Shopify Winter Edition ’24 is all about strengthening the foundation of your e-commerce business. Building an e-commerce store is a lot like building a house; the choices you make define its character, but its strength and stability depend on a solid foundation. Just as a good house foundation supports everything from room layouts to installing appliances, a robust e-commerce platform foundation supports the various aspects of your online business. Shopify’s latest updates focus on enhancing these foundational elements, ensuring you have everything you need to build a successful, resilient online store.

Table of Contents

  1. Increasing product variant limit from 100 to 2,000
  2. Combined Listings App
  3. Standardized Product Taxonomy
  4. Reusable Theme Blocks
  5. B2B Admin Permissions
  6. Fulfillable Inventory
  7. Checkout Extensibility
  8. Web Performance
  9. Exchanges
  10. Test Drive for Shopify Plus
  11. Customer Accounts Extensibility
  12. Store Credit
  13. Shopify Audiences
  14. Shopify Campaigns
  15. Shopify Capital: Term Loans and Line of Credit
  16. AI-Powered Image Editing
  17. FAQ
  18. Conclusion

In today’s article, we will explore the exciting new features introduced during the Shopify Winter Edition ’24 event. These updates are designed to significantly strengthen and enhance the capabilities of the Shopify platform. By focusing on foundational improvements, Shopify ensures that merchants have the tools they need to build and grow robust e-commerce businesses. From increased product variant limits to improved product data management and customizable storefront features, the Winter ’24 edition brings a host of innovations that empower merchants to create more efficient, flexible, and successful online stores.

#1 Increasing product variant limit from 100 to 2,000

One of the standout announcements from the Shopify Winter Edition ’24 event is the significant increase in the product variant limit from 100 to 2,000. This update addresses a longstanding request from merchants who have struggled with the previous limit when managing products with numerous colors, sizes, and other variations. Many merchants have faced the frustration of hitting the 100-variant cap quickly as they expanded their product catalogs. With the new 2,000 variant limit, Shopify has eliminated this barrier, enabling merchants to create and manage complex products with ease. Initially available in Dev Preview, this highly anticipated feature will be rolled out to all merchants progressively throughout 2024.

#2 Combined Listings App

Another exciting feature introduced in the Shopify Winter Edition ’24 is the Combined Listings App. Customers want to see the exact color images and videos of the products they wish to buy, but from a business perspective, having dedicated URLs and SEO tags for each color is crucial. This helps businesses plan campaigns, display products properly on their websites, and enable easy filtering. Combining all colors into one product listing has been challenging. To address this, Shopify introduced the Combined Listings App, initially available for Shopify Plus customers. This app allows merchants to better merchandise a parent product with multiple options, with each option functioning as a child product. Each child product can have its own description, rich media carousel, and dedicated URL, yet all appear on a single product page as one listing.

#3 Standardized Product Taxonomy

Shopify has also introduced significant updates to how products are created and managed across all plans with the new Standardized Product Taxonomy. To ensure data consistency across various industries and categories, Shopify has improved its product classification system. This new approach maps every product category to an associated set of attributes, known as the standardized product taxonomy. When adding products in the admin, a new category-specific attribute card automatically applies the relevant attributes, reducing the time and manual effort required. This card can detect the product category and color, enriching product data with standardized categories and attributes. This enhancement optimizes the search and filtering experience on storefronts and integrates seamlessly with channels like Google and Meta, making your products more discoverable.

#4 Reusable Theme Blocks

Setting up a simple website using Shopify or any other premium platform is straightforward. However, building a customized storefront with a unique UI design that matches your company branding is much more challenging. To address this, Shopify is making foundational improvements to simplify editing and customizing your storefront. Previously, if you wanted to use a common text block in different parts of a theme, you had to define it in each section file, sometimes reimplementing the same block ten separate times. This process was cumbersome and inefficient.

To solve this, Shopify has introduced reusable blocks, allowing developers to define theme blocks once and repurpose them across sections, eliminating redundant work and coding. Additionally, Shopify now supports nesting blocks up to eight layers deep. Previously, blocks couldn’t be nested inside other blocks, making complex layouts like multi-column sections more rigid. With this new capability, developers can easily build individual blocks for images, text, and links. These updates, currently available in developer preview, make it significantly easier to build and maintain themes with greater flexibility and consistency.

#5 B2B Admin Permissions

Shopify has introduced a major update for B2B customers, focusing on enhancing sales rep management. Sales reps are an essential part of most B2B businesses, and Shopify now allows the creation of sales rep accounts with access restricted to only the customers assigned to them. This means you can create access control permissions and assign them to sales reps, ensuring that when a sales rep logs in, they only see the customers and companies specifically allocated to them.

This update is foundational for all merchants, not just those who sell B2B, as it marks the first time Shopify supports record-level access control across the platform. By enabling this granular level of access control, Shopify is providing a powerful tool for better managing sales teams and ensuring data security and organization within your business operations.

#6 Fulfillable Inventory

Shopify has introduced new features to enhance stock management for merchants selling items in different regions. This update helps store owners provide a market-specific, real-time accurate view of stock based on the customer’s region. For example, if you split your inventory between the US and the UK, you can now ensure that customers from each country see only the local fulfillment inventory on the storefront and through checkout.

This feature builds trust with customers by providing them with accurate stock information, leading to a smoother shopping experience and higher satisfaction. By displaying region-specific inventory, Shopify helps merchants manage their stock more effectively and meet the expectations of their global customer base.

#7 Checkout Extensibility

Shopify boasts the highest converting checkout in the world. To scale your e-commerce store, you need a flexible and customizable platform that can create a unique checkout experience. The checkout process must be fast, secure, and powerful, which is where checkout extensibility comes in. Checkout extensibility allows you to customize the Shopify checkout using app-based customizations, enabling you to tailor the entire buyer journey from checkout to the success page.

With over 90 apps available, you can now enhance your checkout and success pages with features like upsells, loyalty programs, and post-purchase surveys—previously achievable only with custom code in checkout.liquid. Shopify has also introduced 14 new checkout APIs and updates, including advanced branding controls, allowing store owners to implement their brand identity on the checkout page. For more information about these checkout details, I have written a detailed article about checkout extensibility. Click here to read the detailed article about checkout extensibility.

#8 Web Performance

Performance is the bedrock foundation of commerce, and speed directly translates to conversion. Shopify understands this well and has made significant strides to improve performance. Shopify has reduced checkout page load times by 95% and storefront page load times by 35%, ensuring a faster and smoother experience for customers. Additionally, Shopify has expanded its web infrastructure to 300 points globally, further enhancing performance and reliability.

Shopify now offers a new web performance dashboard, providing store owners with trusted insights into real user experiences. This dashboard allows store owners to analyze and monitor customer experiences across industry-standard Core Web Vitals. By using this tool, you can positively impact your store’s page ranking and conversion rates, ensuring a better overall experience for your customers and driving more sales.

#9 Exchanges

Providing flexibility for returns creates a great experience for buyers, but for merchants, returns often mean additional costs and potential revenue loss. To address this, Shopify has introduced a new feature called Exchanges. This feature allows merchants to create, track, and manage exchanges seamlessly for any order within Shopify. Shopify automatically adjusts refund payables, taxes, and inventory, removing the hassle for store owners and ensuring a smooth post-purchase experience for both merchants and customers.

#10 Test Drive for Shopify Plus

Test Drive is a new feature introduced exclusively for Shopify Plus merchants, designed to help train staff and test new capabilities and APIs. This feature allows merchants to experiment with new features using their existing data and apps before rolling them out to their live e-commerce stores. By providing a safe environment to test and refine these updates, Test Drive ensures that merchants can implement new functionalities smoothly and confidently, minimizing disruptions and maximizing efficiency.

#11 Customer Accounts Extensibility

Shopify has introduced Customer Accounts Extensibility alongside checkout extensibility, allowing developers to build extensions that enhance customer account capabilities. With this feature, developers can integrate details from apps such as returns, subscriptions, and loyalty programs directly into the customer account interface. This integration provides a seamless and unified experience for Shopify customers, eliminating the need to navigate to third-party apps to access important information. By enhancing customer accounts with these extended functionalities, Shopify enables merchants to offer a more cohesive and engaging user experience.

#12 Store Credit

Shopify has introduced a new feature called store credit, enhancing the post-purchase experience and helping retain customers. For example, if a valuable customer visits your website to order an item that is currently out of stock, you can issue them store credit as a goodwill gesture. This credit can be used to purchase the item once it is back in stock. By offering store credit, Shopify provides a way for merchants to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty, even when inventory issues arise.

#13 Shopify Audiences

In recent years, stricter privacy regulations have made it harder and more expensive for merchants to reach interested buyers. To address this challenge, Shopify has made significant improvements to its technology with the introduction of Shopify Audiences. This feature helps merchants generate custom targeted audiences across top ad platforms like Meta, Google, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok. As a leading e-commerce platform, Shopify is uniquely positioned to enhance digital advertising for its merchants. In the Winter ’24 edition, Shopify has introduced smarter retargeting algorithms and improved boost lists, maximizing performance on top ad platforms and helping merchants achieve better advertising outcomes.

#14 Shopify Campaigns

Shopify has introduced Shopify Campaigns exclusively for Shopify Plus customers, providing a powerful tool for acquiring new customers at a controlled cost. With Shopify Campaigns, merchants only pay for new customers, ensuring budget efficiency. Merchants can set a daily budget and run their campaigns on Shop, with the option to extend to top platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Shopify handles the optimization of tactics, creative elements, placements, and audience targeting, allowing merchants to focus on their business while Shopify ensures effective and efficient campaign execution. Payments are only made when a new customer converts, maximizing the return on investment.

#15 Shopify Capital: Term Loans and Line of Credit

The foundational part of every business is a solid balance sheet, and Shopify Capital has made significant changes to its finance section to support this. Since its inception, Shopify Capital has injected $5 billion USD into businesses using the Shopify platform, helping them scale and grow. This financial support has been crucial for many merchants looking to expand their operations and invest in new opportunities.

In the Winter ’24 edition, Shopify has introduced two new financial products: Shopify Term Loans and Shopify Line of Credit. Shopify Term Loans are an iteration of the existing capital offering, providing merchants with a more customizable and predictable lending option, featuring fixed payments over a fixed payback period. Additionally, Shopify Line of Credit offers flexible, on-demand funding that merchants can draw upon whenever needed, providing an adaptable financial resource to help manage cash flow and fund business growth. These new offerings ensure that Shopify merchants have the financial tools they need to succeed in a competitive market.

#16 AI-Powered Image Editing

Finally, let’s discuss the recent AI features added to Shopify and the new introductions in this area. Shopify launched Shopify Magic in the previous edition, which helps customers generate product descriptions using AI. Tens of thousands of merchants have been using this tool to create compelling descriptions for their products. Additionally, Shopify is making progress on Sidekick, an AI-enabled commerce assistant designed to be the most useful tool of its kind in the industry.

In the Winter ’24 edition, Shopify is rolling out a new feature called Shopify Magic for media. This new AI-powered background editing feature allows merchants to select from common style presets for an instant boost of professionalism or completely reimagine the scene with a short description of what they’d like to see. Merchants can also instantly match the background of their existing photoshoots to create a cohesive and on-brand storefront. These enhancements make it easier than ever to create professional and visually appealing product images, further enhancing the customer experience on Shopify stores.

FAQs

1. What is the new product variant limit introduced in Shopify Winter ’24 Edition?

  • Shopify has increased the product variant limit from 100 to 2,000, addressing a longstanding request from merchants and making it easier to manage complex product catalogs.

2. How does the Combined Listings App benefit Shopify Plus merchants?

  • The Combined Listings App allows Shopify Plus merchants to better merchandise a parent product with multiple options. Each option functions as a child product with its own description, rich media carousel, and dedicated URL, all appearing on a single product page.

3. What improvements have been made to product data management in Shopify Winter ’24 Edition?

  • Shopify introduced a standardized product taxonomy that maps each product category to specific attributes, reducing manual effort and ensuring consistent data. This enhances search and filtering on storefronts and integrates seamlessly with channels like Google and Meta.

4. How does checkout extensibility enhance the Shopify checkout experience?

  • Checkout extensibility allows merchants to customize the entire buyer journey from checkout to the success page using app-based customizations. Over 90 apps are available for features like upsells, loyalty programs, and post-purchase surveys, along with 14 new checkout APIs for advanced branding and customization.

5. What new financial solutions are available in Shopify Winter ’24 Edition?

  • Shopify introduced Term Loans and a Line of Credit to provide merchants with more customizable and flexible funding options. These financial products help merchants manage cash flow and invest in business growth with fixed payments and on-demand funding.

6. What is the purpose of the new Test Drive feature for Shopify Plus merchants?

  • Test Drive allows Shopify Plus merchants to train staff and test new capabilities and APIs using existing data and apps before rolling them out to their live e-commerce stores, ensuring smooth and efficient implementation.

7. How does Shopify’s new fulfillable inventory feature improve stock management?

  • The fulfillable inventory feature ensures customers see real-time, region-specific stock availability during browsing and checkout. This builds trust and enhances the customer experience by providing accurate stock information.

8. What benefits does the new store credit feature offer to merchants?

  • The store credit feature allows merchants to issue store credit as a goodwill gesture, for example, when an item is out of stock. This helps retain customers and provides a positive post-purchase experience by allowing customers to use the credit for future purchases.

9. How does Shopify Audiences help merchants with digital advertising?

  • Shopify Audiences helps merchants generate custom targeted audiences across top ad platforms like Meta, Google, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok. The feature includes smarter retargeting algorithms and improved boost lists to maximize ad performance and reach interested buyers effectively.

10. What is Shopify Magic for media, and how does it enhance product image editing?

  • Shopify Magic for media is a new AI-powered feature that allows merchants to edit and enhance product images easily. It includes background editing with common style presets, the ability to reimagine scenes with a description, and the option to match backgrounds to existing photoshoots, making storefronts more professional and cohesive.

Conclusion

The Shopify Winter ’24 Edition brings a host of powerful new features and enhancements designed to strengthen the foundation of your e-commerce business. From increasing product variant limits and introducing the Combined Listings App to improving product data management with standardized product taxonomy, Shopify is making it easier for merchants to manage and present their products effectively. Innovations like reusable theme blocks, B2B admin permissions, fulfillable inventory, and checkout extensibility offer greater flexibility and customization, ensuring that your online store can meet the unique needs of your brand and customers.

Furthermore, Shopify’s focus on performance improvements, customer accounts extensibility, store credit, and advanced advertising tools like Shopify Audiences and Shopify Campaigns demonstrate a commitment to helping merchants attract and retain customers in an increasingly competitive market. Financial solutions such as Shopify Term Loans and Shopify Line of Credit provide the financial support necessary for growth, while AI-powered features like Shopify Magic for media editing enhance the overall user experience.

These updates reinforce Shopify’s position as a leading e-commerce platform, equipping merchants with the tools and capabilities they need to build successful, resilient businesses. As you explore and implement these new features, you’ll find that Shopify continues to make commerce better for everyone, from new entrepreneurs to established enterprises.

How Seamedia Can Help You?

As a Shopify expert, Seamedia is uniquely positioned to assist store owners in developing and implementing new features on Shopify. Our team of certified professionals has extensive experience in Shopify development and understands the intricacies of the platform. We provide comprehensive support throughout the entire development process, ensuring a smooth transition and minimal disruption to your business operations.

Seamedia offers tailored solutions to meet your specific needs, from initial assessment and planning to implementation and testing. We can help you leverage the powerful features introduced in Shopify Winter Edition ’24, including enhanced customization, integration with Shop Pay, and access to new checkout functionalities. Our experts will ensure that your checkout process is faster, more secure, and fully optimized for increased conversions.

Additionally, we provide ongoing support and maintenance to ensure that your checkout remains up-to-date with the latest features and security enhancements. With Seamedia’s expertise, you can confidently upgrade to new Shopify features and provide a superior shopping experience for your customers. If you need help with implementing the new features, please contact us, and we will be happy to assist you every step of the way.