In 2022, the first Editions, Connect to Consumer, were introduced. They help merchants make new connections and improve existing touchpoints with customers. Following that, Winter Editions: Built to Last, focused on product updates designed to facilitate long-term experiences for businesses and developers.

Now, Shopify Editions Summer 2023 is now live and fully equipped with over 100 updates to help merchants elevate their ecommerce experience. From AI-powered tools like Sidekick and Shopify Magic, to the big announcement of Shopify Subscriptions – Shopify have been working hard to ensure merchants and agencies have what they need to run a successful business.

In the pursuit of shaping the future of commerce, Shopify has dedicated its attention to the dynamic and ever-changing landscape. Shopify has launched a range of updates, features, and products aimed at enabling their merchants, entrepreneurs, and businesses to remain at the forefront of their industries. These new introductions will revolutionise how they operate their businesses.

In our opinion, these are the five headlines you need to know about as a Shopify Merchant:

1. Sidekick & Shopify AI
2. More Variants
3. Custom Landing Pages
4. Subscriptions
5. Bundles

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Shopify Magic and Sidekick

Shopify Magic is Shopify’s brand for a suite of AI features and tools.

It offers clever automation shortcuts that make it easier for merchants to manage everything from inventory and orders to customers and marketing activities. With the help of Magic, you can save time on mundane tasks and focus on building strategic relationships with your customers.

An example of one of these AI or ‘Magic’ products is Sidekick. This is a chat-bot like feature that makes active suggestions to help improve your store, tackle time-consuming tasks, and make smarter business decisions. From suggesting the best apps for your business to helping with marketing campaigns, Sidekick answers questions, solves problems, and helps you get more work done, faster.

Increased number of Variants

Shopify announced they’re upping the variant limit. Previously, Shopify offered merchants a maximum of 100 variants, but with this latest drop, they’ve announced they’re upping this limit to more than 100. That means brands can incorporate more product combinations without a development workaround.

This is particularly useful to brands with high SKU counts and different sizes, colours or features for each.

Some merchants don’t love variants and prefer splitting products out but this update just reinforces how variants play an important role in the best-practice product setup.

Custom Landing Pages

Merchants can now create custom templates easily with meta objects.

Landing pages play a crucial role in achieving optimal conversion from various channels; they convey essential brand and product details to guarantee those sales.

So with Shopify’s new custom landing page feature is easier than ever to create unique content templates with the click of a button. Using metaobjects, merchants can build structured design elements for their storefronts such as quizzes, customer highlights, product highlights, and brand specs to create a library of content. Once the metaobject templates are created, you simply add it to the page, input SEO details, and hit publish.

Good for businesses with a small budget. However, if you want to create something more complex and creative, we recommend you still involve a design / UX team who can create a bespoke library of components that reflect your brand aesthetics and USPs.

Shopify Subscriptions

A pretty big update was Shopify Subscriptions. Recharge has long been the go-to provider but new players such as Swell and Skio have all become increasingly popular in the DTC market.

As an industry, having Shopify announce their new subscriptions feature is an exciting update and one that will hopefully ensure less clashes and problems between third-party tools and Shopify with each blaming the other for bugs.

But does Shopify Subscriptions offer all the features that Recharge and Skio do? At first glance of the announcement, it appears not:

“Easily set up and manage simple subscription offerings with the new, free Shopify Subscriptions app. With new customer accounts, your customers will have the flexibility to pause or skip orders, update payment and shipping details, and more.For more advanced subscription needs, explore a wide range of purpose-built apps.”

This is a ‘watch this space’ update that will likely evolve in time but don’t worry, you don’t need to migrate to it for the forseeable.

More on Bundles:

We are big fans of bundling products and creating Build-A-Box options for clients. So what impact will the new Shopify Bundles app for fixed bundles and multipacks have?

Bundles have been a consistent driver for boosting CvR and AOV for a long time, and while the concept isn’t new to ecommerce, Shopify’s free first-party bundles app provides a diverse range of bundled product opportunities, including multi-packs and fixed bundles. The Bundles App offers advantages to brands of every size aiming to boost their Average Order Value, improve product discovery, or clear inventory through the creation of bundled offers.

However, for more advanced requirements like mix-and-match bundles, Shopify still recommends using one of the updated bundle apps or going custom by using their Shopify Functions APIs.

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Summary:

With Shopify Editions, the company is taking a giant leap forward in revolutionizing the ecommerce experience. By introducing cutting-edge AI tools like Sidekick and Shopify Magic, Shopify is empowering its users with the ability to automate and streamline their business operations. These tools not only save time but also enhance the overall efficiency of online stores.

In addition to the AI tools, Shopify has also increased the variant limit, allowing merchants to offer a wider range of products to their customers. This means that businesses can now showcase their entire inventory, giving shoppers more options to choose from. This update is a game-changer for merchants who want to expand their product offerings and cater to a diverse customer base.

Crafting custom landing pages has never been easier with Shopify Editions. The simplified process allows merchants to create visually stunning and engaging pages that capture the attention of potential customers. By providing a seamless and user-friendly interface, Shopify ensures that even those with limited technical knowledge can effortlessly design captivating landing pages.

One of the most exciting features of Shopify Editions is the introduction of Shopify Subscriptions. This feature enables merchants to offer subscription-based services to their customers, creating a recurring revenue stream. Whether it’s a monthly box of curated products or access to exclusive content, Shopify Subscriptions opens up new possibilities for businesses to generate consistent income.

To further enhance the customer experience, Shopify has strategically deployed the Bundles app. This app allows merchants to create enticing product bundles, encouraging customers to purchase multiple items at once. By offering bundled deals, businesses can increase their average order value and boost sales.

As Shopify continues to shape the future of online retail, it’s important to stay updated on the latest developments. By signing up for early access to the features mentioned, merchants can stay ahead of the competition and take full advantage of the innovative tools and resources Shopify has to offer. With Shopify Editions, the possibilities for success in the ecommerce world are endless.