Shopify launches its own ‘link in bio’ service that includes optional shopping integration

By MixDex Article may include affiliate links

Shopify has launched its own take on a “link in bio” service that, quite naturally, makes the link shoppable.

Called Linkpop by Shopify, the new free service does require creating a Shopify login, but does not require a paid Shopify merchant account unless a user wants to use the integrated ecommerce features.

Users can then customize the back half of the URL path off the linkpop.com domain, such as linkpop.com/shopify, and add that link to social media platforms that limit the number of links a single profile can have, such as Instagram.

Instagram also doesn’t allow links in post comments, though sponsored posts are clickable and the platform’s limited ecommerce features, including a partnership with Shopify, does allow users to click to buy products.

Links in bio are also commonly used on other services, such as YouTube and Spotify.

The single URL approach can also be handy even if social platforms allow multiple links in a bio or directly in the content since it creates a hub of content and links for users to access.

Because of these limitations, “link in bio” services have become popular, including Linktree (“link tree” also happens to be a generic way of referring to the page links in bios link to). In this case “bio” refers to the introductory information, often in summary form, that typically appears on a user’s profile page on a particular service.

The name “link in bio” comes from the fact that many posts are appended with a phrase such as “see link in bio to buy.”

Typically these pages include links to social media accounts and a person or brand’s website as well as, in some cases, thumbnails of the content posted to various social media platforms that, in turn, link to a corresponding page, blog post, news article or product page. More advanced ones can include social media feeds and multimedia.

Shopify’s Linkpop takes on much of this functionality and gives users many of the features Linktree charges for away for free, including customizing colors, fonts and the logo on the page.

Linkpop users can create up to 200 links of content, including ones with photos, that then, in turn, integrate with checkout if they also have a Shopify store.

Inventory and variants are synced with the merchant’s store and checkout is accelerated wherever possible and doesn’t require leaving the app the user is currently using. Many social media apps, including Instagram, have an integrated web browser that links open in.

Linkpop is directly taking on rivals Linktree, Shorby, Linkin.bio and Beacons and is notably free for anyone to use. Most of these other services include a free tier, including ones that offer unlimited links, but often reserve customization and other advanced features that come free with Linkpop to paid users, who typically have to pay around $10 a month.

In its announcement of Linkpop, Shopify noted that it hopes to drive future signups for its paid ecommerce platform via the service by attracting emerging brands who might not be ready for full online stores, but will eventually expand into that space, making Shopify a natural one to go with.

From Shopify’s perspective, this makes a good deal of sense since hosting a landing page have very low overhead, especially when you consider that the cost of development of the Linkpop backend and public page architecture can be spread across both merchants and non-merchants and creates a valued added proposition for existing store owners at no additional charge.

That said, Linkpop is notably missing any direct integration with any major social media platform, including Instagram. This means that users will need to post content separately in at least two places to get the full advantage of having a link, shoppable or otherwise, associated with each post. The 200 post limit is also a bit odd, though that’s something that could easily be lifted in the future.

Linkpop also doesn’t include the ability to embed video, audio or photo content from other services, nor does it let users embed social media feeds.

Linkpop presents another sub-brand of Shopify. The company already markets “Shop” and “Shop Pay” as independent brands with distinct logos and color palettes.

It also owns Hatchful, a logo design service, Burst, a stock photo library, and Exchange Marketplace, a site that showcases ecommerce sites and businesses for sale. It had previously acquired AI-based marketing and sales automation tool Kit and kept the name around for a while but closed the service for good in 2021.

It also previous operated Shopify Ping which was rebranded and retooled as Shopify Inbox.