Shopify Editions 2023: the top 8 summer updates

Did you catch the summer Shopify Editions 2023 announcement? 

Anyone attuned to the Shopify ecosystem has felt the buzz. And if you streamed the live presentation or have scrolled through the Shopify Editions Summer ‘23 website, we don’t blame you if you’re overwhelmed. 

There’s tons of information to digest, even for a team of email marketing experts entrenched in Shopify daily.     

So we compiled this roundup for anyone in need of a debriefing.  

It’s a “TLDR” on the Shopify Editions features we’re most excited about — the standout innovations, improvements and developments poised to benefit merchants the most.  
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What is Shopify Editions?

Let’s pause before moving ahead and define what we’re talking about. 

The first Shopify Editions debuted on June 22, 2022, as a product update announcement. A Shopify Winter Editions drop followed in February 2023.  

This summer’s Editions is jam-packed with more than 100 product updates. Some have been around for a bit, others are getting off the ground, and a number are soon to be released. 

As Shopify President Harley Finkelstein framed in a Tweet and accompanying video, the summer ‘23 Editions is themed on reimagining businesses with the fuel of technological advancements. 

As Harley summarized, the massive amount of updates “will enable you to be more productive, more creative and more powerful.” 
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Our 8 favorite summer Shopify Editions 2023 updates

We could choose so many features to highlight. But we figure it’s most helpful to stick to marketing and merchandising upgrades, given the vantage point of our expertise. Here goes.
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#1 New partner integration automations

Shopify is constantly expanding its marketing automation capabilities, aimed at helping you reach subscribers and customers at significant times in their journey with the right messaging. 

Shopify Editions 2023 continues the momentum. And Seguno: Email Marketing is one of three third-party apps part of the effort. 

We’re beyond pumped that our Back in Stock email automation made the highlights. But more important? We’re excited to give Shopify merchants a highly coveted sales-driven automation that works alongside their email marketing without a separate app. 

The Back in Stock automation:

1. Enables email alert subscriptions for out-of-stock products
2. Provides a customizable email workflow template to announce the restock
3. Triggers the back-in-stock email upon inventory replenishment

‍Other automation announcements include browser push notifications for product releases and post-purchase upsell SMS solutions.
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#2 New segmentation filters

Next to email automations, segmentation is a key approach to injecting personalization into email marketing. 

Shopify continues to make it easier to segment Shopify Customers into groups and subsequently send targeted marketing. For example, they previously released customizable templates for creating standard ecommerce segments. 

They added more filters to create additional segments and thus new email marketing opportunities. With the new filters, you can segment on: 

• Orders placed: sort options include amount spent per order, date range, number of times purchased, and total amount spent
• Products purchased: sort options include product tag, product name, date range, quantity, and total quantity
• Anniversary: sort options include birth date, last order date, first order date, customer added date and abandoned checkout date
• Collection viewed: sort options include collection name, date range, and number 
• Product viewed: sort options include product name, product tag, date range, and number

Shopify also rolled out some templates that package the segment for you, incorporating the new filters and combining variables. For example, there’s a template segment for customers who recently spent a significant amount on one order and another that identifies VIPs.
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#3 Combining discounts

Shopify is granting merchants greater leniency with discount settings. They can offer customers a broader range of discount stacking options on the same order. 

Customers were previously limited to using three discounts on an order. Now they can apply five. And Shopify stores have fewer restrictions on what types of Shopify discount codes can be combined. 

For example, it’s possible to apply an order, product and shipping discount on the same order. Or, you can opt to allow new email subscribers to combine a welcome discount with an active site discount. 

Safeguards remain. It’s not possible to apply more than one product discount per product. And Shopify will only accept one shipping discount per order.
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#4 App for bundling products

The Shopify Editions 2023 summer version boasts noteworthy apps merchants have been clamoring for, including the free Shopify Bundles app. 

Grouping products and selling them as one unit at a discounted price is a popular promotional pricing strategy. They’re ripe for increasing average order value and pushing out excess inventory. Customers benefit by saving money and trying products they might not otherwise have considered. 

But many Shopify merchants that only seek to create fixed bundles or multipacks have discovered it’s challenging and cumbersome to develop and manage them. 

The Shopify Bundles app democratizes product bundling and updates inventory in real time. It’s touted as an app for Shopify stores without advanced bundling needs like mix-and-match or custom versions.   

#5 App for subscriptions

We’ve seen a lot of excitement in our social media feeds over this one: the free Shopify Subscriptions app. 

Shopify merchants gravitate toward subscriptions for many reasons. They generate consistent, predictable revenue for their business and foster customer retention. Subscription customers don’t need to worry about reorders for recurring purchases and often receive discounts and first access to new products. 

Much like the nature of Shopify Bundles, this app is for merchants that want to dabble in more straightforward subscriptions and don’t need the bells and whistles of a complex app. It will allow customers to pause or skip orders, and update payment and shipping details. 
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#6 Broaden your product portfolio

Does your Shopify store’s business model depend on dropshipping? Or are you interested in expanding your inventory with unique products but don’t want the burden of buying, storing and shipping them? 

‍Shopify Collective removes the brunt of the legwork, making it easier to launch and manage partnerships with fellow Shopify stores. 

All transactions occur through Shopify admin. It’s an all-in-one tool for:

• Sourcing and syncing complementary high-quality products from eligible U.S.-based Shopify brands
• Managing inventory and orders 
• Handling shipping

If your store meets the requirements, Shopify Collective is an opportunity to elevate your brand as a supplier as well.  
 

#7 B2B on Shopify 

Shopify Plus merchants can now sell to direct-to-consumer (DTC) and business-to-business (B2B) customers from the same shop, thanks to a suite of new features. 

With B2B on Shopify, you can create a blended store to serve both customers or build a dedicated expansion store for B2B only. Features include: 

• Store personalization to cater content to wholesale buyers
• Volume pricing to encourage larger quantity orders
• Quick order lists displaying product variants
• Support for PayPal and vaulted credit cards
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#8 AI for commerce

It’s no surprise that generative AI is a significant component of this summer’s Shopify Editions 2023 event. Shopify terms it “AI designed for commerce.”

‍Shopify Magic provides the power to help merchants work faster. Some of its capabilities include: 

• Sidekick, a commerce assistant that answers questions, handles repetitive and tedious tasks, provides advice and more
• Automatic text generation for blog posts and product descriptions
• Responding to live chat inquiries

• Summarizing reviews of top apps to help you choose the best fit for your business

Embrace the gems of Shopify Editions

It’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur amid the incredible pace of innovations we’re all experiencing. 

From new marketing automation tools like the Back in Stock alert to baked-in AI that helps you move quicker, the Shopify Editions 2023 summer roundup is full of ways to make entrepreneurs work smarter with more effectiveness.   

Information overload? We don’t see it that way. 

More like a treasure trove for unleashing productivity, creativity and better audience engagement.