Shopify News: These are the Shopify Updates in July 2023

Just at the end of July, Shopify announced a whole series of innovations: Shopify Summer 2023 Editions hold exciting enhancements for merchants that will significantly help them run their businesses. It gets even easier for merchants with the announced Shopify AI features, which even come with their own virtual assistant called "Sidekick"! We've summarized everything you need to know about Shopify Editions in our blog post.

And Shopify continues with exciting updates in August! Not only have storefronts on Shopify become 30% faster - Shopify is also making the lives of its users easier with an update to the Checkout UI extensions. In this post, we'll take a closer look at the latest Shopify updates.

Benefit from 30% faster Shopify storefronts

You may have noticed it yourself: as of recently, storefronts on Shopify are much faster! With the latest update, Shopify allows bits to get to the browser much faster over the web. In addition, a new feature allows you to design pages that render faster. Merchants can thus provide a consistent shopping experience for their customers - no matter where they are located.

Storefronts can now leverage HTTP/3 priorities by using single-domain hosting for static content, and sections can now intelligently flag "lazy load" content.

Page speed is still an important SEO ranking factor. It's generally true that the faster the HTML response to the browser, the faster the browser can parse and render the page. The same is true for headless commerce solutions, because the faster the storefront API queries come back, the faster the user experience. Thanks to the update, both the headless storefront and the online store are significantly faster.

To achieve this, Shopify has significantly upgraded the performance of its platform. For example, it is no longer necessary to rely on scaling servers to improve speed during periods of high order volume, such as Black-Friday or flash sales. Also, with a decentralized design, the geographic location of the database no longer affects the user experience.

In addition to the platform changes, Shopify has also improved the way browsers render your storefronts to make them faster. Two notable changes are:

• Consolidated hosting - static content is now hosted on the same domain as your storefront, instead of cdn.shopify.com

• Thematic sections and blocks can apply smart lazy loading techniques based on their position on the page

Shopify Flow is now available on the Basic plan

Another good news for all users of Shopify's Basic plan: as of now, users of the Basic plan also have access to Shopify Flow. This new addition extends the availability of Shopify Flow to Basic, Shopify, Advanced and Plus plans. Even SFN merchants can benefit from Flow's features, regardless of their chosen plan.

Shopify Flow is an app from Shopify that allows merchants to automate various processes and tasks in their online store. This platform is designed to simplify the process of doing business and automate time-consuming tasks so merchants can spend more time on other important aspects of their business.

With Shopify Flow, merchants can create a variety of automation rules based on events and conditions. Some examples of automations that are possible with Shopify Flow include:

• Inventory management

• Price changes

• Customer communication

• Customer segmentation

• Marketing promotions

• Order processing

New filtering capabilities in the Shopify Search & Discovery app

Starting today, the Shopify Search & Discover app supports more filter customization options. These enhancements allow you to customize filter options in a variety of ways to provide your customers with an even better navigation and search experience. This allows your customers to find products they are most interested in more quickly and accurately.

The new filter features offer the following options:

• Rename filters: you now have the option to rename filters in your online store. This customization is not only helpful to adapt filter terms to your target audience, but also allows for better comprehensibility and usability.

• Translation of filters: serving an international clientele has never been easier. You can now have filter terms translated into different languages. This makes it easy for customers from different regions to search for products in their preferred language.

• Grouping of filter values: This feature allows similar or related filter values to be grouped under a common name. This makes it much easier for customers to refine their search. For example, take the colors "Navy" and "Dark Blue" - these filters could be grouped under a single filter name such as "Blue". This not only promotes clarity, but also speeds up the search process for customers.

Customize the filters in your online store

Follow these steps:

1. In the Shopify Search & Discovery app, navigate to the "Filters" section and select "Edit Filters".

2. Select a filter source to offer your customers the choices they want.

3. Optional: Give the filters a new name that will be displayed to your customers. Learn more about renaming filters here.

4. Optional: Group filter values into a single value to provide a clear overview to your customers. Learn more about this here: Grouping filter values.

5. Save your settings by clicking "Save".

6. You can also customize the order of the filters in the display. Use the simple drag-and-drop function to arrange the filters in the order you want them to be seen by your customers.

Shopify Checkout UI Extensions Update: Customize Shopify Checkout

New extension options in the Checkout UI make it easier for Shopify Plus merchants to customize Checkout according to their unique needs. In July 2023, two new APIs were introduced to provide further benefits for merchants:

• API for shopping cart metadata fields

• API for shipping address updates

The new Shopping Cart Metadata Fields interface allows you to read and write metadata fields in the shopping cart. Metadata fields are additional information associated with a specific item - in this case, products or items in the online store's shopping cart. Through this new API, developers have the ability to access, view and edit this metadata.

In addition, the new shipping address update interface gives customers the ability to enter and save changes to their shipping address. For example, this opens up the option for customers to update or adjust their shipping address. Whether it's because they've moved or want to send an order to a different address.

In addition, two APIs have been announced for August, but they have yet to be launched. These are an API for price breakdown of the total amount in the checkout, which should make it possible to break down the total price in the checkout. This could include details on individual cost components such as product prices, taxes, shipping costs and discounts. Merchants can use this information to provide their customers with a detailed view of the price in checkout or to display custom adjustments.

The second API announced is an interface for custom SMS consent capture. Through this new API, specific consents can be obtained from users to send them SMS messages. This could be used in a marketing context, for example, to ensure that recipients have consented to receive promotional SMS messages and to ensure compliance with privacy policies.

You can always see which Checkout UI Extensions have already been released or are coming in the next few months on this Shopify Developer page.

Conclusion

The latest Shopify updates in August 2023 represent targeted improvements in speed, customizability, and user experience. Dramatic increases in storefront speed enable smooth and fast browsing, while Checkout UI enhancements provide merchants with unprecedented customizability. The integration of Shopify Flow into the Basic plan opens up the opportunity for new user groups to benefit from these powerful features.

Additionally, enhancements to the filtering options in the Shopify Search & Discovery app ensure that customers can find products even more easily.

Overall, Shopify's August updates place a clear focus on speed, customizability and ease of use. The combination of these improvements further optimizes the shopping experience on the platform and expands the options for merchants.

Latori: Your partner for Shopify Plus

As a Shopify partner and the first Shopify Plus agency in Germany, Latori has first-hand knowledge and is always up to date with changes to the store system. We have already supported numerous national and international brands in switching to Shopify Plus.