A new season brings with it a new Shopify era, and this time it was the arrival of Summer Editions '23: hundreds of changes, updates and improvements to the Shopify platform, all in one neat package.

With edits to their B2B offering as well as the highly anticipated arrival of subscription and bundle apps to boost customer sales, this launch is proving to be one of their most exciting yet. Discover the highlights of Summer Editions ‘23 here:

Shopify Bundles App

Bundles have been in high demand for Shopify themes for a while now, as merchants are seeking further ways to increase average order values and offer more customised shopping experiences. The launch of Shopify’s own Bundles app now allows you to create and sell fixed bundles or multipacks - all for free. For more advanced mix-and-match bundles, Shopify Plus APIs can be used to build a custom bundle offering.

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Shopify Subscriptions App

Another important nod to customer loyalty and upselling, the upcoming arrival of Shopify’s own subscription app (also free to all stores) will allow merchants to easily set up and manage simple subscription offerings and enjoy recurring, predictable revenue.

Subscription products, according to Shopify, can contribute on average 56% more revenue per customer, which is why this app is designed to nurture an ongoing relationship between merchants and customers. The app integrates directly with the admin and lets you set delivery frequencies and tiered discounts. New customer accounts give customers freedom to edit their account information and alter their subscription to suit them.

AI

Many of you will remember the arrival of Shopify Magic in Winter Editions back in February - an AI copywriting tool which allows merchants to create compelling product descriptions faster than a copywriter on speed. Now the wizards over at Shopify Magic have worked to improve their AI offering, with tone of voice, key talking points and 8 languages now available for those that need engaging, branded copy in a flash. 

With everything from headers to footers, blog posts and FAQs easily generated by AI, it’s never been easier to get those keywords onto your site and inform customers about your products.

And the AI improvements don’t stop at the Online Store. 

AI-generated email subject lines, body copy and optimised send times are now available for Shopify Emails, allowing your store data to dictate how and when you speak to your customers - and then what to say.

B2B

Until 2023, it was a tough decision for businesses selling both wholesale and retail as to whether they needed a blended storefront (B2B and DTC on the same store), or two separate Shopify stores in order to make sure they could brand up their B2B offering differently. 

Now, Shopify has created a context-selector, where merchants can toggle between different versions of the same Shopify theme and customise them for different audiences. Useful for both international brands AND businesses that run wholesale and retail hand in hand, merchants can now create audience-specific versions of each page on their store. Perfect for location-specific marketing such as Thanksgiving for US audiences or a specific B2B offer, this eliminates the need for separate stores and keeps all your business operations in one place.

Other notable B2B updates include:

• Volume pricing and quantity price breaks to encourage business customers to buy in larger quantities.
• Quick order lists to display product variants and B2B pricing more clearly than before.
• Vaulted credit cards so customers can use a previously stored card on draft orders at checkout or when paying an invoice.
• PayPal payments.
• Looking for our full guide to Shopify B2B, including the latest Summer Editions updates? Download our free e-book here.

Checkout

The Shopify checkout has remained slightly trapped in time until last year, and now the focus has been on making the checkout a more customised, branded experience for shoppers. With custom fonts now available for Shopify Plus plans and customised delivery methods such as pickup dates, times and instructions with ready-made UI components, we’re excited to make the most of these features for Plus brands.

In other checkout news? 

It should come as no surprise that Shopify is still leagues ahead when it comes to their checkout experience. A study completed in partnership with a global management consulting company revealed that Shopify has a 15% higher conversion rate on average compared to other leading e-commerce platforms. (Read the full piece here).

With an out-of-the-box checkout built for speed and customer flow, as well as their one-click checkout in the form of Shop Pay (which, incidentally, has as much as 50% better conversion compared to guest checkout), it’s now easier than ever to get a checkout that feels totally on-brand - and makes customers convert.

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Shipping & Delivery

You’ve done the marketing, and you’ve landed the sales. But what about the shipping? Fulfil and manage orders faster than ever before with Shopify Shipping. Buy up to 100 shipping labels in bulk to save time and money, and use their exclusive shipping labels page to schedule pickups and void or print multiple labels at once.

Control return requests by setting specific return rules that are automatically applied to an order and show up when a customer tries to return an item that is eligible under the rules you set up. Select a preset return window, for example, and offer specific return shipping costs.

Ever feel in the dark when it comes to delivery? Now you can view the delivery status for every order directly from the orders page, making it easy to chase delayed or failed deliveries. 

Offer carbon-neutral shipping with the Planet app, designed to connect with climate-conscious customers. Customise the badge that customers see on the cart page, and add an ‘impact’ page to your store to help customers understand how you’re working to remove carbon emissions. 

Marketing

It’s one thing to get new customers onto your website - it’s quite another to keep them. Many of Shopify’s updates in Summer Editions have been focused on marketing - with new updates to Shopify Email, Shopify Forms and Shopify Inbox all geared around connecting with buyers again and again. 

Recognising the big players in customer data like Klaviyo and Omnisend, Shopify have introduced a series of changes to the way merchants engage with their customers before, during and after purchase. Here are some of their key changes:

• Shopify Forms is their new free email capture solution, allowing you to collect first-party data directly in Shopify with no need for an email app
• New segmentation filters on Shopify Email let you target high-value customers, add important information to customer profiles such as birthdays and locations, and learn from purchasing behaviour.
• Shopify Inbox now has a search feature, allowing you to easily find and re-engage with customers
• TikTok Shop is available to certain businesses, where you can sync your products to TikTok, and still manage orders within Shopify

Flex Sections

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Shopify’s new custom layouts coming to the Online Store later this year remind our team of other CMS drag-and-drop site builders on the market.

These drag-and-drop multi-directional responsive layouts allow for easy content alignment and editing for a unique store look.

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Admin

If you have a Shopify store already, you will have noticed the look and feel of the platform has changed over the past week. Aside from buttons no longer being in the same place (thanks, Shopify), there are some notable differences to the Admin:

• Key metrics in the Analytics tab show how your store stacks up against other businesses in your industry
• Customise your reporting and analytics dashboard and filter the analysis report
• Updates to the bulk product editor

Conclusion

Shopify continues to surprise and delight merchants and customers alike with the wealth of new updates in Summer Editions ‘23. With their subscriptions app and flex sections arriving imminently and dozens of fresh features fresh to try already, this marks another successful launch for the platform. As for the next six months? We're excited for their advanced B2B offering and to help more brands get the most out of Shopify. Bring on Winter Editions '24.