Shopify has released a lot of new features in the past year. From a switch to the Shopify 2.0 Online Store to a new post purchase checkout extension.

– by Tatjana Baeyens, Interactive Developer

1. Online Store 2.0

Shopify announced the release of the new Online Store 2.0 at their Shopify Unite event in June 2021. They changed the theme architecture to a more flexible system that makes managing the content easier for the merchants.

This means SECTIONS ON EVERY PAGE.

Until now, merchants could only use sections mainly on the homepage. With the new theme architecture the merchants can add sections to all type of pages. Such as product, collection, page, cart,… templates.

Finally, merchants can add sections to all types of pages.

2. Templates

Templates control what’s rendered on each type of page in a theme. Each page type in an online store has an associated template type. Now a merchant can create multiple versions of the same template type in the theme editor. This allows them to create custom templates for different use cases. For example, you can create separate landing pages with different content on them.

3. Flexible store content

You can now use metafields to enhance your product information. For example, add a specification list on the product page. In the theme editor, you can insert metafields using the dynamic sources on the product template page.

Adding metafields will soon be possible on the following topics:

– Collections
– Customers
– Orders

4. Enhancements to the theme editor

Shopify also changed the look and feel of the theme editor. Merchants can now easily navigate through pages, see all the content of the page in one view and simply update the hierarchy of the page. Merchants can toggle the visibility of each dynamic section displayed in the sidebar except from the header and footer.

5. Post purchase checkout extension

The post-purchase checkout extension is only available to all developers in beta. This extension renders on an seperate page after the buyer checks out but before the thank-you page.

Common use cases for the post-purchase app extension:

– Upsells
– Subscriptions
– Surveys
– Donation requests
– Promotional offers
– Other important info

6. VAT changes for ecommerce purchases made within the EU

As of July 1, 2021, the European Union has made changes to the tax regulations for ecommerce purchases made within the EU. These changes include the elimination of minimum sales thresholds, updated VAT rates, and an option on how to remit taxes. To help sellers comply with these changes, Shopify has added options to the tax settings. You can find more information on the EU’s One Stop Shop VAT site and in Shopify’s documentation Setting up EU taxes.

What’s next?

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is Shopify’s new React-based web development framework to build custom storefronts. This framework is now available in developer preview. Hydrogen’s building blocks enable a mix of static and dynamic data fetching between client and server for optimized performance. The combination of React Server Components, streaming Server-Side Rendering (SSR) with Suspense, and built-in caching policies enable merchants to achieve a balance between optimal commerce and user experience.

Shopify Markets

Shopify markets is not yet released, you can request early access from your Shopify admin. Shopify Markets helps you scale and optimize your international strategy with everything you need to identify, create, and manage international markets with ease from your Shopify admin.

Interested to see what Shopify can mean for you and your (e-commerce) business in 2022? Don’t hesitate to contact us!

Resources:

Shopify partners blog

https://shopify.dev/

Shopify blog