On October 5, Shopify shipped an update that most brands scrolled right past. Shop can now recognize shoppers while they're browsing your store, before they buy anything. Carts sync across their devices, checkout loads faster, and Shop reminds them to finish carts they left behind.
That last part is the one I care about. For years, the abandoned cart email was yours. Your Klaviyo flow was the only thing chasing that cart. Now there's a second sender in the inbox, and it isn't you.
Here's what Shop actually does, what we found when we looked at how much our accounts lean on cart flows, and what I'd change before BFCM.
What Shop is sending
Shopify's help center spells it out pretty clearly. When the setting is on, Shop can recognize eligible Shop users who visit your store, including people who are anonymous to you, and send them email and push reminders about products they browsed or carts they abandoned.
A few details matter:
- It's separate from your automations. Shop's reminders don't replace your Klaviyo flow or Shopify's own abandoned checkout email. They run alongside them.
- You can't edit them. Shopify says you can't customize the content or the timing in your admin. And they haven't published what the reminder looks like or how fast it goes out, so I'd assume it's a plain "you left this" message.
- It only reaches Shop users. Shoppers without a Shop account won't get it.
- There's an off switch. Sales channels > Shop > Settings, then in the Marketing section, turn off Shop remarketing emails and push notifications. That stops the reminders triggered by activity on your store. It doesn't stop reminders from activity inside the Shop app.
How much is riding on this
I wanted to know how exposed our own accounts are, so I pulled Q3 flow revenue (July through September) across the Klaviyo accounts we manage that track revenue, and grouped every cart and checkout flow by name.
The median account got about a quarter of its flow revenue from cart and checkout reminders. Pooled across all of them, it was 28%. The range was wide, from 6% to 53%. One account sat around 40%, another at 7%. Same agency, very different exposure.
So for a typical brand, cart recovery is one of the biggest single things email does. That's why a second, uncontrolled reminder on the same cart is worth an afternoon of attention.
There's a second number that surprised me more. Close to half of those accounts run a duplicate cart or checkout flow fed by a third-party identity tool, the kind that recognizes shoppers Klaviyo can't identify on its own. Those versions brought in about 18% of all cart and checkout flow revenue across the group. Brands are paying to reach anonymous carts. Shop now reaches some of those same anonymous shoppers, for free, under its own name.
Should you turn it off?
My position: not by reflex. A cart that Shop recovers is still your sale. And for shoppers Klaviyo can't identify, Shop's reminder might be the only one they get.
But I wouldn't leave it on without looking either. A few situations where I'd lean toward turning it off:
- Your cart flow already does heavy lifting and you'd rather have one clear message than two.
- Your brand voice is a big part of why people buy. A generic reminder sitting next to your email can make yours look like more of the same.
- You're about to run a careful BFCM offer sequence and don't want an extra touch you can't time.
Whichever way you go, while you're in settings, check whether Shopify's own abandoned checkout email is on too. If Klaviyo is running your cart flow, that one usually should be off. Otherwise a shopper could hear from Klaviyo, Shopify and Shop about the same cart.
Make your cart flow say what Shop can't
This is the bigger change. If Shop is going to send the plain "you left something" reminder, your flow shouldn't be a plain "you left something" reminder too. It should do the jobs Shop can't do:
- Answer the reason they stalled. Sizing, fit, ingredients, shipping time, returns. Shop doesn't know your fit guide. You do.
- Bring in proof. Reviews and photos for the exact product in the cart, not a general "customers love us" block.
- Split new from repeat. A first-time buyer needs reassurance. A repeat buyer usually just needs the link. Some of our accounts already run separate cart flows for each, and that split matters more now.
- Be careful with the discount. Shopify hasn't said Shop's reminder includes an offer. If your flow leads with 10% off in email one, you're teaching people that abandoning a cart pays. Hold the offer for later touches, or for higher-value carts.
- Use timing on purpose. You control the delay. Shop's timing is unknown, so test whether your first email lands better a bit later than you'd normally send it.
What I'd watch from October 5 on
Pull your cart and checkout flow numbers for the weeks since October 5 and compare them to the four weeks before. Look at recipients, placed order rate and revenue per recipient. If recipients hold steady but conversion drops, some of those shoppers may be finishing through Shop's reminder instead.
One caution: Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days ran October 6 and 7, so that week is noisy for almost every brand. Give it a few weeks before you draw a conclusion, and remember that every brand's customers are different. A store where most buyers use Shop Pay will feel this more than one where few do.
So here's what I'd ask any team with a cart flow right now: if a shopper got Shop's reminder and yours on the same afternoon, would yours give them a reason to buy that Shop's didn't?
