Shopify Editions Winter 2024: The Most Important Releases, Updates, and Key Takeaways

Original Source: https://ecommerce-platforms.com/articles/shopify-editions-winter-2024

As someone who works regularly with the Shopify platform, exploring features, reviewing apps, and even helping to build and optimize websites, I always look forward to the company’s bi-annual “Editions” event. Twice a year, Shopify’s “Editions” announcements give me an insight into the new innovations the brand is investing in, and its evolving strategy for enhancing ecommerce.

The last Shopify Editions’ event from Summer 2023 introduced us to the rise of Shopify Magic (and Sidekick), Shopify’s AI-powered tools for site development and growth. Plus, it highlighted the new Shop app for mobile shoppers, an enhanced admin interface and online store editor, as well as dozens of new tools and APIs for developers.

The Winter 2024 Editions event, taking place on January 31st, 2024, was just as exciting. Whether you’re a Shopify developer, store owner, or you’re simply interested in all of the unique new features Shopify has to offer, here’s your complete guide to the latest updates, for the start of 2024.

Key Takeaways:

Shopify’s conversion feature updates will give companies more freedom to sell and promote multiple variants of their products. They’ll also improve user experiences, through enhanced semantic search, and empower companies to sell more through bundles and subscriptions.

Shopify’s upgraded and extendible checkout experience will give companies more freedom to enhance the final point of the sales journey for customers. Organizations will also have access to new Shop Pay features, and checkout-focused apps.

Omnichannel updates on Shopify will enhance the in-store selling experience, with new Shopify POS features, and the powerful all-in-one Shopify Terminal. Plus, companies will be able to access more B2B sales tools, and advanced international sales features.

In the marketing space, Shopify is giving companies more tools for creating cross-channels campaigns, deeper insights into customer segments and audiences, and powerful solutions for tracking down collaborators and influencers.

New AI features in Shopify will simplify everything from photo editing, to page development, store creation, and sales optimization. Plus, companies will now have more advanced tools for automating workflows, and improving data privacy

What’s New in Shopify: Winter ‘24

Most Shopify Editions combine basic quality of life upgrades (like improvements to your Shopify dashboard and admin experience, with new features and capabilities). As we head into 2024, it seems like Shopify is investing heavily in positioning itself as the ultimate platform for scalable, omnichannel sales, with and flexible development.

To make it easier to understand the value of all the latest updates, I’m going to break them down into key sections. Feel free to skip to the segment that’s most relevant to you.

Shopify’s Conversion Feature Updates

To help boost retailer conversions in the increasingly competitive ecommerce world, Shopify has introduced various updates focusing on product merchandising, semantic search, store performance, and the already world-class Shopify checkout experience.

The Updates to Product Merchandising Tools

One of the most exciting “product merchandising” updates to emerge this year, was the new capability to create up to 2,000 variants of all your different products. In the past, you were limited to only 99 variants on Shopify. Now, there are new product APIs that give you complete control over offering your customers a range of options, with out creating endless separate listings.  

Currently, the GraphQL API is only available to select businesses, but it will be more accessible in the months and years ahead, giving you plenty of scope to scale your business.

On top of this, Shopify also introduced a “combined listings” app, which allows merchants to create product listings that combine all of the various variations of a products into a centralized product listing. Each variation can still have its own URL, image carousel, publishing controls, product description and title, to ensure every product stands out.

Plus, the updated taxonomy on Shopify means companies can now map each product category they offer to a range of associated attributes, making it easier to classify and organize products, and even generate variants automatically. Other updates include:

The ability to manage multiple variants at once with an updated variants card.

Flexible color and pattern swatches for every product listing.

A unified single file picker for videos, images, and 3D models on your product and variant pages.

The option to add new meta objects, or edit existing definitions for your metaobject-powered pages within the Shopify store editor.

Semantic Search and New Sales Experiences

Semantic Search is one of the most exciting new AI-powered storefront features on Shopify. The solution goes beyond basic “keyword matching” search tools, using intelligence to understand the intent behind each customer search. For instance, customers could simply search for “something warm for winter” to get a list of suggested products.

Companies can also add visual filters to swatches to filter the options customers see in search result pages and collection pages. Plus, you can customize your filter logic, to help customers find products that match various values. For instance, customers can search for jackets that are “short”, “insulated”, and “waterproof” at the same time.

Alongside the new search experience, Shopify is giving companies new ways to unlock additional revenue, with new sales strategies. For instance, the native Shopify Subscriptions app, which I reviewed here, is now generally available. It allows companies to increase customer lifetime value and unlock recurring revenue with customizable subscriptions. Plus, it’s available for free.

Companies can also access:

Shopify Bundles: While Shopify bundles were already a feature on the platform, the number of products you can offer in a bundle has now been increased from 10 to 30.

New discounts: Companies can now access a wide variety of new discounts to entice buyers, such as “automatic free shipping” for customers who spend a certain amount, or “buy X, get Y” promotions. Customers will also see exactly how much they’re saving in the cart.

An enhanced web performance dashboard: The new web performance dashboard integrated into Shopify helps companies to enhance customer experience with insights into three of the most important “Core Website Vitals” recognized by Google.

The Upgraded Shopify Checkout Experience

Shopify has boasted one of the most powerful and intuitive checkout experiences for years. However, many clients and companies I’ve worked with have lamented the fact that the checkout hasn’t been particularly customizable. Now, that could be starting to change.

Shopify has introduced 14 new APIs and UI components, to help Shopify Plus users create unique checkout experiences. The new checkout extensibility offerings may only be available to Shopify Plus vendors, but there are various other upgrades to the checkout to explore too, such as:

Shopify’s one-page checkout design is now the standard for the platform, reducing buyer completion times by up to 4 seconds, and accelerating loading speeds.

90+ new apps on the Shopify app store, specifically designed to enhance checkout interactions with upsells, loyalty programs, conversion tracking, and surveys.

New Shop Pay features, such as the ability to integrate Shop Pay with any checkout, and boost conversion rates with Shop Pay Instalments.

Checkout sheet kits: The checkout sheet kit allows companies to bring their own customized checkout experience directly into an ecommerce mobile app.

Thank you and order page extensions, available to customize with your brand logo, colors, font choices, headers, and images.

Shopify’s Omnichannel Updates

One of the main reasons why I often recommend Shopify as a top choice for ecommerce vendors, is that it’s so flexible. With Shopify you can sell through your own website, marketplace channels, social media platforms, and even in-person, with Shopify POS.

The introduction of Shopify POS Terminal in Shopify Editions Winter ’24 will further enhance in-store sales experiences, giving companies an all-in-one solution for accepting tap, chip, and swipe payments, capturing customer information, and showcasing their brand.

The POS offering also now includes:

The ability to manage UI extensions across various locations within the admin interface.

A streamlined smart grid editor in the admin interface.

Customizable receipts that match your brand image perfectly.

Access to fulfilment tasks and features within Shopify POS.

The option to attribute online sales to retail locations with “Send Cart”.

Shopify tax for managing taxes, cancelling, and voiding orders in Shopify POS.

Advanced security with new staff permissions and enhanced PINs.

Retail inventory transfers with the Stocky inventory transfers app extension

Shopify also made its Shopify POS Go hardware available to companies in the UK and Ireland this year, and even introduced a new feature that allows users to log out from devices remotely.

Shopify B2B Updates

If you’re running a B2B company on Shopify, you’re in luck. This year’s latest Editions’ event revealed a host of updates for B2B companies, including a brand-new theme, specially designed for B2B wholesale companies, and a new set of tools for staff permissions.

For instance, you can now determine which staff members should be able to place orders, view customer information and more for specific locations.

Shopify also introduced:

Headless B2B storefronts: You might already be familiar with Shopify’s tools for headless commerce, like the Hydrogen platform. Now, these tools are also available for B2B storefronts, allowing users to create unique experiences by combining Shopify’s ecommerce capabilities with bespoke front-end designs.

Shopify Collective: Shopify’s Collective solution allows companies to expand their product portfolio with access to thousands of third-party brands. You can narrow your search for marketplace partners using a range of filters for category, margins, free shipping, and more. And even track Shopify collective orders on a supplier timeline.

Marketplace connect: Shopify Marketplace Connect upgrades now allow companies to select inventory locations for each regional marketplace, and streamline the apparel listing process with automation tools.

Plus, Shopify just partnered with Faire, one of the world’s leading wholesale companies, to help brands reach new B2B customers through the Faire: Sell Wholesale app.

Shopify Markets Pro: Simplified international Selling

If you sell products internationally, you’re probably already familiar with Shopify Markets – one of my favorite tools offered by the company. Shopify Markets allows you to identify, setup, and manage international market experiences from a single store.

In Editions Winter ’24, Shopify announced the general release of Shopify Markets Pro, an upgraded version of Shopify Markets with even more automation, a merchant record of service, and exciting new features, like standard delivery options accessible through DHL, and USPS, and the option to “filter by market” in your Shopify analytics.

There’s also a newly improved search function in the “Translate and Adapt” app for Shopify Markets, that helps to give users a more streamlined shopping experience.

Other updates to the Shopify Markets experience include the ability to edit orders from the order detail page, to offer payment in multiple currencies and invoice buyers. You can also access the “fulfillable inventory” tool, to match your inventory location with your intended market.

Shopify Marketing Updates

Before the latest update, Shopify already offered companies a handful of impressive marketing tools and features, including an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly web design experience, Shopify Inbox for customer communications, and Shopify Audiences.

Now, companies will also have access to:

Advanced Shopify Audiences features: Shopify has developed enhanced algorithms that maximize performance on top of ad platforms. Plus, Shopify allows companies to compare ad performance to similar stores and industry groupings in Shopify Audiences.

Upgraded Shopify Collabs: Store owners can now easily discover creators across social platforms from within Shopify, accessing new tools for brand reputation development and growth. You can also pay commissions on autopilot with Shopify billing, and create consolidated creator profiles for all of your partners.

Shop Campaigns: Shop Campaigns empowers companies to attract new customers across a range of channels. You can create advertising initiatives to attract customers on the Shop app, the web, and soon, Google and Meta too. Plus, Shopify offers real-time analytics and estimates to help you scale campaigns.

New “Shop” features also allow companies to create shoppable videos and product recommendation quizzes, and increase order conversions using new lead capture forms. There’s even an enhanced “Shop AI assistant”, that can deliver personalized recommendations to customers.

For social proof, companies can display reviews across a wider range of surfaces, like your online store, Shop app, and Shopify Collective. Plus, you can add a “verified by Shop” badge to your online store. On top of all that, there are even more powerful marketing integrations to access in the Shopify app store, which can sync data between multiple marketing channels.

What’s more, you can use historical and predictive spend metrics in your Cohort analysis reports to increase insights into customer lifetime value.

Shopify Operations Updates: AI Innovations

While there have been a number of updates to the “Operational” experiences offered by Shopify, the most exciting announcements for me are all linked to Shopify’s investment in artificial intelligence.

Since Shopify made waves in 2023 with Shopify Magic, it’s been exploring ever-more exciting ways to empower companies with intelligent tools. Companies can now transform product images and photography with AI, using text-based prompts to manipulate their visual content.

You can remove and replace backgrounds, update image quality, and more, all without any design skills. You can also use Shopify Magic to make creating content a lot quicker and simpler. Just ask the tool to write a page for your brand, such as an FAQ page, and tweak the responses as needed.

Shopify Sidekick is also better than ever, with more in-depth insights into your organization, so it can provide you with tailored advice relevant to your business.

Other Major Shopify Operations Updates

Alongside the addition of enhanced AI tools, Shopify has also introduced features like:

Advanced data privacy: Increase customer trust with privacy and consent management tools organized onto centralized pages within your Shopify admin.

Shopify lending: A flexible new lending portfolio, building on Shopify Capital, to give companies access to Line of Credit, Term loan, and Cash advance options.

Shopify Tax: Shopify’s US sales tax report can automatically streamline your tax filing tasks, adapting calculations to your specific state and filing period.

Shopify app updates: With the Shopify Ios and Android apps, companies can now access a widget for tracking store performance, and even create interactive 3D models of products.

Stronger Shopify Flow experiences: Shopify Flow, the company’s innovative automated workflow builder now has more templates, and allows companies to set up automated notifications for failed workflows.

Enhanced shipping and fulfillment: Shopify’s shipping and fulfillment tools now come with fulfillable inventory tools, always-on address validation, and more options to edit shipping costs and discounts on orders.

There’s also advanced “native exchanges” available in Shopify, to help companies create, track, and manage exchanges for any order in the admin dashboard. Plus, Shopify’s app store has been enhanced with AI recommendations that guide companies to the add-ons and integrations they might need.

Other Major Shopify Updates for 2024

Alongside all of the significant updates and announcements mentioned above, Shopify also revealed a range of impending enhancements for developers in the Shopify community. Since I’m not a developer, I didn’t want to focus too heavily on these updates. However, you can expect to see:

New theme blocks: New reusable and customizable theme blocks and block presets, designed to help developers rapidly build custom stores and even dashboards for monitoring ecommerce site performance.

Hydrogen updates: The headless Hydrogen developer experience is being enhanced with features like the Subrequest profiler for site optimization, and tools for tracking the source of code errors. Plus, there will be tokenized links, customer privacy APIs, runtime mirroring solutions, and the ability to upgrade Hydrogen projects from the Shopify CLI.

Greater extensibility: Developers will now be able to build extensions directly into new accounts with the same UI components as Shopify checkout, alongside extension APIs, new components, and external network calls.

Other updates include the new Store Credit API and Primitive, a more developer-friendly Shopify Flow experience, and new tools to help developers list and earn money from their apps.

Exploring the Incredible Updates from Shopify Editions

I always love analyzing the latest updates revealed in Shopify’s “Editions” events. This year, Shopify is releasing even more features and tools that will help companies increase their sales, upgrade their marketing strategy, and unlock new avenues of revenue.

At the same time, the Shopify building, and development experience is becoming simpler and more flexible, with the addition of enhanced tools, and artificial intelligence.

All of these updates indicate Shopify is still perfectly positioned to preserve its reputation as one of the top ecommerce and SaaS platforms for growing brands.

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