Shopify Editions - Summer ‘23
Twice a year, Shopify announces a whole host of updates to their platform in the form of Shopify Editions.
It feels like the Winter ‘23 Edition was just published yesterday, but here we are, taking in the 100+ updates announced in the Summer ‘23 Edition. We have cherry-picked the updates that we think merchants will be most excited by, some of which you can start using today.
AI at Shopify
These days, a blog post is not complete without mentioning AI (or being written by some form of it), and this one is no exception (but it was written by a human *cough*).
Shopify has introduced AI-powered features across their platform, helping merchants spend their time as efficiently as possible.
Shopify Magic uses generative AI, a form of artificial intelligence that’s capable of creating text, images or other media, from natural language prompts, which is trained on a combination of Shopify’s proprietary data and OpenAI’s ChatGPT APIs.
Stores using Shopify Inbox to manage customer conversations can add instant answers for frequently asked questions, resolving a customer's query with the power of automation. AI-generated responses are next on the horizon - sign up for early access.
Use Shopify Magic to generate content for your store, from a homepage banner, to a complete blog post, or even an email campaign in Shopify Email.
Sidekick is an AI commerce assistant that will be on hand to answer your questions, and even carry out some of your admin tasks for you. Expected to be free and available on all plans, Sidekick will be a welcome addition for many merchants. Sign up for early access.
Tailor your theme for B2B customers and specific markets
Availability: Live for all.
Must be using an Online Store 2.0 theme or a theme built with JSON templates.
This has been a much anticipated feature, particularly since the launch of Shopify Markets. Until now, if you wanted to display different content to your customer depending on whether they were a B2B customer, or in a specific market, custom code would need to be added to your theme, and it wasn’t straightforward to manage.
Shopify’s release means that you can now make changes to sections and blocks which are specific to a context via the online store editor.
“Eh? What’s a context?”
A context is your audience. This can be B2B customers or visitors within a specific market.
Want to show a free delivery banner to UK customers but not those in the US? No problem.
How about displaying technical specifications on the product page for B2B customers only? Piece of cake.
We think this one is a game changer - start using it today.
Shopify Bundles
Availability: Live for all, but note the eligibility requirements.
Grouping products into fixed bundles or multipacks is now achievable without a third-party app. Inventory will be synced between the individual product and the bundle(s) it is part of, so you don’t need to worry about overselling.
Shopify also teased that the product variant limit of 100 - which has been a thorn in the side of many merchants - is due to be increased to 250, and they have plans to increase it even further still.
There are some important eligibility requirements to note in order to use Shopify Bundles.
For more complex bundle use cases, a purpose-built app in the App Store is still needed. Shopify Plus stores can build custom bundles using the Shopify APIs.
Shopify Subscriptions
Availability: Sign up for early access.
Product subscriptions are a simple way to generate recurring revenue for your store.
There are many apps to add subscriptions functionality on your store. Shopify are throwing their hat in the ring with their new, free Shopify Subscriptions app.
Similar to bundles, it seems that Shopify’s app will be suited to a simple subscriptions model only. More complex use cases will require an app, either from the App Store or something custom-built.
From its description in the Summer Edition, we think that the Shopify Subscriptions app will only be compatible with new customer accounts (the newest version of customer accounts). We will have to see when more information becomes available.
Sign up for early access to the Shopify Subscriptions app.
New B2B features
Availability: Stores on the Shopify Plus plan.
B2B on Shopify enables stores to sell to their B2B customers without needing third-party apps or custom-coded workarounds.
Shopify’s suite of features can be utilised for dedicated B2B stores, or blended stores that accept both B2B and DTC orders.
Volume pricing and quantity rules - in early access, only available to some stores.
Optimise content specific to B2B customers (we’ve talked about this earlier in this post).
Quick order lists to make bulk ordering simpler.
Take payments for B2B orders with PayPal.
Vaulted credit cards - B2B customers can use a previously stored credit card on draft orders at checkout or when paying an invoice.
Stores using the Plus Wholesale Channel can use this guide to migrate to B2B on Shopify.
Read more about selling B2B on Shopify.
Custom landing pages powered by metaobjects
Availability: Live for all.
Must be using an Online Store 2.0 theme or a compatible third-party theme.
Metaobject theme templates make it easier to create and manage a set of landing pages that follow the same template.
For example, your store sells clothing from multiple brands, and you want the top brands to have custom landing pages that tell the brand’s story. Each brand page will feature the same set of sections and blocks: a heading, image, description, and the brand’s most popular products in the store.
Before metaobject templates, you might have created a page template for each brand, resulting in dozens of page templates cluttering up your theme, making it difficult to find the right template in the online store editor, and a time-consuming task to set up more page templates for new brands.
Here’s where metaobject templates can tidy things up.
Now, you would have a metaobject definition called Brands that contains content fields to populate the sections and blocks used on the landing page, with a metaobject entry for each brand.
In the online store editor, create a metaobject page template using the Brands metaobject definition, populate the page with the required sections and blocks, selecting the metaobject fields as dynamic sources. Hey presto, each of your brands has its own landing page.
Adding new brands is as simple as creating a new metaobject entry. No need for any additional page templates!
Metaobject pages are even grouped into their own directory, for example:
mycoolshopifystore.com/pages/brands/shopify
instead of
mycoolshopifystore.com/pages/shopify
Previously, making this kind of change to the URL structure with Shopify was reserved for headless storefronts.
Check out this walkthrough from Shopify to see it in action.
17 new APIs and updates to customise the checkout
Availability: See the latest on Shopify's product roadmap.
Shopify has the world’s best-converting checkout, and they have gone ahead and proved it with an independent study that shows Shopify Checkout delivers a 15% higher conversion on average over its competitors.
We have talked about checkout extensibility before, and the impending deadline to convert to the new way of customising the Shopify Checkout.
With these releases from Shopify, stores on Shopify Plus can use the new APIs to develop custom apps which extend the capabilities of their checkout.
From validation logic to prevent a PO box from being entered as a shipping address, to adding custom fonts, these releases open up a world of possibilities, and there’s even more to come.
Making the day-to-day easier
A collection of small but mighty updates that we think will help merchants with the day-to-day tasks that come with managing a store.
The Shopify Admin has had a facelift
A refreshed design makes data and content clearer in the even more intuitive admin. Read about the journey of the new design here.
Adjustable column widths in the bulk editor help with viewing information and managing lots of tags.
Searching across your store is smarter and faster so you can get where you need to be.
Actionable insights on the admin homepage help you identify areas for improvement.
The updated alerts feed brings unseen alerts to your attention.
Combine discounts
Allow customers to redeem multiple promotions on one order, on your terms. Find out more.
Prevent fraudulent orders
Add rules to the checkout with Shopify Fraud Control to help stop fraudulent orders from being placed, so you don’t have to worry about cancelling and refunding unwanted orders.
Set up rules for return requests
Stores using self-serve returns can now set up return rules which are applied to an order. Customers can only submit return requests for items on their order that are eligible to be returned based on the rules you set up, saving admin time dealing with ineligible return requests. Find out more.
Automatically capture payment at fulfilment
Determining when is best to capture payment for an order can depend on your order fulfilment process. Shopify have added more flexibility with the option of being able to automatically capture payment for an order when it is marked as fulfilled. Read how.
Manage your Shopify Plus organisation
Keeping on top of an organisation’s stores, user accounts and bills can be tricky. Shopify have released a set of updates to make day-to-day management easier. Find out more.
Streamline inventory management with purchase orders
Create purchase orders in Shopify to track incoming inventory so you can sell new stock to customers as soon as it becomes available. Read how.
Shopify Forms
Quickly create forms using Shopify’s free app to capture information from visitors to your store, such as competition entries and business account enquiries. Check it out.
Shopify Flow now available on the Basic plan
Shopify’s powerful automation tool, Shopify Flow, can now be utilised by stores on the Basic plan. Check it out today to see what manual tasks you can automate. Install Shopify Flow.
Got a question on the new updates? Contact us!
