Shopify Unite 2021: What's changing?
On June 29, 2021 the virtual event Shopify Unite 2021 took place. We took part and tell you what will change in the future and what is already changing in the e-commerce shop system - for retailers and developers.
Unite 2021 was opened by Chief Executive Officer Tobi Lütke, who immediately increased curiosity and anticipation for the upcoming contributions and presented the three guiding principles:
- Make commerce creative
- Make the important easy
- Make everything else possible
What do these three guiding principles mean in terms of implementation? Product Director Vanessa Lee explains: Developers should have more freedom and retailers should have the opportunity to create the desired storefront quickly and easily.
Online store 2.0
Traffic to Shopify stores has doubled in the past year. Online shopping is now more part of everyday life than ever before and it is impossible to imagine life without it. Therefore, Shopify has rolled out the most important and biggest update, which they simply but convincingly call Online Store 2.0 due to its importance. The innovation is now available to you and will convince entrepreneurs and creative people with the revision of the following areas:
Themes & Editors
Online shops can now be configured completely modularly . The design adapts perfectly to your offer and your personality. No coding knowledge is required to build and customize the individual pages completely individually and easily, or to integrate apps into the themes using app blocks. This means improved and simple handling for retailers and advantages for app developers.
This is what the new Themes Editor looks like
Store Content: Metafields
With Online Store 2.0, metafields have a more flexible type system and also now support media such as images and PDF files. Developers have access to the content under “Settings/Files” via the new Files API GraphQL. Media can be selected and uploaded there.
Checkout extension through apps
There is no e-commerce without a checkout - which is why major improvements have also taken place here. Features previously only available through 'checkout.liquid' or through Shopify Plus will soon be available to all and are designed to make the Shopify checkout the best in the world, even with huge sales. This includes, for example , adapting the payment process via apps . A new payment platform will also be one of the innovations from autumn 2021.
According to Shopify itself, further improvements are to be published in a developer preview later this year. The check-out extension enables an interaction between the check-out and the thank you page . There can
- Product Upsells
- calls for donations
- discount offers
- Survey
are integrated and the customer experience and the relationship between customer and retailer are improved.
What will change for me? Do I have to have my theme redeveloped?
Of course you want to benefit from the new themes and settings as quickly as possible, that's for sure. But what do you have to do for it? There are two options here.
- We're upgrading to take full advantage of the new Shopify editor.
- We are developing a completely new theme that supports the editor out of the box.
Both routes are Shopify development work. An update is about making the theme compatible with the new Shopify features. Features include “Sections everywhere” and the handy App Blocks. However, the first thing to consider is whether the upgrade makes sense. We will decide that together with you, depending on the complexity of the adjustments. If we already know your theme and have programmed it ourselves, chances are that we can easily upgrade it. Let's talk about your options!
Where the new APIs reach their limits is where custom Shopify app development begins.
Shopify Unite 2021 - extensive, new and better than ever
The Shopify Unite 2021 convinced with many surprises and promising news. You can read the content in even more detail at Shopify yourself, or simply look up Unite 2021 yourself! If you have specific questions for your own store, you can always contact the Shopify experts at shoplab, we look forward to hearing from you!
All news at a glance in our graphic
