Shopify’s Biggest Dev Updates of the Year

It is no surprise that Shopify continues to empower developers to build custom storefronts, apps, and themes for millions of merchants worldwide. Shopify is committed to making the development process fun, fast and flexible by introducing dozens of updates and new tools around the year. To let developers keep track of all those updates and focus on what matters the most, the process, Shopify released a “Dev Mode” of its new semi-annual product showcase, Shopify Editions. 

The “Dev Mode” includes features that allow developers to customize the platform to cater to different business needs and extend one-of-a-kind commerce experiences anywhere. 

In our previous Shopify Editions - Newest Product Releases and Latest Innovations in Commerce Blog, we briefly touched on the Shopify Summer’22 dev updates. Today, we want to dig deeper into each. 

Build for Shopify

Now is your chance to build, integrate and innovate with Shopify. The recipe for app development success is out, with the easily-available tools and documentation, developers can build a highly performant app that behaves like a Shopify App. The App Design Guidelines are also there to ensure all the components and visuals meet Shopify’s standards. Once the app is created and goes through a successful reviewal process, it will be eligible to be featured on Shopify’s most prominent surfaces: Shopify Admin, and Shopify App Store. 

As a result, merchants will have an even larger store of greatly-functioning apps that allows them to hit their eCommerce goals more efficiently. A win-win for everybody. 

Shopify Functions 

Over the years, merchants depended heavily on Shopify Scripts to macro-customize their checkout experience and meet their business needs. However, Scripts had its challenges, one of which is the need for a merchant to be fluent in Ruby code to create and modify customizations. Moreover, its exclusivity to Shopify Plus users. 

The first step in overcoming challenges is acknowledging them. Therefore, Shopify launched Shopify Functions with these challenges in mind. Shopify Functions gives developers the opportunity to access Shopify’s backend logic and inject custom code into it to meet different brand needs and extend unique commerce experiences. 

This is a breakthrough moment for developers as Shopify’s backend has been off limits for the longest time, though its frontend was extensible with Liquid and Hydrogen, and the database layers were accessible through APIs and Metafields. 

With Functions, developers have the authority to build and execute powerful customizations for the biggest sales events in less than 5 minutes. For the time being, developers will be able to extend the discounting logic on the checkout page; more backend customizations will be extensible in the near future including return validation, order routing, shipping rates, and more. Isn’t that radical? 

It is also worth mentioning that Functions are installed with an app which means that merchants can configure them directly in the admin, without having to touch a line of code. Also, Shopify Functions are available to all Shopify Merchants and not just those on the Plus plan. 

Checkout Extensibility 

Not bragging here, but Shopify Checkout has been the fastest, most reliable, and highest converting off all checkout pages out there. The only problem is the difficulty for merchants to adapt and customize it according to their business needs. This is an issue that still prevails to this moment even on the biggest eCommerce platforms out there. Once again, Shopify is in to change the game, so they sharpened their focus on providing merchants with a better, more customizable experience by releasing Shopify Extensibility in Developer preview.

 Every partner can build public and custom apps to creatively customize Shopify Checkout and Shop Pay for Plus merchants. You are probably wondering how and we won’t hold the answer any longer:  

The new Checkout Branding API allows merchants to customize the branding of the page to mimic the look and feel of their brand and make the checkout experience a reflection of their identity. 

Checkout UI extensions are easy for developers to integrate into their apps to add additional functionality to the checkout. Those apps can then be used by the merchant to collect additional information from the shopper, add a configurable banner that relates to a certain shopping event and offering of theirs, as well as recommend products to the buyer to be added to their cart. UI extensions are specifically great for merchants that are looking to localize their checkout pages.

ShopifyQL

This update is mainly of interest to those who dislike numbers and stats or are constantly worried about the mismatch between business reports and Shopify store data. Thanks to The GraphQL Admin API, merchants and developers can now fetch business insights without having to deal with data transformation.

With ShopifyQL, developers can query data from a store, interact with it, sort it, and visualize it in different formats so that merchants can make the right interpretations of it. Moreover, GraphQL Admin API can be utilized to retrieve, create, and update segmentation data in the customer’s database so that it is grouped according to interest, demographics, shopping behavior, and product preferences. Speak of better targetting and a more engaged customer base.

B2B on Shopify

Why limit yourself to selling solely to consumers when you can expand your revenue streams and reach new businesses with B2B on Shopify Plus? The expanded B2B functionality allows you to sell business-to-business without the need for third-party apps to deal with related complexities. 

With B2B on Shopify, first-party features can be integrated right into the Shopify admin allowing you to set customer-specific price lists, payment terms, and currencies and connect multiple buyers and locations in a single company profile, as part of your Shopify Plus Plan. What’s more is that merchants can now offer a customized buyer experience through store themes, streamlined checkout experience, and customer accounts. Furthermore, B2B offers a seamless ERP integration through advanced API and partner integrations so that all business data flows easily to your store admin. 

The dev mode of June ‘22 Shopify Editions equips developers with improved dev tools that give them an easier and more enjoyable experience for building the future for millions of merchants. Developers can now enjoy a next-level storefront building journey through Hydrogen & Oxygen which is Shopify's stack for headless commerce, App-owned metafield allowing them to privately store their app data, Liquid for Themes to set up themes quicker, as well as the Marketplace Kit that has all the documentations, APIs and tools needed to build marketplaces faster than ever before. 

The Shopify Plus Developers at Avex are thrilled about the new dev updates to extend even better results for your clients. Keep an eye on our #AskAvex Interview with our Head of Shopify Development to learn more about how the updates will take your Shopify Plus eCommerce Website to the next level.