce shopping dates for you to mark in your diary.
events
Our 13th Official Shopify Meetup Dublin is a merchant special event. With guest speakers from some of Ireland's leading online stores; who will share their experiences of selling online using Shopify.
shopify plus
What is Shopify Plus and should I consider moving to it? Shopify Plus offers the power to scale for growing brands and online stores. Here we list the advantages of upgrading or migrating from your current platform provider.
announcements
The payments industry in the European Union is regulated by the revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2). A major update of this directive to further protect consumers who make purchases using credit and debit cards is now in place.
announcements
Learn about some of the great new feature updates from Shopify that helps you to grow your business, improve conversion rates, and simplify the experience for your customers. We take you through the latest announcements.
Does your store show multiple currencies? If not, you may need to consider 'internationalising' your store. Conversions will increase if you can offer your product range in multiple currencies. The free Multi-Currency app from Bold is a good start...
announcements
What a whirlwind week we just had in Toronto for Shopify Unite 2019. Unite has become Shopify's yearly cycle of design iteration, customer requirements research and software development to push the Shopify platform to the next level. And it did not disappoint.
shopify
Here at the Milk Bottle Creamery we’ve been gazing into the crystal ball and making our predictions… here are seven random things we think might be covered next week.
product reviews
Trust is the most important factor in selling. If the end-user distrusts your offering or service to any degree, there is a slim chance that they will not purchase from you. So how do you establish that you are a trustworthy business?
den
Our next meetup will be focussed on the wonderful automations available on the Plus platform using Shopify Flow. Our 12th Official Shopify Dublin Meetup is on Wednesday, May 15th at The Dean Dublin (Harcourt St).
out of the sandbox
Choosing Shopify as your ecommerce platform is the most important online choice you'll make as an online entrepreneur. Choosing your Shopify theme is the second most important step. Get the lowdown on 5 Shopify themes we are using and loving in 2019.
content marketing
With over 400 million people using Instagram Stories, there is huge scope for your business to tap into it. Instagram Stories let users post photos and videos that vanish after 24 hours. This makes it a great tool to be creative and a bit experimental with your content.
GDPR
One of the great things about Shopify is that it's a hosted service. This means all the moving parts of your store live on Shopify's servers which in turn means Shopify is responsible for providing a secure and stable environment upon which you can operate your online business.
automated email
We've been big fans of Conversio since 2014. Back then, as Receiptful, it was a a very simple app which allowed store owners upgrade the standard receipt delivered by Shopify. Conversio now includes all the features needed to supercharge your store automated emails.
automated email
Two weeks ago it was announced the MailChimp application was no longer available in the Shopify App store. Over the next few weeks we're going to share details on alternatives to MailChimp. Today we give a brief summary of Klaviyo.
shopify
The last 12 months have seen significant enhancements and functional improvements to the Shopify POS solution. On the back of the monumental multi-location inventory upgrade, we are seeing a steady stream of additional feature releases that help Shopify POS merchants save time and help them sell mo
In the last few hours, there has been a very important announcement from both Mailchimp and Shopify. As of today, the Mailchimp app is no longer available in the Shopify app store. On May 12th the Mailchimp app in your Shopify store will no longer function and your data will not sync.
meetup
Join us on Thursday, April 11th at The Dean Dublin for our 11th Official Shopify Dublin Meetup. Scott Wright from Shoelace will discuss maximising your advertising re-marketing spend via the Shoelace App.
shopify experts
The Shopify platform is being developed not only to help merchants sell more but also help them run their businesses around their online store more efficiently. Shopify Flow is an ecommerce automation platform for Shopify Plus clients.
January is always a great time to consider migrating or starting your new e-commerce business. Here we share 5 simple reasons why you should seriously consider Shopify as your next commerce platform.
2.0
YAY! The Shopify apps store has been updated. Shopify has just announced a welcome refresh to the store. This is possibly the important update of the year for all those within in the Shopify ecosystem.
events
Summer is over but the big selling season is nearly upon us. Join us on Wednesday October 3rd for our 10th Official Shopify Dublin Meetup at the The Tara Building, Tara Street, Dublin 2.
shopify
Each month we discuss a Shopify application which we use and love. This month, meet Rewind, an automatic backup service Shopify store owners. Your data is your business! If you lose data, you lose your business.
platformcomparison
After November 2018, Magento will no longer support Magento 1.0 forcing users to upgrade to Magento 2.0. As the forced migration date for Magento approaches, here are our Top 5 reasons to consider Shopify.
Milk Bottle Labs are delighted to host this extra special Meetup next Tuesday, May 22nd. Network, catch up and learn from Mike Potter, Founder of Rewind & Lynsey Thornton, Vice President of UX at Shopify Inc.
If Shopify is the driving force behind democratising commerce then Unite is the national convention - it’s where knowledge-sharing, connections and camaraderie amongst the global family of Shopify Partners takes place.
a better lemonade stand
The world of ecommerce is ever changing. New sales channels, digital techniques, social media and platform changes are hard to keep up with. We love the content produced in house by the Shopify team.
events
For our next Shopify Meetup, we travel to the heart of Ireland. Athlone, Co. Westmeath is a busy industrious town just over an hour from Dublin. We've built quite a few stores for Shopify entrepreneurs in the area.
Android users can now complete their purchase on your Shopify store with just a few clicks with Google Pay. By giving your customers a quick and friction less way to pay you'll be reducing the number of abandoned carts.
domain name
The .ie registration process will undergo change very soon. It has been decided to remove the claim to the name clause. Under this clause, businesses had to prove they had a connection to the name in order to register it.
loox
In just 11 minutes, you’ll be able to turn your unknown brand into a category leader. Read this post, where I will tell you exactly how one Shopify store overcame the obstacle of trust faced by new and unknown brands.
shopify
Over the last 2 to 3 years we've been adding at least 5 to 10 apps by default to each Shopify store. Many improve receipts, management and add efficiencies to logistics and fulfillment. Here's 5 we can't live without.
One important asset that most entrepreneurs don’t think they need to backup is their Shopify store. This is because Shopify users assume that Shopify’s gurus will be able to recover a deleted file or restore the account...
Shopify
See how the Shopify POS app can help your growing Shopify store. Sell in person at pop-up shops, trade shows, festivals, markets - wherever your customers are found, you can sell to them with Shopify POS.
GDPR
On May 25th 2018 the GDPR will take effect. This will affect all Shopify business owners. Join us on February 15th to discuss GDPR for our 8th Shopify Meet Up...
dot mailer
It's this time of the year ecommerce consultants, digital marketeers and online entrepreneurs try to predict what's going to be hot in 2018. Here we share 3 simple tips to focus on for 2018.
shopify
In today’s online reality of phishing scams, identity theft and viruses, you need to do everything in your power to ensure customers feel confident about using your site.
BFCM
To help you cope with this surge in potential shoppers around Black Friday & Cyber Monday, and ensure that you make the most of the Shopify platform, here are five updates that will help.
marketing
Give your store the best chance to grow sales this BFCM season by offering your customers shareable discount codes that makes it easier and quicker to buy from you, every time.
If you want loyal, repeat customers, you need to start building an online community of followers, and a great way to do that is to create email lists of current & future customers.
If you’ve always toyed with the idea of launching your own ecommerce store but didn’t know where to start – then this is the blog for you! In 4 minutes, we'll show you how to launch a profitable e-Commerce business.
boost sales
Join us on Wednesday, November 22nd for our 7th Official Shopify Meetup Dublin!We've two great topics - Kit from Shopify and Pixc the photo editing app. Network and catch up with like minded Shopify users, developers and fellow e-Commerce entrepreneurs.
With an audience of over 200 million readers, BuzzFeed is the King of online publishing! Shopify's partnership with BuzzFeed could help you promote on a large scale and increase your audience base, follow the link for all the details.
marketing
If you want to rank better on Google, connect with customers, convert users, build trust and encourage social shares, then you should really think about channelling your inner Stephen Spielberg! Follow the link to read why video marketing could really benefit you.
Since we launched the first ever Shopify Meetup in Ireland in early 2016 we've been regularly asked to bring the show to the South West of Ireland. We are really excited to be hosting the first ever Shopify Meetup in Cork on October 12th.
boost sales
Simply put, video marketing is the use of videos in your various marketing campaigns to market or promote your brand, service or product. A successful video marketing campaign should include different kinds of videos such as customer testimonials, how-to-videos, corporate training videos, explainer
Join us on Thursday September 21st our 6th Official Shopify Dublin Meetup! It's a 'Merchant Special', a fun evening of networking with like minded Shopify users and fans. We have 3 business owners joining our Q & A on the night including Donagh Quigley - The Irish Handmade Soap Company.
Shopify
Your Shopify theme choice can make or break your business and affect sales. The Shopify themes have improved significantly over the last 24 months. Clever theme choice will save you in the long run from expensive customisations and app installs. Here we suggest our theme favourites.
payment gateway
What is a Payment Gateway? Yes it's a pretty simple question we receive weekly. So here's a comprehensive answer :). It refers to how you take payments and how your sales are funded into your bank account. Shopify Payments is a cool easy to use gateway but there are over 70 options with Shopify.
migration to shopify
For online business owners operating on legacy platforms such as Zencart or Magento, moving platform, known as replatforming often creates a huge problem for the online business. Luckily we specialise in moving stores onto to Shopify with minimal business interruption.
meetup
As Ireland's No.1 Shopify Experts, we are delighted to announce our next Official Shopify Meetup at our new larger location - the wonderful Fitzwilliam Hotel on Stephens Green. It's a 'Merchant Special', a fun evening of networking with 3 Shopify business owners joining our Q & A on the night.
We all want to make a success of our own e-commerce website and it's possible! Heaps of new Shopify stores are opening every month. Starting an online store with Shopify is not that difficult. We’ve put together a wonderful step-by-step guide to help find your next product.
entrepreneur
For first-time online store owners launching a store can be a terrifying ordeal. Whatever the reason, it has caused you to hit the pause button and you are still not live. How do you deal with your anxiety and launch the store?
branding
In the ‘early’ internet days consumer interest could be easily gained by simply using original or interesting content. Customers have become smarter to targeted marketing techniques. Real effort is now needed to gain new customers attention.
Facebook ads can give up to 152% ROI. Though there are different versions of Facebook ads, there are selective types of ads, which you have to be aware of for your e-commerce business. Read on to understand the strategies to boost your sale with Facebook Ads.
Owning a Shopify store demands creative and new ideas to drive more traffic. This can be a challenge. You'll always find answers to your questions once you have a clear understanding of the current market requirements and the moves of your competitors.
Business Branding
You may be an entrepreneur with an already successful e-commerce business or a big enterprise-level player but do you worry that your present platform may not match your growth levels? If so it may be a good time to consider a move to Shopify Plus.
Business Branding Tips
In the 2nd half of April this year, more than a thousand of Shopify partners, merchants and developers descended on San Francisco for Shopify Unite. Announcements included Shopify Pay & a new card reader. Here’re the highlights of Shopify Unite 2017.
admin
Shopify have announced a completely updated admin interface called Polaris. It will provide Shopify merchants with a more visual admin panel making it even easier to manage and grow your business with the world's favourite commerce platform.
e-commerce
The Shopify v's Magento debate continues. Magento has will stop supporting Magento 1.x in Q3 of 2018. Magento will no longer offer support or upgrades for Magento 1.x. In light of this, Let's consider 3 good reasons why you should consider Shopify.
bank of ireland
Our Meetups are steadily growing alongside the Shopify community in Ireland. For Meetup 5 on May 24th we'll mix it up a little. We have 2 interesting topics - using video to boost ecommerce sales and managing your store finances with XERO.
E-Commerce Entrepreneur.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) may sound simple but, in reality, it can can quickly overwhelm even the most experienced online entrepreneur. So what’s an e-commerce business owner to do?Here we share 5 SEO Strategies For The Savvy E-Commerce Entrepreneur.
branding
For non marketing folks, building a brand may seem like an impossible task. Effective branding is a complete package that leaves a memorable footprint on the consumers minds. Here are 10 useful branding tips based on our own brand building experience.
buffer
Social media helps in reaching out to customers, potential investors and influencers. However, managing social media takes a lot of time. Yet, you can’t afford to neglect these tasks or you may lose the business advantage. So, what’s the solution?
best e-Commerce practise
The success and failure of your e-Commerce brand is absolutely dependent on the shipment partner you choose. To enhance your customers shipping experience and boost your long term e-Commerce sales consider these best practises...
ecommerce marketing strategy
As you build on an online business you can be proud of, there are multiple tasks you need to fulfil each day, and as a result you may end up forgetting to focus on the very important part of your job . In this blog post we discuss 'tracking your e-commerce performance'.
ecommerce
Experts predict online sales will experience a growth from $335 billion in 2015 to a whopping $523 in the year 2020. That's 9.32% per year. As we start 2017, it’s time to start developing a robust e-commerce marketing strategy to sustain in this rapidly growing e-commerce landscape.
bank of ireland
Join us on March 2nd for Shopify Meetup #4. Mingle with Shopify store owners, chat and learn from developers and speakers on the night. Sign up here today. Join us for Free Pizza at Bank of Ireland, 1 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Quay, Dublin.
To succeed in any business, you need to plan, research and understand the market. Unless you have a clear idea of who your target clientele are, what’s on offer from other e-commerce sites, and how the market is anticipated to grow, you may find it tough to create a practical business model...
EMV Card Reader
It's finally here. The card reader was the topic of conversation at our 3rd Shopify Meet Up. The EMV reader which powers your card transactions enables you to finally link your Shopify store to your pop up store and cash register via the Shopify POS app.
Meetup
A record crowd attended our 3rd Dublin Shopify Meet Up. Bank of Ireland kindly provided the venue on the night. Topic for the evening was the Shopify POS (Point of Sale) till system and Shopify payments.
bank of ireland
Join us on Wednesday November 16th at one of the coolest Meet Up venues in Dublin. BOI Grand Canal Square will host the next Shopify Meet Up. Items for discussion are Shopify POS & Shopify Payments.
payments
Good news !!!!! We love Shopify and we have reason to, as today Shopify payments is officially available in Ireland. That means cheaper monthly fees and more margin. We logged into our store and were greeted with the option to 'add Shopify Payments'.
For retailers, confirmation emails can be an efficient tool in building loyalty and enticing people to buy from them. That’s because shoppers love such mails, often giving them priority among their other emails apart ...
Some Shopify announcements are more important than others. And we have to say, this is one of the most important updates Shopify have made in the last 12 months. The new Shopify app is now available for iPhone, iPad, and Android.
bank of ireland
We’re delighted to announce our 2nd Official Shopify Meetup in Ireland. Meet fellow Shopify merchants, hear from Shopify's European Merchant Success Manager and get your store ready for the end of year sales spree.
e-commerce
Partial.ly will automatically take payments from the customers card using your link to Stripe. You have the flexibility to define the payment term, amount and can even allow customers to define their own terms of payment.
autofulfill
As Ireland's No. 1 rated Shopify experts, we want to spread the word and make sure all budding e-commerce entrepreneurs are aware of Shopify before choosing their e-commerce platform.
e-commerce
Meet Swell. A simple rewards application which not only acts as a rewards and loyalty builder but also automates the entire process. It is possibly the simplest and yet most powerful app in the Shopify Apps store.
e-commerce
Has your small business out-grown your current ecommerce platform? What should you do when your online store has grown too big to handle? Consider Shopify Plus+
e-commerce
If you are an established business of at least 1 year old, you may be missing out on up to €2,500 in funding for your next online store.
e-commerce
It is important for Shopify store owners to employ strategies that can drive traffic through mobile friendly sites and help improve sales. We discuss 5 important tactics that can not only help ecomeerce store owners drive mobile user traffic, but also increase their sales through it.
Ireland
If you are looking to sell online in Ireland, you should consider Shopify. It is the e-commerce platform of the future. Here we list the immediate benefits of Shopify as your next platform of choice for your online business.
abandonned carts
According to a study released by Shopify, as much as 67% of sales are lost because of this abandoned cart phenomenon, which means that over two thirds of your sales are simply disappearing, as people decide not to go through with them.
donal hanrahan
Extensive research using real and academic insights, backing by Bord Bia and addressing the needs of athletes over 35 has lead to the development of a new market of sports nutrition - Elivar.com.
Ireland
Keir Whitaker from the Shopify Partner Growth Team will be our keynote speaker for the first Shopify Ireland MeetUp. Sign up here today to reserve your place.
payment gateway
Our Shopify clients use our services to build cool Shopify stores but most require advice & direction on multiple other areas of e-commmerce - especially payment gateway choice.
bold apps
It's impossible not to consider apps built by the team at Bold Apps. The team produce a range of applications which drive revenue, are simple to use and pay for themselves in weeks.
Shopify says it plans to join Facebook, Mozilla and Google to sponsor Let's Encrypt, an industry lead plan to improve security across the internet.
app of the month
Each month we discuss a Shopify application which we use and love. This month, meet Receiptful, an enhanced receipt application which improves the receipt for your customers and adds functionality to drive repeat sales.
sell internationally with shopify
Farmodels.com has grown to become one of Europe's major suppliers of collectable farm models. In this guest blog post, Sean shares his experience after using Shopify for 12 months.
mobile ecommerce site
The skills and activities that made your bricks and mortar retail store a success are not necessarily the things that will determine success for you in the online world of eCommerce.
aviation parts ireland
Late in the summer we met an energetic young entrepreneur from Co. Westmeath in Ireland - William Flood. An experienced pilot, William had been selling aircraft parts and accessories world wide through an eBay channel.
Shopify makes setting up fulfilment easy. For international sellers, Shopify has a range of applications which can link into the major couriers such as UPS, DHL and FedEx
amazon
Product reviews from past customers carry significant weight and allow your e-commerce store to build trust. The more reviews your store gets the more that visitors will trust your offer and buy from you.
credit card
The move towards cashless society means more and more credit card use and added concerns around security. For Shopify store owners.....
NEWS
Google's mobile ranking algorithm will officially include mobile-friendly usability factors. Making sure your site is mobile-friendly is now more........
NEWS
milk bottle labs
Managing a small business is time consuming enough without having to worry about how your store renders on a mobile handset......
NEWS
milk bottle labs
Building an ecommerce store is daunting. But it is made a whole lot easier with Shopifys cloud based online store building tools. No longer are you required to be an expert in the field of digital marketing
NEWS
Shopify includes a host of features making selling online super easy. Below are a few of the features many of our clients are confused about prior to launch.......
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