Over the course of July, Shopify implemented a plethora of updates and improvements to their services. Let’s review some of the changes.
- Shopify Search and Discovery App
On July 4th shopify introduced customisation to your Headless Store through the app which can now be used to do the following:
- Create synonym groups to match terms customers are using
- Promote products on search results page
- Edit collections and let customers filter by product availability, price, colour etc.
- Smart Order Routing
The next change rolled out on July 5th which allows you to deliver products more quickly with Smart Order Routing. This process is aimed to streamline fulfilment operations and help order reach customers faster. This feature is only available to merchants with 2 or more locations and will automatically prioritise where the order is fulfilled from based on rules set by you. This:
- Reduces shipping costs by assigning fulfilment closer to the customer
- Gets products to the customer faster
- Fulfils orders faster and in a more automated way
- Helps you to gain control over your fulfilment ops by creating rules to suit your business’ needs.
- POS Smart Grid Management
Admin API is now available to use to manage Smart Grid for Point of Sale as of the 6th of July. This means that the creation and naming of smart grid layouts are not yet linked to any location. This diminishes the needs for future individual manual adjustments as the API facilitates the assignment of a layout to single or multiple locations.
- Change to New Alerts
On July 10th Shopify introduced a change to the alert system, alerts in the red badge on the bell icon will now be cleared once you open the feed to make it more obvious as to how many alerts you have. Unread alerts are now identified with a blue dot and you can personally mark them as read or unread.
- App Store Review Delay
All shopify app store reviews will now have a slight delay prior to publication, allowing them to be assessed in order to reduce the incidences of fake reviews.
- Longer Order Processing Time Options
On July 12th, longer processing time options, up to 40 days, became available via the ‘Shipping and Delivery’ settings. This setting makes it clearer to your customers exactly when they will receive their orders and calculates expected delivery dates at checkout.
- Enhanced Notification System for Apps
Shopify have made it easier to view important status updates for apps, e.g. ‘action required’, ‘least used’, ‘unsupported’ and ‘incompatible’. The notifications can then be easily actioned via the app setting details page.
- Automatic Detection of Incompatible Draft orders in Markets Pro
Merchants using Markets Pro will now receive notifications regarding incongruities between their draft orders and Markets Pro as of July 13th. These notifications will address issues like incomplete addresses, identification of wholesale customers, orders with zero value, or inclusion of items restricted by Shopify Markets Pro. You have the option to manually complete these orders if desired.
- Enhanced Visibility of Shop Pay Order Protection Status
On July 14th, Shopify announced three distinct statuses for Shop Pay order protection: ‘Protection Active’, ‘Protected’, and ‘Not Protected’.
This feature is designed to save Shopify businesses money – if you already have Shop Pay protection, there’s no need to acquire it from another provider.
- Enhanced Order Fulfilment Control at the ‘Order Item’ Level
Since July 18th, Shopify merchants can now modify the fulfilment location for individual line items, a significant upgrade from the previous capability limited to entire orders. This empowers you to tailor the fulfilment process according to your business needs.
- Item Splitting and Merging
This functionality allows partial order fulfilment, management of items across different locations, and, in the case of B2B, division of orders into separate shipments.
- Enhanced Marketing Insights
On the 20th of July, Shopify improved reporting delivers more detailed perspectives on marketing campaigns, enabling identification of successful strategies and areas for enhancement. Metrics such as average order value, conversion rate, top-selling products, and overall sales are provided.
- Access Previous Versions of Custom Pixels
Since July 21st, you can now seamlessly switch between previously saved versions of your pixel code from within your Admin settings.
Since July 26th, the following changes were implemented:
- Launch of Shopify Audiences v2.0, Reducing Customer Acquisition Costs by 50%
Shopify Audiences utilises advanced algorithms and data from millions of purchase intent signals to optimise ad performance, effectively targeting and engaging the right audience and thereby lowering customer acquisition expenses. The latest version showcases exceptional results in terms of generating conversions and is currently available.
- Expansion of Shopify Flow to ‘Basic Shopify’
Flow is now accessible to Basic Shopify merchants, in addition to Shopify, Advanced, and Plus plans.
- New Filtering Capabilities in Shopify Search and Discovery App
Building upon the July 4th improvements, the app now boasts enhanced filters, enhancing store navigation and aiding customers in quickly locating desired products.
- Native Support for Product Bundles
The newly introduced Shopify Bundles app empowers merchants to increase order value by creating bundle offers with customizable rules.
- Innovative Discount Combination Options
Discounts for individual products can now be combined with order-wide discounts, allowing for multiple discounts to be applied to the entire order.
- ‘Built for Shopify’ App Accreditation in the App Store
This accreditation signifies that an app meets Shopify’s rigorous standards for quality and performance.
- Streamlined Fraud Control for Blocking Orders
A checkout feature now enables you to prevent unwanted orders right at the point of purchase, eliminating the need for post-checkout order management.
Additionally, Shopify offers insights into the number of blocked orders, aiding in the evaluation and refinement of your rules.
