On January 31, Shopify announced the launch of 'Shopify Editions Winter '24,' an edition that brings significant updates and improvements to the platform. This launch marks a new chapter in Shopify's continuous progress, reflecting the platform's commitment to leading the market with innovative solutions.
And as happens every semester, we have selected the most relevant items for you to stay on top of the main news.
More ways to convert your buyers
Product presentation is essential for increasing your e-commerce conversion rate. Recognizing this reality, Shopify has made the biggest update to the platform's core in 10 years, including:
1) 2,000 variant limit
For merchants and developers using Shopify, the limit of 99 variants per product has always been a challenge. Variants are essential because they allow different versions of the same product—such as size, color, or material—to be offered in an organized way, without the need to create separate listings for each variation. This restrictive limit has been a source of frustration until now, but recent news has made us super excited!
The new GraphQL product API expands the limit to 2,000 variants per product. This represents a giant leap in flexibility and capacity, allowing for the creation of much more complex and varied product catalogs.
** Currently available in a preview version exclusively for developers.
2) Combined listings - Shopify Combined Listings App
Prior to the launch of Shopify's combined listings, merchants who wanted to visually showcase all variations of a product in a product list would typically opt to create each individual variant as a separate product.
Now, with the Shopify Combined Listings app, if you have a product that comes in various variations (like color or style), you can purchase any of them from a centralized product list. Each variation will have its own description, media gallery, and descriptive URL.
*Feature exclusive to Shopify Plus.
3) Comprehensive attributes for each product category
Shopify's new taxonomy reduces the time and effort required to create product listings.
The product page now automatically applies standardized categories and category-specific product attributes (such as color, age range, or size) across different variants, so you don't have to do it manually repeatedly and can make your products more discoverable when they are published on social and marketplace channels.
4) Semantic Search
If you're not already using the Shopify Search & Discovery app, you're missing out on some excellent native features. Use the Shopify Discovery app to customize search, filtering, create samples, and product recommendations.
Semantic Search is the new AI-powered storefront search feature that goes beyond keyword matching. When a customer enters a term into the search bar, the AI-powered system generates related search suggestions, better understanding the buyer's intent.
This means a noticeable improvement in the shopping experience, as customers can easily discover the products they are looking for.
5) Web Performance Dashboard
With the new Web Performance Dashboard, it is now possible to view Core Web Vitals to monitor loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability—three statistics that help with SEO scores and your ability to sell more.
The best checkout experience throughout the customer journey
1) Expanded checkout extensibility
Shopify has been working to make the checkout process more flexible and customizable than ever before. If you're a Shopify Plus merchant, you've probably heard about Checkout extensibility. It's basically the new way to customize and enhance the checkout experience on Shopify Plus. Gone are the old days of checkout.liquid (which will be discontinued soon).
Until now, merchants (and developers) only had access to the main checkout page for enhancements. This included adding sections, UI updates, and other Shopify Function features. As of today, Shopify is rolling out even more ways to customize the checkout experience.
2) Thank you and order status page extensions
The thank you and order status pages are essential touchpoints in the customer journey, and Shopify now offers more options to customize these experiences. Merchants can add useful information, personalized messages, or product recommendations to these pages, improving post-sales communication and encouraging customer loyalty.
3) Customer account page extensibility
All this customization is also coming to the Customer Account page. Now, merchants can offer a richer and more interactive experience, with access to order history, purchase preferences, and even personalized recommendations based on previous purchases.
More AI with Shopify Magic
Shopify Magic brings a new era of automation and personalization driven by Artificial Intelligence. This platform offers merchants powerful tools to optimize operations, predict market trends, and personalize the customer experience at scale. From product recommendations to pricing optimization and consumer behavior analysis, AI is transforming the way online stores operate, making them smarter and more efficient.
1) Transform product photography with AI
The ability to transform product photography using AI is another new feature from Shopify. This technology allows merchants to create high-quality images of their products with ease and efficiency, without the need for expensive and time-consuming photo shoots. AI can adjust lighting, background, and even product composition, ensuring that images are visually appealing and consistent with the brand identity.
2) Create store pages faster with Shopify Magic
With the power of AI, Shopify is making store page creation faster and more intuitive. Merchants can now design and launch attractive pages with less effort, thanks to intelligent templates and automated design tools. This approach not only speeds up the store setup process but also ensures that pages are optimized for conversion and user experience.
Shopify native subscription app
The launch of Shopify's native subscription app opens up new opportunities for merchants looking to offer subscription programs. This integrated functionality facilitates the creation and management of subscriptions, allowing customers to sign up to receive products or services at regular intervals. This not only creates a recurring revenue stream for merchants but also strengthens customer relationships, fostering loyalty and increasing customer lifetime value.
The app simplifies the subscription process for both merchants and customers, with an easy-to-use interface and flexible customization options. This makes it easier for merchants to set up and run successful subscription programs, while offering customers a convenient way to regularly receive their favorite products or services.
Expanded B2B Resources
Shopify is expanding its resources for B2B (Business-to-Business) operations, offering specialized tools to meet the needs of wholesale sales and inter-company relationships. These updates include advanced functionalities for order management, customized pricing, and customer accounts, allowing B2B merchants to operate more efficiently and provide better service to their business clients.
With the announcement during Shopify's Winter 2024 Editions, you'll have even more useful B2B features available in your Shopify Plus stores. Here are some of the excellent new features that excited our enterprise team:
1) Custom discounts for B2B
A powerful tool Shopify provides developers is Shopify Functions. This allows developers to code custom backend logic in Shopify. These functions can be developed as apps and then installed in the store. Shopify Functions provide access to backend customizations for discounts, shipping, and payment methods. And now, Shopify has extended these functions to work with B2B checkout.
You can now use Shopify Functions to create promotional discounts exclusively for B2B customers. Discounts can be automatically applied at checkout, including additional discounts beyond specific catalog prices. You can create highly specific discounts just for your B2B customers.
2) Support for sales representatives
You can now assign sales representatives to your B2B customers. Using new staff permissions in the Admin, you can assign team members to place orders and view customer information for the locations assigned to the company. Specific access levels for sales managers and sales representatives can be defined using roles within staff permissions. This is a great way to offer even more support and guidance to your B2B clients.
The "Shopify Editions Winter '24" edition showcases Shopify's continuous effort to bring innovations and support those who sell on the platform. To see all the amazing new features in this edition, just click here.
At Alce Rocks, we are eager to help our clients explore and implement these new features. With the new tools and functionalities available, merchants have everything they need to face market challenges and seize opportunities for growth.