Shopify Editions - Newest Product Releases and Latest Innovations in Commerce

Shopify Editions Summer 22 Blog Banner
5 min read
by: Zain Alami07/18/2022

Quick Summary More than 100 Shopify product updates and features were released in the first Shopify Editions, a semi-annual showcase of updates that help merchants thrive in the upcoming Connect-to-Consumer Era of Ecommerce.


Ever since Shopify launched its first online stores and gave rise to the Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) model, it has been evident that Shopify is here to disrupt the shopping landscape. It was until then that retail entrepreneurs could have a direct line to consumers without the process costing them an arm and a leg and a whole lot of time and effort. 

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Today, Shopify is here to disrupt the commerce landscape one more time through what was announced on the first Shopify Editions as the Connect-to-Consumer Era of Commerce (C2C). 

Wait a second... What is Shopify Editions? 

News is out. Shopify kicked off a new semi-annual showcase, Shopify Editions, to highlight all the exciting opportunities and product updates that are continuously being released on their platform. Under the name of Connect to Consumer edition, more than 100 product updates were brought to life, all focused on bringing merchants closer to their buyers through taking advantage of social commerce, strengthening offline presence, easing global expansion, and building brand communities. 

Many features were introduced, but a few to mention: 

Hydrogen + Oxygen

A react-based framework that helps merchants launch, tailor-build, and deploy custom headless commerce storefronts. This framework is built by Shopify, for Shopify; so merchants can expect nothing but a high level of performability.

Just like we all need hydrogen and oxygen to stay alive .. retail entrepreneurs and merchants, specifically larger-scaled ones looking to deliver faster-loading and unique customer experience, will need Shopify Hydrogen and Oxygen to build fast, headless storefronts. Hydrogen provides all the needed tooling for accelerated store development including but not limited to already-built templates and utilities that map directly to Shopify’s APIs. Once finalized, the Hydrogen site can be deployed on Oxygen with just a single click.

Customer Engagement Tools

There is a thin line between connecting with consumers and connecting to consumers. In the D2C model, almost everybody excelled at connecting with consumers through the establishment of online storefronts. However, merchants looking to succeed in the current and approaching era of commerce must connect with and to consumers. 

Accordingly, authenticity, trust and loyalty are the essences of the new built-in engagement tools and apps on the Shopify platform. Merchants can now address different shopping intents and reach their most relevant new customers through Shopify Audiences. Re-engage old customers through a more accessible Shopify Email tool. Reward recurring customers with Tokengated Commerce and NFTs.

Shopify Markets

What if we live in a perfect world where selling internationally is as straightforward as selling domestically? Would you go international and enjoy a slice of the massive market pie? 

Shopify Markets aims to make international selling faster and more efficient by allowing merchants to cater to and sell in different locations from one single store. 

B2B on Shopify

How many times have you considered selling to another business but were put off by the thought of data entry and on-off invoices? Shopify Plus merchants can now untap a new stream of revenue by selling wholesale to businesses on the same store they use to sell to customers, or can simply choose to build a dedicated B2B store. 

Speaking of which, B2B on Shopify integrates most, if not all, wholesale features that allow you to extend a one-of-a-kind, customizable experience to your shoppers; company profile, customer accounts, custom store themes, price lists, discounts, and streamlined checkout experiences.

For more details on the B2B eCommerce landscape, check out our 5 B2B eCommerce Myths Busted Blog!

Shopify Checkout and Shop Pay Enhancement

Faster checkout experience? Yes please. High conversion rate in comparison to other fast checkouts? Yes please. 

Shopify Checkout is a customizable, frictionless checkout that is built to convert.  

Multiple payment methods, different purchase options available now on Shop Pay such as subscriptions and pre-orders, various currencies, mobile-optimized interface, and integrated cross-selling and up-selling apps all contribute to high Average Order Value. Can’t say no to that. 

What’s more, Shopify Checkout turns customers’ information and behaviours into insightful data that can later be actioned to improve targeting and increase loyalty. 

Shopify Point of Sale (POS) 

Whatever the device that is being used, wherever the retail location is, and whichever online or offline outlet the merchants chooses to sell on, payments can now be accepted right from the customer's iPhone on Shopify POS hardware. 

It’s about time to unify online and offline presence without worrying about integrations and tech stacks. 

Built for Shopify, Shopify Functions, Checkout Extensibility and more. 

Shopify Editions features what is referred to as “Dev Mode”, a comprehensive edition for developers to learn about the latest tools, API’s and integrations that Shopify releases in order to help them extend top-notch, performant storefronts, themes and apps. 

The Summer ‘22 Edition introduced some of the most waited-for updates that help businesses personalize their customer journey even further. A few to mention: 

  • Built for Shopify Program that allows developers to create apps that look and act like Shopify Apps.

  • Shopify Functions on which certain customization capabilities that were solely locked for Plus users are now available to all.

  • A new set of B2B APIs allowing merchants to sell wholesale.

  • ShopifyQL Notebook which gives developers the chance to pull out business insights without a great deal of data transformation. 

  • New capabilities added to the Selling Plans APIs such as pre-orders.

  • Segmentation and return APIs. 

The Dev Mode of Summer ’22 Shopify Edition has plenty of updates that are worthy of a dedicated blog post. Check out our “Shopify’s Biggest Dev Updates of the Year” Blog. 

If you haven’t already, it is surely time to look at your eCommerce presence as a connection rather than a transaction. Now that you have the tools to empower you, make sure to connect to your consumers at every stage of the journey.

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