Twice a year, Shopify announces its new or updated product features. These features represent what Shopify is doing to support merchants, partners, and developers and provide the products and tools they need to keep their eCommerce sites up-to-date and efficient. While there is usually a core focus for each ‘Edition’ release, there are also overall platform updates that ensure that Shopify stays ahead of trends, technology, and tools.
With every Shopify Edition release, there are exciting foundational updates.
At Total Commerce, we are always excited about the latest developments, but this year, we are MEGA excited. You’ll soon see why, but let’s first delve into the nitty gritty of what this is all about. The theme for the Winter ‘24 Edition that was immediately evident was ‘Foundations.’ This is not a rebuild by any means, but it represents Shopify’s commitment to being better, starting from the ground up. We have often described our agency as a general contractor. We start by getting the foundation of your eCommerce store right, and then we build on top of that strong foundation. Shopify’s development and feature releases in this Edition clearly show their commitment to merchants and the developer community.
Carry on reading for our top 5 Updates, but our in-depth podcast really delves into the details of various feature updates and why they are so crucial for your eCommerce store.
Listen to eComm Standup Shopify Editions Winter '24 LIVE reaction podcast
Watch the Shopify Editions Walkthrough here.
We’ve also gone one step further for our partners and have been working with our entire development team on ‘Editions Explained'. This is our twice-yearly strategy product that takes the new features and shows you how to apply them to YOUR business. Want to test some of the developer preview updates for your store? Looking to implement the new gift card capabilities right now?
We’ve got you covered with Editions Explained, which will also keep you covered for a full six months until the Summer ‘24 Edition is released.
Our 5 Favorite Updates
These are in no particular order, and by no means the only updates we LOVE.
1. Variants
What it means:
Shopify only had 100 variants before releasing new APIs to unlock up to 2,000 variants and more complex and sophisticated order structures.
Why we love it so much:
This is HUGE for brands with high SKUs, like multiple product variations. It will help merchants avoid customization costs on product variants and leverage more out-of-the-box Shopify features.
Why You Need Editions Explained?
The following Admin API resources, in both GraphQL and REST versions, have an additional throttle that takes effect when a store has 50,000 product variants. After this threshold is reached, no more than 1,000 new variants can be created per day.
In certain cases, Shopify needs to enforce rate limiting in order to prevent abuse of the platform. Therefore, your app should be prepared to handle rate limiting on all endpoints. (Does not apply to Shopify Plus)
2. Sidekick
What it means:
AI is huge, and every big brand has an AI “sidekick.” Shopify’s Sidekick will give merchants additional support where they need it. Time-consuming tasks like marketing campaigns and research are about to get simpler and faster.
Why we love it so much:
AI helpers are indispensable. They streamline tasks, provide instant information, and offer hands-free assistance, saving time and effort. ← Yes, this paragraph was written with an AI helper.
3. Smarter Search
What it means:
More AI, yay! Shopify launched Semantic Search, one of the new AI-powered storefront search features.
Why we love it so much:
Smart searching is an integral part of UX, and these search enhancements will take merchant stores to the next level. Customers will be able to use simpler, more natural language and receive more relevant results.
4. Checkout Extensibility
What it means:
In the previous Editions, Shopify introduced Functions and Checkout Extensibility, which allowed developers to create checkout customizations that are built into apps. With this release, Shopify launched 17 new updates and APIs, providing even greater customization opportunities.
Why we love it so much:
It means improved flexibility and customizations at the checkout, including customized delivery options, custom validation logic to cart and checkout, and more! Customers will have a cohesive, branded solution that’s even better than Shopify’s already excellent checkout abilities.
5. Subscriptions
What it means:
The Shopify Subscriptions app was fully released.
Why we love it so much:
Subscriptions boost value and revenue. Having a simple way to set up and manage subscriptions gives merchants the freedom to make adjustments and streamline offers.
