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It’s like Christmas in July with a new feature drop from Shopify! Shopify’s Summer ‘23 Editions boasts over 100 new product updates to make commerce easier for entrepreneurs, and we’re stoked to read and learn about all the very cool things Shopify can do today, and what they’re working on for tomorrow. In this article, we’ll dive into what Shopify Editions is, what excites us most about the 100+ updates Shopify released, and the reactions from thought leaders in the entrepreneurship space.
TL;DR: Shopify announced 100+ different product updates for Summer ‘23, including but not limited to: Shopify Bundles, Shopify Collective, B2B features, and Shopify Sidekick. A very cool coming soon: drag and drop online store page editing!
First of all, what is Shopify Editions? Editions started in Summer of ‘22 as a biannual event to announce product updates to the Shopify ecosystem. Rather than slowly rolling things out with little fanfare, Shopify decided the best way to release their updates was to go big. In Summer of ‘22, the biggest announcements were the custom pricing features for B2B, pay with iPhone on Shopify POS, and Twitter Shopping. Winter ‘23 introduced Shopify Magic as a smart AI integration to easily write product descriptions and one-page checkout. With all of the biggest features being saved for these biannual releases, plenty of Shopify fans were eager to see what was coming for Summer ‘23!
There’s so much that got released in Shopify’s Summer ‘23 Editions that it can’t be discussed in full here! For a great recap video and walkthrough of the coolest new features, take a look at the recap with Shopify’s VP of Product Glen Coates.
Additionally, this video from President Harley Finklestein discussed how the theme of Summer ‘23 Editions is Imagine. He said we need to reimagine what commerce looks like, since tomorrow’s commerce looks different from today’s.
This Edition was gorgeously executed, with a beauty of a website featuring multiple cards with dynamic images and video displaying the most exciting new features. The keynote video with Glen Coates featured a well-produced walkthrough of the biggest updates that, as a merchant myself, got me excited to play with the features that would make my life easier. With the Imagine theme squarely-focused, the team did a great job of staying true to their mission and inspiring entrepreneurs with the shiny new tools they can use right now, as well as getting us excited about what’s coming next.
Besides all of the front-end beauty, there were also some surprises in the source code for the nerds who took a look under the hood. Right in the source code of the Shopify Editions Summer ‘23 launch page was a Code Quest with a scavenger hunt challenge! It had instructions to search through the code to solve tasks and uncover hidden words related to the Summer ‘23 Edition, which was super cool. We’re pretty sure all of the prizes have been secured by now, but take a look at the source code here.
Shopify Sidekick is billed as being like ChatGPT, but specifically for Ecommerce merchants. The ability to ask questions within Shopify about your Shopify store or data is a game-changer for store owners, and can unlock a ton of functionality to save time and money. Being able to interact in a conversational manner similar to ChatGPT, Shopify Sidekick’s uses are boundless, and we can’t wait to use it to make quick changes to the theme, get a quick report on sales performance or historical comparisons, and quickly set up discounts or product changes. Tobi Lütke describes Shopify Sidekick as having someone who’s deeply competent and always able to help, which is precisely what an entrepreneur needs when running a business (listen, it’s hard to find good help)!
As an AI-first company, Triple Whale is really jazzed about the Shopify Sidekick feature! A little AI Assistant in your back pocket? Sounds familiar to us… we have our own AI Assistant, and their name is Willy. In a similar vein to Shopify Sidekick, Willy is able to pull data from both your Shopify store and other places you collect data, like Klaviyo email opens/conversion rates and Facebook ad performance so you have all of the information available to make better decisions for your business.
Soon, entrepreneurs will also be able to use the Founders Dash from Triple Whale, a free dashboard to view all of your real-time business metrics in one place, along with the analytics that make Triple Whale the special beast that it is. With an integration to the Shopify Admin along with Meta Ads, Google, and Klaviyo, you’ll have all of the actionable insights at your fingertips to keep ROAS, MER, nCAC, and overall profitability on-track.
Stay tuned for our own little announcement…
Including functionality for subscriptions directly within the Shopify Admin addresses a huge pain-point for a ton of businesses looking to add simple subscriptions to their arsenal. One of the best ways to increase recurring, predictable revenue is to offer a subscription option so customers can get your products on an ongoing basis. It’s been shown that subscriptions can generate up to 56% more revenue per customer, so adding this functionality can lift your business to new heights!
The Shopify Subscriptions functionality is best for simple subscription options where you can set a fulfillment interval as well as offer a discount on that product for the customer. If your business requires a more sophisticated subscription set up, take a look at the Shopify App Store for a 3rd-party application that may suit your needs.
As an entrepreneur who interacts with several other entrepreneurs, many of my colleagues have chosen Squarespace over Shopify simply due to the abilities of the WYSIWYG editor. Shopify is finally listening, and the ability to create multi-directional responsive layouts and easily align content within sections is something that’s finally going to happen for us Shopify loyalists.
Soon we’ll get to drag and drop, re-size, group, and edit content in the online store editor without having to be a coding wizard. Which is great, because we have lots of other things to learn and take care of.
This one we’re really excited about.
Shopify Collective allows you to add products from other top Shopify brands to your store to sell to your customers, while earning a profit margin on that sale. The other bonus? The other merchant ships the product directly to your customer, so you don’t have to worry about fulfillment.
It’s dropshipping, but it is for US-based companies that are also Shopify merchants, and with over 2.5 million stores to choose from in the USA, there’s plenty of amazing products out there to complement your store’s current offerings.
You can also offer your products to other merchants by setting your store up as a seller on Shopify Collective, which can help with brand recognition and reach! Just imagine, your cool product might just be the next thing Drake adds to his Drake Related site.
Ecommerce is everywhere, but it’s best to manage it all in one place: the Shopify Admin. Using Shopify’s new Marketplace Connect, you can easily connect your Shopify product catalog to top marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and eBay.
With the ability to streamline marketplace listings, inventory, and fulfillment, it’s easier than ever to set marketplace-specific content, pricing overrides, and manage your listings in bulk.
As a Shopify Plus merchant, you’re likely looking for easy ways to sell B2B. At long last, there’s B2B features built-in to Shopify Plus, like the ability to set customer-specific catalogs, payment terms and currencies.
There’s also the ability to connect multiple customers and locations in a single company profile, create Purchase Orders (POs), and to set volume pricing to encourage business customers to purchase in higher quantities for a better discount.
The ability to bundle products within Shopify has been a long-requested and sorely needed feature. It’s finally here! The functionality is simple, clever, and available to use on all Shopify stores. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to increase AOV as well as encourage customers to purchase some products that need a little extra love, give it a try!
Twitter was on fire! Or wait - X was abuzz? Whatever you call it, the reactions to Shopify Editions Summer ‘23 were quite positive, with everyone excited about what’s next for Ecommerce.
This tweet from Jean-Michel Lemieux, former Chief Technology Officer at Shopify, said this was the best Shopify update yet, and included a ton of interesting analysis that is only possible from someone who knew what was happening behind the curtain.
An AMA hosted on X Spaces by Harley Finklestein saw over 1.7k listeners tune in to listen and ask questions about the new features, and of course ask for more updates they’re still hoping for! You can still have a listen to the recording to hear more!
We’re always excited to hear what Shopify is doing to make commerce better for everyone, and how we can make it easier for you to see all of your data to make better decisions! Over 6000 Ecommerce brands are already using Triple Whale to scale their business - what are you waiting for? Click here to book a demo to see what it’s all about.
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