Explore feature-rich Shopify 2.0 store features that are apt offerings for the business. The article details the benefits of new features.
Everything You Need to Know About Shopify Online Store
The Shopify community rejoiced at the 2021 Shopify Unite event, as the new features of Online Store 2.0 were announced. The new editor within Online Store 2.0 grants merchants’ full control over building new page templates, storefronts, and seamlessly adding apps to specific parts of their store. A major highlight is the ability to edit every page structure, not just the homepage. Shopify has also unveiled a range of new features and capabilities focusing on best-practice development. Their referenced theme is 35% faster than the current default themes on Shopify. Additionally, Shopify has introduced a variety of tools to support developers in providing an improved, consistent, and reliable development service. Let’s delve deeper into these exciting updates!
Shopify 2.0 Features: You Should Know About
A “section” is an element within a page, like a banner or text area. Think of your website page broken down into individual parts – these are sections. Shopify online store sections enable customers to build pages with multiple sections, rearrange them, and add content like images and text. Previously, sections were limited to the homepage, allowing users to add, remove, and rearrange sections to keep the store fresh. Other page types, such as product, collection, and blog pages, had fixed structures with editable content only.
With Shopify’s Online Store 2.0, sections are now available on every page of a Shopify store. This means merchants can add, remove, and rearrange sections throughout the entire site. This release is game-changing; for example, if you want to add a banner section from your homepage to the bottom of a product page, you can easily do so through Shopify’s theme editor. Merchants can set up different product, collection, blog, and page templates themselves within the same store without needing a developer to add elements manually.
App Blocking with Online Store 2.0
Previously, the embedding and interaction of an app with a Shopify online store were quite rigid. Unless the app developer provided custom integrations or specific compatible settings, the app would appear on your store where it was initially intended. With Online Store 2.0, apps are now delivered in blocks within a page, giving merchants full control over which pages it will display on and its location on the page. You can even update the app settings directly through the theme editor. This is a revolutionary change for both merchants and app developers on Shopify.
Metafields are Now a Part of Shopify 2.0
Metafields are additional pieces of data that can be assigned to specific parts of Shopify, such as individual pages, customers, or orders. Previously, Shopify only allowed for the page title and a single rich text editor for the content of any page, product, or collection. However, what if you wanted to add more specific fields or information to a particular area of the page, such as an ingredient list or size chart? Metafield apps were often the go-to solution for this.
The good news is that Shopify has launched its own metafield functionality, allowing you to edit metafields directly on the product or collection page without the need for APIs or third-party apps. Shopify’s metafields even support a wide variety of file types through its file picker.
Improved User-Interface (Theme Editor)
Visualising sections within a page is now more convenient with the “tree-down” view of collapsible sections. No more searching through a long list of sections to find the right one. Additionally, you can now add liquid code directly via the theme editor, further enhancing the customisation options. Choose services from a trusted Shopify store development company for a comprehensive insight on the services.
Dawn for Online Store 2.0
Shopify has introduced a reference theme for developers to start building new themes with the latest practices in mind. By the end of 2021, all themes in the Shopify theme library will need to be compatible with Online Store 2.0.
Improved Developer Tools
Shopify utilises its own coding language called “Liquid,” a templating language used to create all the pages and functionality of a store. Shopify has made significant investments in improving the way developers can code and build Shopify stores. Some exciting new developer features include integrating GitHub, a version control toolset, directly into Shopify, Shopify CLI, theme checking tools for debugging, and the ability to add Liquid code directly into the theme editor. Additionally, Shopify has announced that they will not charge app developers any commission for their first $1 million earned through their platform, and this threshold resets every year.
Checkout Apps
Initially, editing the checkout was restricted to Shopify Plus merchants. Now, Shopify has announced that checkout apps are accessible to non-Plus merchants as well. This means non-Plus merchants can integrate additional checkout apps into their stores. However, complete customisation remains exclusive to Plus merchants when they consider Shopify online store development.
Shopify CLI
The new Shopify 2.0 release also includes a significant change to the existing Shopify CLI tool. App developers have been utilising the CLI to swiftly generate Node.js and Ruby on Rails apps and app extensions. The Shopify CLI now accelerates theme development by allowing users to:
- Safely develop, preview, and test changes to themes inside of development themes
- Hot-reload CSS and Liquid section changes as you develop, thanks to the new dev server
- Initialise a new theme project using our new theme, Dawn, as a starting point
- Push and publish themes from the command line
- Run Theme Check on your theme
- Populate test data for your theme, including products, customers, and draft orders
Development Themes
Development themes in Shopify are temporary hidden themes associated with the Shopify online store. When you execute “shopify theme serve,” the Shopify CLI automatically generates a development theme within the store you’re working on and reuses it each time “shopify theme serve” is subsequently run. You needn’t worry about others viewing or editing it because development themes are not visible on the admin/themes page.
Theme Check
Theme Check is a language server designed for Liquid and JSON, which scans themes to detect errors and highlights Shopify theme and Liquid best practices. This tool seamlessly integrates with text editors like Visual Studio Code and identifies various issues within your theme code, such as Liquid syntax errors, missing templates, performance concerns, and more.
Error messages from Theme Check include a link to the failed check’s documentation, aiding in quick debugging of theme issues. Additionally, Theme Check is included with the Shopify CLI tool, eliminating the need for a separate installation. Visit our developer documentation to discover how to install and utilize Theme Check when testing your themes.
Updating Themes and Apps
To fully benefit from these enhancements, it is advisable to migrate your themes and apps to the updated requirements of Online Store Shopify 2.0 as soon as possible—especially since merchants are beginning to anticipate the flexibility that OS 2.0 offers.
By the year’s end, it will be mandatory for all themes in the Shopify Theme Store and apps in the Shopify App Store to utilize the new infrastructure. While merchants’ existing themes will continue to function beyond this timeframe, they must ensure their themes are Online Store 2.0 compatible to access new features through the theme editor.
Theme Architect
In the previous version of the online store, merchants had access to a limited number of blocks. Stores used to have distinct templates for specific products. However, with the Shopify 2.0 update, you can now add sections to each new page.
You can activate each page’s templates using a JSON template file that describes the page’s settings. This allows you to list all the sections, collections, custom pages, and blog entries.
Furthermore, you can configure the sections that appear within the JSON template files, specifying which section displays by default and in what order on an installed theme. Once the template is applied, you can use the theme editor to add dynamic parts as theme presents.
Zero Percentage Revenue Share
Shopify has introduced a developer-focused business model for the Shopify App Store and Shopify Theme Store. With Shopify 2.0, developers will not be charged any commission on the first $1 million in annual income generated on the platform. Subsequently, Shopify’s revenue share will decrease to 15% after $1 million in sales, down from the previous 20%.
This new revenue-sharing arrangement incentivise developers to create more applications and themes for the Shopify ecosystem. While a registration fee for apps is now there starting August 1, 2021, the revised revenue-sharing model aims to encourage developers to innovate and contribute to the Shopify platform.
Additional Benefits of Shopify Online Store 2.0
Ensuring the services come from a reliable Shopify maintenance company, you can get the following benefits:
Multi-admin Multiple Store
Since Shopify entered the eCommerce arena, it has aimed to simplify the eCommerce experience for merchants. One of its standout solutions is the multi-admin multiple-stores app. This app allows you to sync all your stores, streamlining your management process. With this feature, you can manage multiple stores from a single interface. It syncs all collections and products from all stores, enabling inventory sharing and order fulfilment across your various stores. If you require a customised multi-admin panel, ‘Multify’ offers custom integration options.
Recovery of Abandon Shopping Cart
Did you know that nearly 70% of customers don’t complete their purchase? This means that seven out of ten visitors abandon your store. Consider this: converting just 50% of these visitors could significantly help you achieve your eCommerce goals. But how can you convince these lost visitors to return? And more importantly, how can you obtain their details?
Shopify Online store offers a robust solution to recover these users. Its abandoned cart recovery app helps prevent and recover lost sales. By integrating the app with your store, you can access a list of recent abandoners and improve your marketing campaigns with beautiful and personalised emails, Facebook Messenger reminders, and pop-ups.
Quick Loading Website
If your website’s speed decreases by just 4 seconds, you could lose 25% of your sales. The current average eCommerce page load time is 8.56 seconds, exceeding the average user’s attention span of 8 seconds on a website. A crucial aspect of eCommerce is having a website that loads before visitors bounce off, which is a significant achievement in itself.
Shopify’s SEO management tools can help optimize your store and improve web performance, creating a strong first impression. Shopify experts recommend implementing smooth animations, font swapping, and minimizing third-party requests to ensure your store runs at an optimal speed.
Customer Experience
Shopify shines for eCommerce merchants, but what about customers? Many eCommerce platforms either prioritise customer experience at the expense of developer convenience or offer complex development solutions for a great customer experience. However, Shopify support and maintenance service strikes a balance between developer and customer experience. With over 5000 tools, including top Shopify apps for store management, customer experience customisation, and website and campaign personalisation, the platform offers a comprehensive solution.
The platform allows you to seamlessly integrate the best web designs with new app functionalities, creating a beautiful buying journey. The integration services from Shopify store development company helps push buyers through the sales channel more efficiently.
The Final Verdict
Shopify Online Store 2.0 represents a significant evolution in the Shopify platform, offering merchants and developers a host of powerful new tools and features to enhance the e-commerce experience. With its focus on flexibility, customization, and improved user experience, Online Store 2.0 enables merchants to create more dynamic and engaging online stores that better reflect their brand and meet the needs of their customers.
The introduction of sections on every page allows for greater control over the layout and design of store pages, while the ability to add metafields directly through the theme editor provides a new level of customization and flexibility. The inclusion of a new editor for building page templates and storefronts, as well as the integration of GitHub for version control, streamlines the development process and makes it easier for developers to create and manage Shopify stores.
Overall, Shopify Online Store 2.0 represents a major step forward for the Shopify platform, offering merchants and developers alike a more powerful, flexible, and user-friendly e-commerce solution. As Shopify continues to innovate and improve its platform, it remains a top choice for businesses looking to establish and grow their online presence.
