July was a huge month for Shopify. The release of Summer Editions ‘23 teased a whole feast of new features and updates to look forward to. There were also tons of improvements and new releases in July that we just can’t let slip through the cracks. So sit back and take a look at all the latest Shopify innovations you can take advantage of right now.
Without a doubt, the highlight of July was Summer Editions ‘23. With over 100 updates that will push the platform to the next level, there’s plenty to be excited about.
Realizing the immense value AI can bring to e-merchants, Shopify announced another addition to its AI-powered arsenal; Sidekick. The tool, dubbed as a ChatGPT for eCommerce, acts as an assistant to help merchants make smarter business decisions.
New features were also unveiled for Shopify Magic, including automated blog posts, custom replies to FAQs, and automated emails.
New native Shopify apps were another highlight of Editions Summer ‘23. Shopify announced the release of Shopify Subscriptions, Shopify Marketplace, and Shopify Collective, to name but a few.
Find out more about Shopify Editions Summer ‘23
Something that really stood out in July was the wealth of updates to native Shopify apps. There was even the release of a brand-new Shopify app. Let’s take a look at what’s new with apps on Shopify.
Product bundles can now be created right within Admin thanks to the release of the new Shopify Bundles app. With this new app, you can build fixed bundles and multipacks for your Shopify store with ease.
These bundles will have their own product page that can be customized with images, variants, and product options. Your customers can choose from variants associated with the products in a bundle like size and color. What’s more, you’ll never need to worry about overselling as the app keeps track of your inventory in real time.
While this app looks promising, there are a few teething problems some current users have pointed out. First of all, there’s little flexibility when it comes to creating bundles. A bundle can only have up to 10 products, 3 bundle options, and no more than 100 variants. This makes the app pretty much unusable for larger stores or promotions that cover a big selection of products. Also, the app is only compatible with Online Store, which isn’t great news for those selling through Shopify POS, social media, or any other sales channel.
It’s very early days for Shopify Bundles, so we’re sure there will be some updates to the app that will expand its usability. Plus,
There have been 2 major updates to Shopify’s search and discovery tool that merchants need to know about.
Headless stores can now bring Shopify Search & Discovery features to their store. The app has been upgraded to be compatible with the Storefront API, allowing headless merchants to customize their stores with a number of features. This includes promoting products on search results pages, creating synonyms, editing collections, and letting customers filter by a variety of options.
The filtering capabilities of the Search & Discovery app have received a much-needed enhancement. Filters are now a lot more customizable. Merchants using the app are finally able to rename any filter as they see fit, translate filters, and group filter values with similarities under one name. This is going to make it a whole lot easier for customers to narrow down their finds.
Shopify Audiences has given Plus merchants advertising superpowers. Dozens of merchants have seen their ad acquisition costs slash as the tool puts their ads in front of the perfect people. Now, with version 2.0, Shopify Audiences users can lower their acquisition costs by a jaw-dropping 50%.
The magic behind Shopify Audiences is all in its algorithms. The tool analyzes millions of purchase intent signals to pluck out shoppers most likely to purchase from a specific brand. These shoppers are placed into an audience list for merchants to fire ads. But Shopify Audiences doesn’t stop there.
To ensure only the best algorithms are ingrained into the tool, Shopify keeps tabs on how each one does with conversions. The algorithms that produce the highest conversions are selected as the “winners”.
The algorithm behind Shopify Audiences 2.0 has beat out all of its predecessors by miles. So you’re guaranteed to find more high-value customers for less.
Shopify Flow can be a massive lifesaver for the busy Shopify merchant. That’s why it’s great to see the tool becoming available for merchants on the Basic plan.
Shopify Flow lets merchants hand over tedious and time-consuming tasks so they can focus on more productive matters. Shopify Flow can automate virtually any task, from inventory management to loyalty and promotions. If you can think of it, Shopify Flow can probably handle it.
The Shopify app store is flushed with thousands of apps, all promising to bring the best capabilities to your store. This can make finding the perfect app an arduous back-and-forth dance as you try and test each one. Fortunately, the new “Built for Shopify” badge is here to help you choose only the best ones.
Apps that have earned the “Built for Shopify” badge have cleared Shopify’s quality bar by meeting 4 standards:
Another way Shopify is helping merchants choose the best apps for their stores is with improvements to reviews. With the help of Shopify Magic, you’ll see an overall review made up of what merchants thought about the app. This will be visible on the listing pages of certain apps right above the reviews section.
Summary of more than 1,600 reviews of Boost AI Search & Discovery
Reviews are also going to be subject to a little more scrutiny. All new reviews will now be checked for genuinity before they are published. This will cause a delay in the appearance of reviews on the app store but will ensure comments are trustworthy.
There’s one more app-related update we need to mention that you may have noticed already. The app settings page has a new notification system. You’ll now be able to identify which apps have had notable changes, such as becoming unsupported, the end of a free trial, the cost of an app, and even which ones are least used. This will make managing and optimizing your app use a lot easier.
Dealing with fraudulent orders is definitely at the top of every merchant’s “no thank you” list. Fortunately, this could become a thing of the past thanks to checkout rules for fraud control.
Rules can be created to block suspicious orders at the checkout when you install the Fraud Control app. These rules can filter and stop purchases from particular email addresses, IP addresses, and address attributes such as zip codes.
You’ll also get insights into how many orders are being blocked, allowing you to assess the effectiveness of your rules and adapt them if needed.
Merchants now have a little more flexibility for automatically capturing payments. It’s now possible to capture payments automatically once an order has been fulfilled. This will come in handy if you need to meet specific accounting standards that require you to capture payment at that point. Or it could simply allow you to meet customer expectations easily.
In this scenario, the payment for the order is authorized at checkout and captured when the entire order is fulfilled within the authorization period. It’s important to note that the feature won’t work with fulfillment apps that require a paid order status before the fulfillment process is started.
You can set up automated payment capture at fulfillment from your admin. Go to Settings > Payments > Payment capture, then select Manage.
It’s now even easier to give more customers the option to collect their orders locally. When you need to create a draft order on behalf of a customer, you can choose local pickup as a shipping and delivery option. Besides providing more flexibility on delivery options for customers, you can also curb shipping costs if the local destination is your store or warehouse.
Merchants can ensure the most optimal fulfillment processes with smart order routing. The new feature guarantees your orders get to your customers as quickly as possible. Moreover, you’ll be able to decrease shipping costs, reduce shipping delays, and gain more control over the fulfillment process.
Smart order routing lets merchants set rules to determine where an order is fulfilled. By default, rules are configured to fulfill an order from a location closest to the delivery address with all order items in stock. However, you can adjust these rules to fit your business better.
The routing rule options you can choose from are:
Besides smart order routing and the extension of local pickup, the ability to split and merge fulfillment orders has arrived. This feature allows you to fulfill partial orders or use multiple locations for a single order. B2B merchants will find this particularly useful as they’ll be able to break down large orders into multiple shipments.
Additionally, you can change the fulfillment location of a particular item or put specific line items on hold without having to modify the entire fulfillment order.
Customizing the checkout experience is now much easier thanks to a host of updates to UI extensions.
You can learn more about checkout extensibility in this conversation between Shopify RnD leaders, Mani Fazeli and Ilya Grigorik, and Jan Frey on the below video tutorial.
We’re sure you’ll agree it’s been a jam-packed July for Shopify. Tons of new features will certainly elevate your Shopify store. Be sure to give them a try and keep your eyes peeled for the next round of Shopify updates.
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