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eCommerce news Growth Shopify

News and announcements from Shopify Unite 2021

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Every year, Shopify puts on a conference called Shopify Unite. Merchants, Shopify experts and anyone in the eCommerce space come together to hear the latest news and announcements from Shopify, network with colleagues and enjoy themselves.

This year’s Unite conference was impacted by the pandemic and was a virtual event. But that didn’t stop the eCommerce platform giant from introducing several groundbreaking changes and additions. 

 

1. 0% revenue share annually on your first million dollars in the Shopify App Store

While Shopify is geared towards merchants, this announcement shows its commitment to software developers that build apps for the Shopify App Store. This means more money in developers’ pockets.

“Shopify sees itself as essential eCommerce infrastructure…But at the same time, we also build a platform that allows developers to build products for merchants, adding to this infrastructure.”     – Tobias Lütke, Shopify CEO

 

2. Online Store 2.0

Shopify calls it the “…biggest investment in the online store platform yet.” and with good reason. Themes are now fully modular and sections are now available on more pages than just the homepage. 

Online Store 2.0 also introduces a change in how merchants interact with apps in the storefront, allowing them to easily integrate apps into their theme without touching code using an app block Liquid file.

New developer tools are also being released, including Dawn, an ultra-lightweight, mobile-first theme that maximizes flexibility for merchants, while minimizing complexity and keeping things lean.

 

3. Developer toolkit

Hydrogen is a React framework tool that lets developers build storefronts with Oxygen, a platform to host them. It is essentially a quickstart toolkit for building fast and dynamic eCommerce experiences. Built on JavaScript and React, Hydrogen provides a set of components that allow developers to focus on building the fun parts that make your store unique.

 

4. New cart capabilities

The cart is arguably one of the most important components of the buyer journey. That’s why Shopify has released new cart capabilities designed to provide predictable low latency response, and the ability to grow without any store-wide rate limits. 

New cart capabilities include features like estimated totals with taxes, discounts, duties, and so much more. 

 

5. App development improvements

From better documentation to enhanced app discoverability, there’s never been a better time to be a Shopify app developer! 

To make testing of apps easier, a developer console where developers can build and test extensions in a real store environment has been introduced. This means any changes made to the local environment will render immediately, removing the need to push or publish apps to view modifications. 

A new advertising space allows merchants who might benefit from your app to discover them easier. This puts apps on the homepage of the app store and uses new personalization engines to ensure your app is reaching those who are searching for it.

 

Our developers are ready

Our team is excited about the changes Shopify announced and we will be exploring all the new capabilities that are available to our developers. Our expertise in the Shopify space allows us to customize stores for our clients in a way that goes beyond the boilerplate. If you’re thinking about upgrading your Shopify store, get in touch with us to learn how we can help.

Is your business ready?

Let’s Get Started Today!

Author

Tatiana Dudin

Tatiana is passionate writer with over 10 years of experience writing for the tech industry.