Shopify Unite 2019 gave an exclusive glimpse into exciting new features to help the Shopify Plus developer community bring stores and apps to an entirely new level in 2023.
New Tools for the Shopify Plus Developer and Merchant Alike
New features to help create a seamless user experience for both merchants and visitors are coming to the core of the online store. There will be more customisation options for the storefront, including:
- Sections on every page, meaning merchants can add or remove content from any page with just a few clicks.
- Master pages that apply changes made on them to all pages marked as the same type of page.
- Content won’t be stored within a specific theme anymore. This means merchants can now switch between themes without having to transfer the content every time.
- The product browsing experience is getting a boost with video and 3D updates. This also opens doors for every Shopify developer to create an image and video editor apps for the Shopify App Store.
One new feature, in particular, will make every Shopify developer happy: All changes to the store will now be saved in drafts, so they won’t have to edit live pages anymore.
Checkout App Extensions coming
There will be no more routing to external checkouts. The new checkout app extension enables merchants to purchase your app via Shopify’s checkout. As a Shopify plus developer thinking about a subscription model for your Shopify app, now’s the best time to work on it.
Easier and Cheaper Fulfilment Process
The Shopify Fulfilment network includes centres across the globe and has smart inventory allocation with machine learning. This optimises fulfilment for all merchants and keeps delivery costs down, and speeds up the process.
Shopify POS and Plus News
The Shopify partner community will now be able to sell in multiple languages and currencies thanks to the new translations API. As a Shopify developer, you should adjust your apps, so they work with this new feature.
Shopify POS is also being revamped from the ground up. It will finally have compatibility with all apps and is getting loyalty and promotion extensions for the POS cart app.
New back-office tools include multi-location fulfilment, the ability to decline fulfilment, edit orders per user request, shipping rules for each product, and location.
Shopify Developer Products and Updates
The latest Shopify Plus Developer tool is the Shopify App CLI, which generates code automatically with the command-line interface tool. It also enables you to generate samples – such as orders, products, or customers – and test stores.
The Shopify developer should be excited about a slew of new updates directed to their community:
- New libraries are coming to GraphQL, with the ten most popular libraries (like Shopify_api gem, and Shopify_python_api) being fully compatible.
- Now there’s a developer preview environment available.
- Shopify developers can also submit their new app in more languages (up to seven).
- Every app in the store will also have install requirements, so merchants without compatible stores won’t waste time installing the app.
Anyone who’s a Shopify plus developer can learn more about upcoming changes in the published technical documentation, and get early access to the new developer preview.
Our Shopify developers have been quick to note that many features of the new section functionality are not available in the developer preview mode – and we’re eagerly awaiting this.
