As online commerce progresses, Shopify also evolves through its biannual releases. Let’s delve into how Shopify transforms the merchant experience with its latest innovations.
Expanded Product Variants
The era of the 99-variant limit per product is over! Thanks to Shopify’s new GraphQL product API, merchants, and developers can now generate up to 2000 variants per product, offering customers a wider selection. This enhancement allows for more intricate product catalogs and is currently accessible for developer preview, with a broader release planned for the future.
Simplified Listings
Merchants now have the option to merge product variations into a single comprehensive listing using the Combined Listing App. Each variant retains its unique attributes, such as image carousel, URL, and publishing controls. This streamlined approach enhances the shopping experience for customers, improving product visibility and customization.
Expanding Checkout Options
Shopify Plus users are likely acquainted with Checkout Extensibility, a feature transforming the checkout process. Unlike the outdated checkout.liquid, this advancement offers a forward-thinking approach for Shopify, broadening its scope beyond the core checkout page. Previously restricted to enhancing solely the core checkout page, merchants and developers can now implement customizations across additional site sections, providing greater flexibility in tailoring the checkout experience.
Tailored Post-Purchase Pages
The extensive customization options available for the checkout page now extend to the “Thank You” and Order Status pages. Merchants can personalize various elements, including appearance, color schemes, headers, footers, and container styles. These enhancements, powered by apps, are designed to be future-proof and ensure compatibility and extensibility for developers.
Enhanced Customer Account Page Customization
Similar customization capabilities are now accessible on the Customer Account page, enabling the creation of enriched customer experiences.
Unlocking AI-Powered Innovations with Shopify Magic
AI technology remains a hot topic, and Shopify introduced Shopify Magic in 2023 to revolutionize product descriptions. In the Winter Edition of 2024, they’re further enhancing their AI capabilities. Merchants can now harness AI for image manipulation, advanced autowrite functionality, and upgraded search features. Let’s explore some of the exciting new AI enhancements.
Streamlined Image Editing with AI
Shopify’s new Magic image tools make managing product images a breeze. You can easily edit photos with just a few clicks or keywords using integrated AI. Instantly generate, match, or remove backgrounds to create professional-looking product images. This AI-powered editing saves time and improves the visual appeal of your products, attracting more customers and boosting sales.
AI-driven Semantic Search
If you haven’t explored the Shopify Search & Discovery App yet, you’re missing out on its native capabilities. Customize search, filtering, and product recommendations with this powerful tool. Look out for an improved search experience by introducing new AI-powered storefront features. Semantic Search, an innovative AI-driven feature, goes beyond basic keyword matching to understand the shopper’s intent, delivering more comprehensive and relevant search results.
Accelerating Store Page Creation
Shopify merchants are likely familiar with Shopify Magic’s AI-based product description tool, which expedites the writing process by generating compelling descriptions using product titles and keywords. This feature has now expanded beyond product descriptions to other sections of the Shopify Admin, including Pages. Creating pages such as About Us or FAQ is effortless with just a few clicks and prompts.
Improving B2B Capabilities
Enhanced functionalities for Shopify Plus merchants cater to the specific needs of business-to-business transactions. While Shopify B2B already supports companies with tailored pricing, bulk discounts, and payment terms, Winter 2024 introduces exciting new upgrades, enhancing the B2B experience for merchants.
Supporting Sales Representatives
With Shopify B2B, sales reps can now be assigned to B2B customers, enhancing support and guidance. New staff permissions allow staff to place orders and access customer information for specific company locations. This feature fosters stronger, personalized customer relationships, increasing sales and higher customer retention.
Headless Integration for B2B
Shopify Hydrogen, renowned for headless development, now extends to B2B stores, offering limitless development possibilities. Thanks to the integration of B2B features into the headless paradigm, B2B businesses can combine Shopify’s robust e-commerce capabilities with custom frontend designs.
Customized Discounts for B2B
Shopify provides developers with powerful tools like Shopify Functions to inject customized backend logic. These functions now extend to B2B checkout, creating exclusive promotional discounts for B2B customers. These tailored discounts can be automatically applied at checkout, offering pricing tailored for B2B clients.
Introducing the All-in-One POS Solution
For retail stores utilizing Shopify, Shopify POS offers seamless omnichannel expansion. Integrated with your Shopify platform, Shopify POS and POS GO deliver a unified solution for your business, but the innovation doesn’t stop there.
The POS Solution is a comprehensive countertop tool tailored for retail customers. It serves as a dedicated payment terminal with Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity and features an integrated customer display. Personalize the screen with your branding, and take advantage of new functionalities like capturing customer emails at checkout and offering one-tap digital receipts.
This POS Solution is an invaluable asset for your store. It provides customers with a real-time display of their purchased items. Customers can confidently complete their transactions with intuitive workflows for payment, PIN entry, tipping, and receipt selection.
New Subscription Tool
Subscription services provide a reliable method to sell products repeatedly, boosting customer lifetime value and ensuring consistent revenue. Previously, merchants had to rely on third-party apps to manage these services. However, a significant change has arrived.
Shopify now offers its own Subscription app for free, allowing effortless setup and management of subscriptions directly within the Shopify admin. Customers can easily modify or skip subscription orders through their account on your store, eliminating the need for third-party apps to handle basic subscription services.
Closing Thoughts
Shopify’s unwavering dedication to progress has positioned it as one of the most cutting-edge e-commerce platforms available today. Contact VT Lab’s team of Shopify experts for assistance with Shopify Plus or Checkout. Let’s discover how Shopify can propel your business forward.