Shopify have recently launched a host of changes in their latest Shopify Editions. Given our job is to build better things to make your DTC business thrive through unique digital experiences, we’ve rounded up what these changes mean to our clients and how they can strengthen your business.
1. Shopify functions - What are they and their use cases?
Shopify Functions allows you to extend native Shopify features with WASM modules. It is deployed to Shopify’s infrastructure so it can run at the same scale as Shopify does. With Shopify Functions, there is increased flexibility to extend or replace native Shopify server-side business logic to meet the unique business needs of our merchants. But flexibility is just part of the story, Functions were purpose-built to be scalable and fast. Built on Shopify infrastructure, Functions can scale up for major sales events and still execute in less than 5ms.
Shopify functions will start with the following additional functionality:
3.Pre-orders
We have been asked MANY times about how we can easily set up pre-orders. Businesses often need flexible payment and fulfilment options. Fortunately, the selling plan APIs have now been updated so you can add ‘Deferred purchase options’ selling plans, extending beyond the typical subscription selling model. This means that a customer can place an order for a product or product patents that haven’t been released yet.
There is also a new ‘try before you buy’ plan where you can try products before completing payment, and send back the products that you don’t want.
Both of these selling plan types can take deposits, storing payment information so the merchants can collect the remaining balance amount without having to contact the customer.
B2B
Shopify hasn't specified exactly what this will be yet but the announcement says the new APIs will provide better ways to connect to wholesale customers with new primitives like Business Customers, Price Lists, and Assigned Payment Terms.
While a little light on specifics, strides towards a smoother B2B offering would be a fantastic addition to the Shopify ecosystem.
ShopifyQL
ShopifyQL is a new query language that Shopify has introduced so you can have more direct access to shopify analytics data so you can generate business insides without having to deal with data transformation.
In theory, there should be no more mismatching between your reports and Shopify data.
Return APIs
Shopify is building a highly anticipated returns API so that we can have greater visibility into critical returns data across platforms and manage orders more efficiently.The ability to track and report on returns will be a major step forward for many merchants who have been relying on manual processes and workarounds.
As always, if you need help with anything Shopify related, our team at Tribe is here to help. We are a leading Shopify development agency and we have helped lots of businesses grow their online presence. Contact us today to see how we can help you!
- Discounts
- Shipping
- Payment methods
- Shipping rates
- Checkout & cart validations
- Return validations
- Programmable order routing
3.Pre-orders
We have been asked MANY times about how we can easily set up pre-orders. Businesses often need flexible payment and fulfilment options. Fortunately, the selling plan APIs have now been updated so you can add ‘Deferred purchase options’ selling plans, extending beyond the typical subscription selling model. This means that a customer can place an order for a product or product patents that haven’t been released yet.
There is also a new ‘try before you buy’ plan where you can try products before completing payment, and send back the products that you don’t want.
Both of these selling plan types can take deposits, storing payment information so the merchants can collect the remaining balance amount without having to contact the customer.
B2B
Shopify hasn't specified exactly what this will be yet but the announcement says the new APIs will provide better ways to connect to wholesale customers with new primitives like Business Customers, Price Lists, and Assigned Payment Terms.
While a little light on specifics, strides towards a smoother B2B offering would be a fantastic addition to the Shopify ecosystem.
ShopifyQL
ShopifyQL is a new query language that Shopify has introduced so you can have more direct access to shopify analytics data so you can generate business insides without having to deal with data transformation.
In theory, there should be no more mismatching between your reports and Shopify data.
Return APIs
Shopify is building a highly anticipated returns API so that we can have greater visibility into critical returns data across platforms and manage orders more efficiently.The ability to track and report on returns will be a major step forward for many merchants who have been relying on manual processes and workarounds.
As always, if you need help with anything Shopify related, our team at Tribe is here to help. We are a leading Shopify development agency and we have helped lots of businesses grow their online presence. Contact us today to see how we can help you!