This article marks the second installment in Coalition Technologies’ comprehensive 6-part series examining the Shopify Editions Summer 2023 updates.
Shopify’s latest Summer ’23 Edition, representing the latest iteration of its biannual showcase, introduces a wealth of new enhancements to the platform. This includes over 100 product updates, features, and Shopify apps that have been meticulously developed over the past six months.
These additions are crafted to enhance productivity, creativity, and power in managing your store, with a tangible impact on business outcomes.
This year’s underlying theme centers on the integration of AI for e-commerce success. The rapid adoption of AI by companies is no surprise, as the AI-enabled e-commerce market is projected to reach nearly $17 billion by 2030. Shopify has also embraced this technology to introduce and refine features across its ecosystem.
Below, we highlight the key features of this edition and provide insights on leveraging the new functionalities to elevate your e-commerce operations.
2023 has been a pivotal year for AI, significantly transforming how individuals work and live. It has especially been a boon for entrepreneurs, offering substantial time and cost savings across the business value chain.
In recognition of this, Shopify has launched Shopify Magic, a suite of AI-powered e-commerce features that will shape the Shopify experience for years to come. Here are some of the components of Shopify Magic:
Chatbots are rapidly becoming central to AI deployment in enterprises. As reported by Forbes, 73% of businesses either use or plan to use AI chatbots. Consequently, Shopify has made Sidekick the cornerstone of Shopify Magic.
Sidekick is a groundbreaking e-commerce AI assistant for Shopify store owners, functioning as a chatbot accessible through the Shopify dashboard. It enables store owners to gain a comprehensive understanding of their business and rapidly implement site changes without delving into themes or seeking developer assistance.
Whether you need to retrieve specific sales figures, set up product discounts, create new site copy, or even alter the look and feel of your store, the AI e-commerce assistant can execute these tasks with remarkable speed. You can sign up for a free trial of Sidekick on the Shopify Magic landing page.
Shopify Email offers robust features that extend beyond mere email automation. It allows you to design branded emails with pre-built and customizable templates, helping your communications stand out. You can also manage and analyze campaigns within Shopify, completely automating workflows like welcome and upsell emails. Shopify Email centralizes business activities for site owners, facilitating an enhanced e-commerce journey beyond the core site platform.
Shopify has joined the long-form content trend, but not as a mere follower. With Shopify Magic, you can create on-brand content that reflects your store’s history, tailored to e-commerce needs. The AI crafts engaging copy to drive traffic to your store and convert prospects, including blogs, articles, promotional copy, and on-site content like headers and product descriptions. This latter option is also available through Shopify’s Online Store editor.
Shopify can suggest personalized instant answers for your customers’ most common questions, allowing you to respond to live chat queries using AI-generated responses. This not only improves sales and customer satisfaction but also reduces operating costs. Shopify Magic also automatically generates FAQ suggestions for your business based on previous customer chats, considering your store policies and conversation history. You can review and publish these using Shopify Inbox.
Looking to streamline your customers’ product review process? Shopify offers a feature that quickly summarizes buyer reviews into a concise summary at the top of the review section. This enables customers to quickly grasp buyer experiences, saving time and increasing conversions.
In addition to e-commerce AI features for site owners, Shopify has introduced a range of features for Shopify app developers. With over 8,500 apps on the Shopify app store, these enhancements facilitate the development and launch of high-quality apps that enhance the experience for site owners.
Developers on newly launched Shopify stores often lack test data when building an app. Now, Shopify allows you to create a development store populated with test data generated by the e-commerce AI.
The App Bridge, a JavaScript SDK, enables your apps to communicate with the Shopify admin. It also allows you to create interface elements, such as navigation menus and contextual save bars, that exist outside the app’s surface. By integrating directly into standard Web Platform APIs, it simplifies Shopify app development.
Shopify CLI’s functionality is now extended to include development for Shopify Flow, making it easier to build custom automations, such as triggers and actions, to run your store more efficiently.
Configuration of your apps can now be done locally using TOML, streamlining the process and eliminating the need to work within the Shopify ecosystem. Simply link the configured apps to those in your Partner Dashboard and deploy them live using the Shopify CLI.
Shopify app development has been significantly bolstered with the ability to create new apps using the Remix template, which leverages the Remix framework to deliver superior UX for your users.
Admin extensions allow for seamless integration of your app functionality with the Shopify admin. You can now use Shopify APIs to create action and block extensions that effortlessly blend in with the admin’s interface.
Extension-only apps, as the name implies, are custom apps made entirely of extensions. They lack embedded app pages but come with a Shopify-generated app URL to list your app on the app store.
Shopify now allows you to deploy your app extensions so that they’re versioned together. If your app was created after July 26, 2023, it automatically uses simplified (unified) deployment. If it was created before then, you can opt in to simplified deployment. Starting September 5, 2023, all apps will automatically be set to simplified deployment.
Retrieving data from metafields has often been challenging and could slow performance when syncing store data. However, you can now access Shopify’s metafields up to four times faster using the GraphQL Admin API.
Shopify Functions enable developers to customize how Shopify’s backend works. This feature allows you to create practically any function you can think of, from new payment customizations to checkout validations and delivery optimizations, complementing the benefits of e-commerce AI for site owners.
Shopify’s new ‘Built for Shopify’ (BFS) label makes it easier for merchants to identify top-tier apps on the Shopify App Store. By meeting Shopify’s highest quality standards, you can earn this label for your app, ensuring increased downloads and trials.
Shopify has also released additional resources and guidance to help you achieve this label, including updated App Design Guidelines and beta access to Polaris v12.
Coalition Technologies, a certified Shopify partner, boasts a proven track record of building high-performing e-commerce websites across industries. We have constructed nearly 800 websites and generated over half a billion dollars in revenue for our clients globally. Whether you need to build a Shopify site from scratch or enhance your existing one, we are here to assist.
Contact us to schedule a personalized consultation for your business. Stay tuned to our blog for more updates on Shopify app development and e-commerce AI features.
Stay with us for parts three through six for a complete breakdown of everything new in Shopify’s Summer ‘23 Edition.
