Shopify Winter Editions '25

Now that the dust has well and truly settled, let’s dig into the best bits of the latest Shopify Editions.

Checkout - Faster and more powerful

Checkout is the most critical point in the customer journey - where intent turns into action. Shopify knows this and has invested heavily in optimising the experience.

Recent upgrades have boosted global checkout speeds by 50%, with ShopPay users seeing a 58% improvement. But it's not just about speed - new features like functions and bundles let customers make decisions, such as switching to a subscription, without leaving checkout.

By streamlining the process, Shopify reduces drop-offs and increases conversions, helping merchants secure more completed transactions and fewer abandoned baskets. A true win-win.

Customer account extensions: Bringing everything together

Shopify's updated customer accounts are now the default, with the previous version moved to 'Legacy' status. And for good reason - the new framework introduces powerful customer account extensions.

These extensions centralise key features within a single interface, allowing merchants to easily integrate:

• Loyalty programme details
• Subscription management
• Enhanced order tracking
• Personalised profiles
• Custom brand content

Supported across order status pages, order history, and customer profiles, this streamlined approach boosts self-service, reduces support queries, and enhances the overall experience - giving customers seamless control over their interactions with your brand.

Metaobjects everywhere: Structured data unleashed

One of the most impactful yet understated updates is the expanded use of metaobjects across the entire theme infrastructure.

With dynamic source types, merchants can now leverage structured data to display reusable, dynamic content throughout their stores. This unlocks greater flexibility in showcasing products, collections, and brand storytelling.

For developers and tech-savvy merchants, this marks a major step forward in Shopify's structured data capabilities, enabling deeper customisation and more unique customer experiences.

Improved product taxonomy

Shopify's evolving product taxonomy gets a major upgrade in the Winter Editions update, introducing:

• More intuitive filtering options
• Auto-generated category meta fields
• Metafields as filterable store attributes
• Smarter collection management by category or product attributes

These refinements enhance product discovery for customers while simplifying catalogue management for merchants, creating a smoother, more efficient shopping experience.

Analytics: A massive step forward in reporting

After years of merchant requests, Shopify has overhauled its analytics, introducing a powerful new dashboard.

With drag-and-drop customisation, merchants can tailor views to highlight key metrics effortlessly. Expanded reporting now allows users to:

• Modify and customise report templates
• Build new reports from scratch
• Include any relevant data points
• Use ShopifyQL for advanced insights

These upgrades provide real-time, data-driven insights to optimise sales, marketing, and inventory - helping merchants make smarter, faster decisions.

Sidekick: Shopify's AI assistant

Now available to all Shopify plans with English as the primary language, Sidekick is Shopify's AI assistant designed to streamline store management.

It helps with tasks like:

• Managing products, collections, and promotions
• Generating analytics reports
• Segmenting customers by behavior
• Offering Shopify guidance and best practices
• Answering store-related questions

By automating admin work, Sidekick saves time and acts as a virtual team member - especially valuable for small teams and solo entrepreneurs.

Here are a few Shopify help documents: Shopify Magic, Sidekick, Sidekick capabilities, Getting started, Shopify POS FAQ, Apps made by Shopify

B2B enhancements: Streamlining operations

The Winter Editions update brings significant improvements for merchants operating in the B2B space, with enhancements focused on streamlining wholesale operations and improving the B2B customer experience.

Customer account extensions

Shopify's customer account extensions now support B2B accounts, enabling wholesale merchants to quickly activate new features like:

• Enhanced order pages & bulk CSV uploads
• Loyalty status displays at checkout & account areas
• Centralised buyer quotations management
  
  

Self-service capabilities

To meet growing demand, Shopify now offers:

• B2B returns management
• Online return requests
  
  

Draft orders improvements

The draft orders system has received comprehensive upgrades to better serve B2B merchants:

• Price locking functionality
• Support for product bundles within draft orders
• Deposit collection capabilities and direct charging of vaulted payment cards
• Checkout customisations via Shopify Functions & checkout blocks

Updated analytics

Shopify's analytics upgrades now include B2B-specific dimensions and filters, giving merchants deeper insights into wholesale performance - especially for those managing both B2C and B2B sales.

Shopify has also curated a collection of 18 B2B-focused applications to enhance wholesale operations, covering capabilities such as:

• Pre-orders management
• Saved carts functionality
• Backorders processing
• Downloadable PDF invoices
  
  

Retail: Bridging online and physical commerce

The Winter Editions update introduces several significant improvements to the retail experience for merchants operating brick-and-mortar locations alongside their online presence.

Tap to pay on iPhone and Android

Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android turns any smartphone into a payment terminal, allowing merchants to:

• Accept contactless payments anywhere
• Assist customers in-store or at pop-ups with just a phone
• Access inventory and customer data, making the phone a full POS device
  
  

Enhanced customer data management

Retail staff can now view and edit customer meta fields in POS, enabling:

• Birthday-based promotions
• Size preferences for tailored recommendations
• Custom details for personalised service

This improves segmentation, targeted communication, and first-party data collection - essential in today's privacy-conscious retail landscape.

Flexible returns processing

The new capability to accept unverified returns in POS systems allows merchants to offer a more customer-friendly returns experience:

• "No questions asked" returns policies
• Processing returns without requiring a receipt
  
  

Shopify bundles and POS

Product bundles created in your online store can now be published and sold in physical locations, creating consistency across sales channels and simplifying inventory management.

Location-aware customer targeting

New location-based filters enhance local marketing:

• customer_within_distance: Segment customers by proximity to your stores
• orders_placed: Target those who've shopped at specific locations

These tools unlock powerful strategies, like:

• Driving online shoppers to in-store events
• Replacing generic cart reminders with local store invites
• Sending birthday offers for in-store rewards
  

Far from being 'boring,' the Shopify Winter Editions '24 release represents a substantial step forward in functionality for your eCommerce store.

Don't hesitate to Get in touch to contact our solutions team for assistance implementing these new features or to discuss how they might benefit your brand's needs.