Shopify and Shopify Plus are two of the fastest-growing ecommerce platforms in the world, offering businesses an easy way to set up online stores and sell through a range of channels.
To date, Shopify has transacted over $200 Billion in sales and is trusted by some of the world’s most trusted brands.
Shopify’s much anticipated Shopify Unite Event on Tuesday, 29th June, did not disappoint with the launch of Online Store 2.0. Shopify launched a number of all new features to it’s ecommerce platform, the new releases not only expand the possibilities for developers but also give merchants more control over their stores, products, collections and pages. This guide rounds up all the key new features launched with Shopify Online Store 2.0.
Overview
The entire Shopify community sang in joy at 2021 Shopify Unite, as the new features of Online Store 2.0 will revolutionize the platform as we know it today. The new editor within Online Store 2.0 gives merchants complete control over building new page templates and storefronts and quickly adding apps to specific parts of their store. The main release is the ability to edit every page structure, not just the homepage! Shopify has also revealed many new features and capabilities that focus on best-practice development. Their theme used for reference is 35% faster than the current default themes on Shopify. Finally, Shopify has rolled out a wide range of tools to support developers in delivering an improved, consistent, and reliable development service. Let’s dive right in!
New Shopify Themes With Sections On Every Page
A section is simply an element within a page, such as a banner or a text section. Imagine your page website split into each part; these are called sections. Shopify sections allow customers to build a page of multiple sections, re-arrange them, and assign content such as images and text. Historically, sections were limited only to the homepage – meaning you can add, remove, and rearrange sections on the page to keep the store looking up-to-date and fresh. Other page types, such as product, collection, and blog pages, were fixed structures, and only the content could be edited.
Shopify’s Online Store 2.0 brings sections to every page of a Shopify store, meaning merchants can add, remove, and re-arrange sections throughout the site. This new feature release is game-changing; for example, if you need to add a banner section on your homepage to the bottom of a product page, you can do that directly through Shopify’s theme editor. Merchants can easily set up different products, collections, blogs, and page templates within the same store without requiring a developer to add the elements manually.
App Blocks With Online Store 2.0
Previously, how an app was embedded and interacted with a Shopify store was set in stone. Unless the app developer offers bespoke integrations or specific compatible settings, the app will appear in your store where it was initially intended to. With Online Store 2.0, apps are now delivered in blocks within a page, giving merchants complete control over exactly which pages they will display upon and the location of the page it appears to. You can even update the app settings directly through the theme editor, too! A Shopify revolution for both merchants and app developers.
Metafields Now Included
Metafields are extra pieces of data that can be assigned to specific parts of Shopify, such as individual pages, customers, or orders. Previously, Shopify only allowed page titles and one rich text editor for content on any page, product, or collection. But what if you wanted to add more specific fields or information to a particular page space, like an ingredient list or size chart? Metafield apps have always been the first choice to achieve this; however, there is good news: Shopify has launched its Metafield functionality that can be edited directly on the product, product, or collection page without needing APIs or third-party apps. Metafields even supports various file types with Shopify’s file picker!
Improved Theme Editor User-Interface
It is now even easier to visualise sections within a page with the “tree-down” view of collapsible sections—gone are the days of searching through a long list of sections to try and find the right one. In addition, further enhancements include the ability to add liquid code directly via the theme editor.
Introducing Dawn for Online Store 2.0
Shopify has released a reference theme for developers to craft new themes with the latest practices in mind. By the end of 2021, all themes on the Shopify theme library must be compatible with Online Store 2.0.
Improved Developer Tools
Shopify uses its code language called ‘Liquid’, a templating language that forms a store’s pages and functionality. Shopify has invested vastly in improving how developers code and build Shopify stores. Some great new developer features include integrating GitHub, a version control toolset, directly into Shopify, Shopify CLI, theme checking tools for debugging, and finally, the ability to add liquid code directly into the theme editor itself. Shopify has also announced that it will not charge app developers any commission for the first 1 million dollars earned through its platform. What’s more, it resets every year!
Checkout Apps
Previously, the ability to edit the checkout was limited to Shopify Plus merchants only. Shopify has now announced that checkout apps are available to non-merchants, too. This means non-plus merchants can build and add extra checkout apps to their stores—however, full customization is still limited to Plus merchants only.
Shopify Online Store 2.0 – Summary
So there it is; Shopify and Shopify Plus’s flexibility is revolutionized with the launch of Online Store 2.0. From full-page editing ability, meta fields natively within Shopify, improved editor UI, and much-needed developer tools – we cannot wait to watch the platform transform as more and more themes adopt it. If you are wondering how to get Shopify Online Store 2.0 – see our frequently asked questions below!
