Unpicking our favourite updates from Shopify Editions 2024
Welcome to the GraftStudio blog! where we're excited to embark on a journey of sharing insights, expertise, and experiences gained over 15 years in the ever-evolving world of Shopify.
As long-time stalwarts of Shopify, we've witnessed firsthand the remarkable growth of e-commerce and the pivotal role platforms like Shopify play in shaping online businesses. Join us as we reflect on our journey, share valuable lessons learned, and explore emerging trends that will shape the future of Shopify.
Each year Shopify releases over 100+ product updates, which is an impressive feat in itself and those who've worked with this platform long enough will tell you, it used to be a very different story! Now, we are spoilt for choice.
Increased Variants
If you operate an online shop, you're aware of the significance of providing products with various options, like colours or sizes. However, until recently, there was a restriction: you could only have 100 variants per product. This posed a challenge for merchants handling medium to large product catalogues. Thankfully, Shopify has heeded its community's feedback and taken a stride forward. They've introduced new product APIs in developer preview and to select merchants, elevating the limit from a mere 100 to 2000 variants per product. This allows you to effortlessly sell more intricate products.
Combined Listings
Our *favourite* upgrade!
For merchants who haven’t had access to the aforementioned APIs, Shopify has introduced Combined Listings: your comprehensive solution for handling product variations. With this application, you can effortlessly amalgamate all your product variations into one centralised product listing. Each variant comes with its own distinct description, media carousel, and dedicated URL. Bid farewell to convoluted workarounds and bespoke solutions - it’s a mutually beneficial scenario for both you and your customers. Exclusively accessible to users on the Shopify Plus Plan.
Checkout Extensibility
Shopify provides the ultimate checkout experience online, and it has recently been enhanced. With new APIs and UI components, you now have the ability to personalise the appearance and vibe of your checkout to align with your brand. No more grappling with coding – instead, Shopify employs an app-based approach that assures security and seamless integration with Shop Pay.
What does this mean for your business? It translates to speed and adaptability. With the updated checkout, you can swiftly and effectively tailor the process to your specific business requirements. This extends to the Thank You and Order Status pages as well, ensuring a unified and pleasing post-purchase journey for your customers. Checkout.liquid will be disabled from August 13th onwards, so it's time to start planning your upgrade today.
Shopify Subscriptions
Shopify Subscriptions is a robust feature that empowers you to convert your products into recurring revenue streams. By offering your products as subscriptions, you can enhance your customer lifetime value (CLV) and generate more predictable revenue for your business. With this feature, you can effortlessly establish and oversee subscriptions directly from the Shopify admin dashboard. Moreover, you can customise them with various billing options, trial periods, and discounts. Additionally, you can grant your customers greater autonomy over their subscription orders by enabling them to adjust, pause, resume, or skip their orders directly from their account. To commence with Shopify Subscriptions, simply install the Shopify Subscriptions app from the Shopify App Store and configure your subscription plans.
Conclusion
While we’ve only scratched the surface here, there’s so much more to explore! Be sure to visit the Winter Editions 2024 site for a full list of announcements.