Shopify Editions Summer 2024

The new Shopify Edition Summer '24 has been live since 24 June, 14:00 German time. Among the announced updates are some new features and insights that have excited our Shopify developers.

Under this year's motto UNIFIED, Shopify once again wants to unite everything that moves commerce under one roof. Because exponential opportunities can only be realised if everything works together seamlessly. In this article, we present a clear overview of the new functions and updates that make this possible.

What are Shopify Editions?

Shopify Editions is a format that is published directly by Shopify and reports twice a year - in winter and summer - on new updates, functions and previews for Shopify and Shopify Plus. In addition to videos and help centre articles, there is a landing page that goes live on the pre-announced date and lists all updates in a bundle.

The last Shopify Editions Winter '24 were released in January 2024. The current version of the Shopify Editions for summer went live on 24 June 2024 and can be viewed on the Shopify Editions landing page.

What's new?

1. Markets

The revised Shopify Markets will now provide a centralised platform for business expansion that bundles all of a company's expansion activities in one place. This new interface in the Shopify admin area will be available to all Shopify customers in the coming months. Markets will summarise all activities on one screen and in one admin: B2B, Crossborder, Online Shop and POS. Everything in one view - without the need for different stores or having to jump back and forth between different workflows.

Markets enables growth through international expansion, retail and B2B sales (the latter only in Plus plans) and allows extensive customisation of catalogues, store themes, currencies and domains to create tailored buyer experiences for different markets.

Markets is suitable for companies at any stage of growth and provides a centralised overview of all markets operated and their performance evaluation. Existing Shopify users who already sell cross-border, retail or B2B will automatically see their existing markets in the new "Markets" interface. New users can more easily get started with the expansion features without complicated integrations.

With Shopify Markets, users can quickly create new markets by customising existing ones without wasting time creating them from scratch. The platform makes it easy to sell internationally, customise POS experiences for different retail locations and expand B2B shops geographically. Centralised management simplifies growth and eliminates the need to split inventory or synchronise data between multiple stores.

2. Analytics

Shopify has revamped its analytics platform to make it faster, more flexible and more intuitive. With real-time data from Shopify QL, pre-built reports and rich visualisations, business owners can now make informed decisions and optimise their business performance. The new features make it possible to customise reports and combine different metrics such as sales, sessions and conversion rates into a single report, providing deeper insights into business operations.

Another highlight is the customisable dashboard, which provides quick and easy-to-understand data on key performance metrics. Users can configure the dashboard according to their needs and display the desired metrics in a clear view. These new features will be available to all Shopify merchants in the coming months, helping to simplify the analytics process and drive business optimisation.

3. Hydrogen Visual Editor by Utopia

Shopify has announced the Hydrogen Visual Editor, powered by the open source platform Utopia, as part of Summer Editions '24. This editor allows teams to work on any part of their storefront in real time, whether it's rearranging sections, editing content or changing small details. The Visual Editor integrates seamlessly with existing workflows and GitHub so that changes in the code are automatically synchronised.

In addition, numerous improvements for developers (DX Improvements) have been introduced, including the so-called Optimistic Cart function, which displays immediate changes in the shopping cart, and stable support for Vite for faster development. Shopify Analytics integration has been simplified and environment variable management has been improved with the ability to bulk upload via the Hydrogen CLI. Other new features include automatic deployment comments on GitHub and enhanced SEO tools.

Other updates include the ability to cache full pages, support for Shopify Plus B2B features, a new RichText component for rendering meta fields in HTML and the ability to redeploy Hydrogen applications directly from the Shopify admin panel. There is also a built-in client for interacting with the Shopify Customer Account API and automatic SSL tunnelling to ensure secure connections.

4. New style settings and functions for theme blocks

The introduction of new style settings and theme block extensions to the Shopify online store aims to provide Shopify theme developers with more customisation options and make it easier for merchants to personalise their storefronts. The new style settings, which map directly to CSS properties, allow merchants to optimise the appearance of their website for different breakpoints, such as mobile views. These settings offer flexibility in terms of layout, size and spacing and are accessible via style panels, eliminating the need for developers to manually create each setting. This makes it easier for retailers to customise and display their brand identity.

In addition, the functionalities of the theme blocks are extended by block targeting and static blocks. Block targeting allows developers to allow certain blocks only in defined areas, such as only slide blocks in a slideshow section. Statically rendered blocks cannot be rearranged or deleted by merchants, allowing developers to create fixed layouts with specific behaviours. These new features are currently available in a developer preview, allowing developers to familiarise themselves with the new platform features and provide feedback. Future updates will provide additional style panels and simplified data connections for blocks to further increase flexibility and ease of use. Only available in the Developer Preview for now!

5. Innovations with Shopify Magic / AI

Media Editor

Shopify now enables AI-powered image generation everywhere. This allows Shopify merchants to instantly edit media in the Shopify mobile app, online shop editor, email editor and everywhere else. This feature is being rolled out globally.

Suggested categories and attributes

From now on, you can easily classify products with Shopify Magic's suggested categories, attributes and values to make them more discoverable on your storefront and marketplaces. This feature is also being rolled out globally.

6. Aktualisierungen bei Shopify B2B

There are also new exciting updates for Shopify B2B merchants:

• Manual payment methods for B2B: Merchants can now offer their B2B customers manual payment methods in the checkout, such as bank transfers, cheques and international bank transfers. Early access for all plans has been live since 24 June.

• Support for headless B2B storefronts + hydrogen templates: B2B shops can now be built with unique user experiences, as headless storefronts and hydrogen templates are now also available for B2B. This allows you to enable B2B checkouts and personalised products and prices. All thanks to Shopify's APIs and developer tools.

• Trade Theme: Shopify Plus merchants can now easily set up B2B shops with the new Trade Theme. Trade was specially developed for repeat and bulk purchases in wholesale. The Trade theme is available to all merchants, but already comes with support for all advanced features for merchants on Shopify Plus.

The updates to Shopify B2B can be used by Shopify merchants worldwide.

7. New APIs

The commerce stack can now be customised with new and improved Shopify APIs. These APIs are available now or will be available soon:

- Exchange APIs: Let you manage the entire exchange lifecycle with updated Returns APIs. Add exchange items to a return and apply discounts to these items. You can also use them to charge return and restocking fees. These APIs simplify the exchange workflow for partners and improve merchant sales and tax reporting by eliminating issues associated with custom workarounds. (Coming soon)

- Discount feature for POS: Allows developers to customise Shopify's backend logic to create more flexible and advanced omnichannel discount options using APIs. (available now)

- Updates to the Branding API: Checkout Extensibility allows for advanced styling using the Branding API. There are now 2 additional colour schemes, new positions and content dividers for the header and footer as well as support for the queue page for a consistent customer experience. (available now)

- Storefront Cart API - Prefill Checkout: The shopping cart API now enables automatic prefill with pre-populated shopper inputs such as delivery address, preferred delivery method and pickup location. (available now)

- Customer Account API meta fields: Store and access customer information using the Customer Account API and create experiences that allow logged-in customers to update information about themselves. (available in the Dev Preview)

8. Split Shipping im Checkout

With this new feature, which has currently only been rolled out for a few stores in early access, online shoppers can see in the checkout exactly when an order cannot be dispatched in one delivery. The order is split into several deliveries. This applies to pre-orders, subscriptions, "Buy with Prime" products and items from different locations or shipping profiles. In the checkout, the customer can select a shipping option for each delivery.

Certain features, such as draft orders, are not compatible with split shipping. The cheapest shipping option is selected by default. However, customers can select a more expensive shipping method for individual deliveries for faster delivery, while retaining the cheapest option for other deliveries.

9. Markets Pro becomes Managed Markets

Duties including pricing

For retailers using Managed Markets, the new "Duties inclusive pricing" function includes customs duties and any import taxes in the product price, so that both a "price shock" at the checkout and surprise charges on delivery are avoided. Early access is currently available for all plans.

UPS Shipping

Take advantage of more shipping options with competitive rates and upfront fees. More shipping carrier choices increase options for shoppers, conversions and savings for merchants.

Both features are only available in the US and Canada for now.

10. Shop Pay Commerce component

With the new Shop Pay functions that Shopify is rolling out globally, merchants of the Commerce Components plan can now optimise their purchase processes.

To streamline the implementation process, Shopify has introduced an easy way for merchants to integrate Shop Pay, powered by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. This new feature will simplify deployment, improve business functionality and reduce the cost and effort of integrating Shop Pay. We are also introducing the Buy Online, Pickup In Store (BOPIS) functionality for the Shop Pay component. This innovative feature will seamlessly connect the online and offline shopping experiences, providing greater convenience and potentially increasing sales.