Merchants can also now benchmark the performance of their spots against those of comparable stores. Audiences is currently only available to U.S. and Canadian clients on Shopify’s Plus enterprise plan. (The Logic)

Talking point: Apple’s move two years ago to limit developers’ ability to track iOS users blunted the ad-targeting abilities of social platforms like Facebook and Instagram, a significant source of sales for many online stores. Audiences is designed to get around the problem using data drawn from across Shopify’s customer base. It’s already integrated with the platforms of digital ad giants Meta and Google. Adding Snap and TikTok gives merchants more channels to promote products, and their ads in turn will burnish the tool’s ability to target buyers across platforms. Shopify currently makes money from Audiences indirectly—the firm takes a cut of ad spend via its payment service, and it’s a “key reason” for clients to upgrade to the more expensive Plus plan, president Harley Finkelstein said on a May earnings call. But direct monetization could follow “in the future,” he said.