10 Big Updates in The Latest Shopify Editions Summer 2024 You Can’t Miss

Shopify Editions Summer 2024 was released on 24th June 2024 and brings forth a variety of impactful new features and platform enhancements aimed at improving online stores, optimizing operations, and increasing sales.

In this summer edition, Shopify has introduced more than 150+ updates to give merchants the experience of a unified platform. To summarize major announcements in this edition, BSS Commerce Shopify has highlighted the top 10 new big updates in the latest Shopify Editions Summer 2024 and highlighted features that are essential for every Shopify merchant to be aware of.

Let’s explore further below!

Introducing the Shopify Summer Edition 2024

This summer, Shopify has introduced a groundbreaking advancement with the Summer ’24 edition. This latest Shopify edition comes with the word ‘UNIFIED‘. Here is why:

“Commerce is getting even more unified. Sell more, scale more, build more, and get more done—all in one place.”

This is more than just the addition of hundreds of features – it’s the synchronization of key workflows and infrastructure all across Shopify, making it faster, more robust, and better connected than ever. The Shopify Editions Summer ’24 is more than just an update – they’re a commitment to empowering businesses to boost revenue without the burden of complex software.

There are tons of features in this Edition that add powerful capabilities to Shopify. In the upcoming section, BSS Commerce Shopify will introduce the top 10 big new updates in Shopify Summer Editions ‘24 that Shopify merchants can’t miss out on whether you’re launching a new store or expanding your business.

Top 10 Big New Updates in Shopify Editions Summer ‘24

The latest updates in Shopify give more importance to crucial workflows and infrastructure that set new standards of efficiency and integration across the entire platform. To assist you in navigating the key announcements more effectively, BSS Commerce Shopify has compiled a list of the top 10 updates that all Shopify merchants should know of:

#1. Markets – Unified Command Center

Markets, previously recognized as Shopify’s cross-border selling platform, has transformed into a centralized and comprehensive hub for expanding businesses on Shopify, whether you sell cross-border, B2B, or retail. Up until now, these works have been managed across various parts of the Shopify admin, which meant managing multiple disjointed experiences. Markets has been reimaged as a central command place to create customized buyer experiences for each market without having to create multiple stores or jump through multiple scattered workflows.

Merchants can now manage cross-border, retail, and B2B expansion all from a single place in Shopify admin, paving the way for limitless growth. It gives you an overlook of all the markets you operate in and also has a detailed look at the exact configuration you have made for each market and how it is performing.

How it helps merchants:

Markets provide Shopify merchants with an advantage—that is, the ability to have access to customization of all your markets in one place. In Markets, users can personalize their catalog, store theme, currency, languages, content, domains, and business entities. This allows you to curate a tailored shopping experience that precisely meets the needs of a specific buyer in a specific market.

#2. Split Shipping in Checkout

Previously, customers only saw one shipping rate and delivery date even if products were sent in multiple shipments or from multiple warehouses. With the introduction of split shipping in checkout in Shopify Editions Summer ’24, Shopify merchants can give customers transparency and choice at checkout for orders that will arrive in multiple packages. Now, customers can select different shipping options for each item to tailor delivery to their needs. All of this will give your customers clear expectations about shipping options and delivery dates, building trust and loyalty to your brand.

You can see top 10 world-class loyalty program examples to elevate your brand

How it helps customers:

Split shipping in checkout shows customers the estimated shipment dates for each item in their order, allowing them to select between cost-effective, expedited, or customized shipping preferences. During the checkout process, customers will receive a clear list of options regarding the possibility of their order being divided into multiple shipments and the shipping speed and cost of each. They will then be given the opportunity to select from various options to manage the shipping of their order:

• Price Priority: Opt for the most economical shipping method for each individual item.
• Speed Priority: Prefer the fastest shipping to all products if it’s possible even in single-item parcels.
• Custom Options: Buyers can choose definite shipping preferences for each separate item in their purchase.

#3. Shopify Magic

With features like Sidekick which is a virtual assistant powered by AI or advanced image-creating programs at its disposal, Shopify Magic uses advanced technology to make running a business easier.

How it helps merchants:

• Sidekick: A personal assistant for merchants, it acts as a resource of information with all the context and guidance that all your business needs to make good decisions and resolve tasks.
• AI Media Generation: Creating product pictures and advertising media that are plausible takes time. Hence, Shopify has delved into AI-supported media generation in the latest update that allows you to seamlessly modify media in the online store editor, email editor, or anywhere you access media in the Shopify admin. This AI functionality is extended to the Shopify mobile app as well, allowing merchants to make professional image edits everywhere.
• AI-Powered Customer Support: Offering top-notch customer service is vital for any eCommerce business. Shopify’s Inbox elevates customer support by adding AI-generated and real-time reply recommendations using data specific in your store.

#4. Rebuilt Analytics – Smarter Decisions, Faster

Each eCommerce business needs data to perform efficiently. Knowledge about customers and their behaviors, as well as your store’s performance in real-time, is very essential for making decisions. This is where the rebuilt analytics in Shopify Editions Summer ’24 come into play. Merchants can customize their reports to track metrics that matter the most to their business. As all data is streamlined in real-time and in an intuitive interface, store owners will have a deeper understanding of how their store is performing.

How it helps merchants:

• Faster & Smarter: Gain immediate access to real-time reports and insights, enabling swift responses to new trends and opportunities.
• More Intuitive: Experience a more user-friendly and intuitive interface that simplifies data navigation and analysis. Even individuals without expertise in data can effortlessly explore and analyze their data.

#5. Theme Style Settings

In Shopify’s next release in the summer of 2024, there are going to be new theme style settings that would enable Shopify merchants to adapt easily their storefront layouts as per their ever-changing brand looks.

How it helps merchants:

The Theme Style Settings feature in Shopify Editions Summer 2024 is specifically aimed at Shopify merchants to improve the customer’s experience on the storefront:

• More customization: Theme style settings give merchants more control over the look and feel of their online store. This allows them to create a visually appealing and branded experience that resonates with their target audience.
• Easier navigation: Merchants can use style settings to adjust layouts and spacing, potentially making the store easier for customers to navigate and find what they’re looking for.

#6. Hydrogen Visual Editor

In Summer ’24 – the most recent update of Shopify Editions features an innovative Hydrogen toolkit enhancement – Hydrogen Visual Editor. This editor, developed on the Utopia platform which is now part of Shopify, signifies a significant move from conventional methodologies of developing headless storefronts to the interactive and visual way.

How it helps merchants:

• Allow designers and merchandisers, even those without technical expertise, to visually create and customize your storefront, just like popular website builders.
• While using a visual interface, the code remains the solid foundation of your storefront. Any modifications made are automatically translated into clean and manageable code changes that are synchronized with your GitHub repository.

#7. Managed Markets

Managed Markets simplifies the process of selling internationally, enabling you to concentrate on your core strengths of product innovation and business management.

How it helps customers:

• Streamlined duties & taxes: Seamlessly incorporate duties and taxes into your regional pricing, maintaining a smooth checkout experience for your global customer.
• Shopify’s network of partners enables you to access competitive shipping rates. Consequently, your business will deliver goods to clients abroad quicker and in a cheaper way.

#8. Store Transfer – Ship To & From Store

Almost all consumers desire convenience and flexibility to either pick up their purchases in-store or receive them quickly through online delivery. Shopify Editions Summer ’24 introduces a new feature that enables you to address these preferences effectively: the ability to ship to and from retail stores.

How it helps customers:

• Give customers more options for receiving orders. Customers can buy online and pick up their orders at their preferred store, even if those items aren’t stocked there, or having products shipped directly from a store through Shopify POS. It gives customers greater flexibility and convenience in how they receive their orders, improving users’ shopping experience dramatically.

#9. Easy Retail Checkout

The Summer ’24 release of Shopify Editions brings a range of new features specifically designed to streamline the retail checkout process through Shopify POS.

How it helps customers:

• Showcase your in-store return policy details directly at the checkout in Shopify POS to minimize any confusion for customers and guarantee that they are well-informed about your return procedures.
• Give customers digital receipts via Shopify POS. These receipts also give customers the opportunity to subscribe to your email list, helping to build more robust customer connections.

#10. Shop Campaign & Audiences

Shopify Audiences and Shop Campaigns are sophisticated features that are able to considerably enhance your customer conversion rates as well as optimize your marketing budget. Using these features helps you to direct messages towards prospects, hence minimizing wastage of marketing expenditure and scaling up marketing communication effectiveness.

How it helps merchants:

The aim of this edition is to help Shopify merchants reach their target market effortlessly for the purpose of boosting sales. Customers are better off as they can easily access the information they are likely to be interested in through advertisements.

Other Highlighted Features of Shopify Summer Editions 2024

In the section below, BSS Commerce Shopify shares other highlighted features of Shopify Summer Editions 2024. From streamlining workflows to amplifying customer experiences, let’s delve deeper into these features that shouldn’t be missed:

#1. Sell Online

• Enable Shop sign-in using Shop account with activated Shop Pay for shoppers.
• Update of Product Taxonomy with the addition of 10k categories and 2k attributes.
• Filter products based on images with Shopify search and discovery app.
• Create 1 listing for a product and all variations with the Shopify combined listings app.
• Early access to issue store credit via Shopify has begun.
• Add product bundles to draft orders and Shop to boost average order value.
• Implement a new product category filter for quick product filtering.
• Reorder filter values using AI or manually with Shopify Magic.
• Enable Semantic Search for a more intuitive customer search.
• Make third-party CMS provide metaobjects from Liquid and Hydrogen Storefronts.
• For easier management, use Bulk import and export of product metafields.

#2. Sell in Person

Boost Customer Convenience:

• Collect the customers’ data at point-of-sale, including their email addresses for marketing and digital receipts.
• Provide a system of pricing as well as product catalog by regions for enhanced shopping experience.
• Make it easy to return items purchased online with specific policies and employees instructions.
• Entice customers with Buy X Get Y promotions right at the POS.

Empower Your Retail Staff:

• It offers you an easy way of handling multiple discounts during checkout.
• Gain real-time inventory insights with Stocky UI extensions.
• Customer orders can also be edited and managed within the POS system.
• Create draft orders across locations and devices for improved flexibility.
• Access key details and workflows effortlessly while completing in-store tasks.

Simplify Daily Operations:

• Export register sessions and sync cash tracking reports for efficient end-of-day processes.
• Enhance reliability with wired connections for tablets, terminals, and scanners.

#3. Sell Wholesale

Effortless B2B Setup:

• Launch your B2B store quickly with a free pre-designed theme, ready to customize – Trade.
• Manage multiple B2B markets with unique catalogs and themes, all without code.

Enhanced B2B Transactions:

• Implement percentage-based deposits for specific B2B customers.
• Charge accurate shipping costs based on weight and location.
• Import, manage, and publish bulk supplier products with ease.
• Enjoy real-time overselling protection for peace of mind.

Streamlined B2B Workflows:

• Access instant price lists in connection with B2B customers.
• Generate custom price lists effortlessly using filters or selecting all products.
• Send invoices for draft orders with flexible payment terms.
• Create up to 10,000 ship-to locations per company for complex B2B needs.
• Offer manual payment methods like bank transfers for B2B customers.

Seamless B2B Data Management:

• Synchronize product prices across catalogs, B2B customers with companies, and more.

#4. Sell Globally

International Selling:

• Easy International Expansion: Easily expand into new regions with Markets.
• Transparent Pricing: Include duties and taxes upfront in product prices for international buyers, avoiding checkout surprises.
• Order Management Flexibility: Edit order details after purchase with Managed Markets, giving you more control over international transactions.
• Consolidated Payments: Manage multiple Shopify Payments accounts for different business entities under one roof.

Regionalized Support:

• Japan-Specific Theme & Fonts: Merchants in Japan can leverage a new default theme – Rise, along with 17 Japanese fonts for a localized shopping experience.
• Improved Visibility: Gain better insights into Managed Markets payouts with clear status updates and timely alerts to unblock delays.
• Faster Customs Clearance: Managed Markets automatically optimizes product descriptions for carriers, leading to smoother customs processing.

Global Payment Solutions:

• Increased Payment Success: Managed Markets automatically attempts transactions with multiple gateways, maximizing payment success rates.
• Multi-Currency Payouts: Receive Shopify Payments payouts in both USD and CAD, minimizing currency conversion fees.

Additional International Features:

• Multilingual Cookie Banners: Ensure compliance with international regulations with cookie banners in 32 languages.
• Direct Debit Payments: Offer customers the convenience of paying bills via direct debit.
• Unit-Based Pricing: Display product prices by relevant units of measurement for different regions.
• Japan-Specific Shipping Apps: Discover recommended shipping apps tailored to the Japanese market.
• Yen billing in Japan: Pay bills for Shopify plans in Yen is now available in Japan.

#5. Checkout

• Split Shipping in Checkout: Provide customers with increased transparency and flexibility during the checkout process by indicating when an order will be divided into multiple shipments.
• Customize Pages with Apps: All subscriptions can now use applications to enhance the functionality of the thank you and order status pages in a manner that is secure and can be easily upgraded.
• Capture Payments per Fulfillment: Streamline the process of capturing payments automatically when a portion of an order is fulfilled to align with customer preferences and compliance requirements.
• Shop Pay Supports In-Store Pickup: Customers can now opt to purchase online and collect their items in-store using the Shop Pay Component.
• Customers can save the default address in Shop Pay for faster checkout.
• Enhance the number of pickup locations available during checkout.
• Offer additional choices for address autocomplete functionality.
• Use Checkout Extensibility to speed up the checkout process and prevent errors by prefilling addresses and providing one-time-use options.
• Customers can apply discount codes while paying a draft order.
• Collect tax identification numbers at checkout.
• Provide shipping options specifically tailored for subscription services.
• Enable customers to apply discount codes when paying invoices for draft orders.

#6. Connect with Customers

• Expand your customer base by targeting multiple ad platforms and optimizing your ad budget effectively.
• Expand your reach to customers in both Canada and the US through Shop Campaigns.
• Effortlessly synchronize campaign data from key platforms like Google and TikTok.
• Streamline your email marketing efforts by automating emails based on customer segments.
• Customize pixel permissions to enhance data collection while respecting customer privacy preferences.
• Boost your sales and conversions on Shop with the New Shop Minis.
• Manage staff access to customer data with improved controls.
• Direct customers to a specific URL upon form submission.
• Efficiently import, export, and replicate marketing automation from other sources to streamline operations across all your stores.
• Gather detailed data on standard pixel events, including URL, domain, and checkout objects for better insights.

#7. Ship & Fulfill

Empowering Customer Choice:

• Store Transfers: Transfer inventory between locations, allowing customers to pick up online orders at their preferred store.
• Store Fulfillment: Purchase and print shipping labels directly in your POS, turning retail locations into mini fulfillment centers.

Boosting Delivery Success:

• Reduced Failed Deliveries: Minimize failed deliveries across all your Shopify sales channels.
• Smart Fulfillment Suggestions: Receive location recommendations when adjusting order fulfillment locations, based on your settings.

Enhanced Order Management:

• Streamlined Printing: Enjoy a more intuitive interface and improved performance with the new Shopify Order Printer app.
• Simplified Location Management: Sort and filter your locations with ease to manage pickup in-store, local delivery, POS settings, and more.

Advanced Functionality:

• API-Powered Exchange Management: Use APIs to manage exchanges seamlessly, including return shipping, restocking fees, and triggers for new fulfillment orders.

#8. Centralize Operations

• Rebuilt Analytics Tech Stack: Experience faster, more flexible, and intuitive analytics tools to gain deeper insights into your business performance.
• Organization Feature: Combine multiple stores under a single organization for efficient management of billing, staff access, and more.
• Staff Permissions: Assign access to users based on specific roles or a combination of roles for enhanced security.
• Rapid Store Duplication: Quickly create new development or production stores with existing product data, saving you valuable time.
• Enhanced App Recommendations: Easily find the best apps for your needs with improved discovery features throughout the admin.
• New intuitive top bar for smoothly adapting to tasks.
• Meta field Access in Workflows: Flow can now access custom data through meta fields, allowing for more powerful workflow automation.
• Flow Debugging and Rerunning: Test and fix workflow errors with manual rerunning and an improved search function in Flow.

The Bottom Line – Shopify Editions Summer 2024

To conclude, the Shopify Editions Summer 2024 updates will provide store owners with robust tools to succeed in a highly competitive environment. Thanks to advanced functionalities such as AI, markets, and retail checkout features, online businesses can enhance their operational efficiency, elevate customer experiences, and stimulate sales growth.

To implement these technical updates effectively, seek assistance from our Shopify Website Development Services for better store design and performance, or just keep in touch with us for the latest news and updates on Shopify.