Shopify Winter 2025 Edition

Released: October 26, 2023

Shopify’s Winter ’25 Edition, aptly named “Boring.” Despite the moniker, the release focuses on a significant number of improvements (150+) across various aspects of the Shopify platform, aiming to enhance existing features and workflows for merchants. The overarching message is one of stability and optimization, rather than the introduction of entirely new product lines.

Main Themes:

Enhanced Efficiency and Speed: A major focus is on improving the performance and speed of various platform components, including cart and checkout loading times, admin responsiveness, and accelerated checkout buttons.
- “We’ve increased loading speeds across cart and checkout and the admin.”
- “Cart loading speeds have increased by up to 50%, for a faster cart and checkout experience for your customers.”
- “Accelerated checkout buttons now load up to 58.8% faster on the product details page…”
Deeper Customization and Flexibility: The updates provide merchants with more granular control over their stores through expanded use of metafields, theme editor enhancements, and increased customization options for customer accounts and checkout.
- “Assign your own metafields to only apply to specific product categories to extend the standard attributes in Shopify’s taxonomy to better fit your store.”
- “Easily access metaobjects, like featured reviews and brand ambassadors, across your entire theme using the dynamic source picker in the theme editor.”
- “Personalize customer accounts without code using apps, like you do in checkout.”
Improved Workflow and Automation: Several updates aim to streamline merchant operations through better integration of features, new automation capabilities (leveraging Shopify Flow), and more intuitive admin interfaces.
- “Draft orders work with functions, bundles, and checkout extensions”
- “You can now trigger automations when customers join or leave a segment with Shopify Flow.”
- “The theme editor features a more compact settings sidebar so you can easily find what you’re looking for.”
Stronger Focus on Bundles and Subscriptions: The platform is providing more comprehensive support for product bundles and subscriptions, including improved inventory management, reporting, and discount options.
- “Shopify POS works with bundles, retail customer segments, and customer metafields”
- “You can now offer Buy X Get Y discounts for subscriptions, such as offering customers a free gift when they subscribe.”
- “Get more insight into how your product bundles are performing with metrics in the new analytics.”
Expanding B2B and Global Capabilities: Shopify continues to enhance its offerings for B2B merchants and those operating globally, with improvements to draft orders, customer accounts, tax handling, and international shipping.
- “We’ve upgraded draft orders so you can lock product prices and offer bundles. If you’re on Plus you can also collect deposits and view and charge vaulted cards.”
- “Tailor your reports to focus entirely on B2B orders and customers, and exclude DTC, for more effective performance tracking.”
- “Managed Markets will be available to all merchants over the coming months, enabling custom buyer experiences for retail, B2B, and international.”
- “Easily generate, store, and display VAT invoices for both B2B and DTC customers in the EU and UK with Shopify Tax.”
Enhancements to the Shop App Experience: Updates are being made to the Shop app to improve customer browsing, discovery, and post-purchase processes like returns.
- “Search and collection filters that you set up in your online store now are available on Shop improving how customers browse in the app.”
- “Customers can now initiate returns and exchanges directly from the order management page in the Shop app.”
Developer Ecosystem Improvements: The release includes several updates aimed at improving the developer experience, including enhanced APIs (particularly GraphQL), faster tooling, and more flexibility in building apps and customizations.
- “GraphQL is the definitive API for Shopify, with efficient data access, a strongly typed schema, and first-class tooling and documentation.”
- “Functions work with carts of up to 200 items and 25 automatic discounts”
- “The Theme CLI is faster and GitHub-based theme editing is possible in VS Code”
- “You can now build return apps and flows for customers using the Customer Accounts Return API.”

Most Important Ideas and Facts (Categorized):

Online Store:

Search & Discovery: Enhanced control over product visibility in search with combined listings, smart collections based on taxonomy attributes, custom metafields for product categories, and more control over filter ordering.
- “Choose if parent or child products should appear in search and product recommendations with Shopify Search & Discovery.”
- “Create smart collections based on product attributes in Shopify’s product taxonomy, such as material and color.”
Themes: Easier access to metaobjects in the theme editor and a more compact settings sidebar for improved usability.
- “Easily access metaobjects…across your entire theme using the dynamic source picker in the theme editor.”
- “The theme editor features a more compact settings sidebar so you can easily find what you’re looking for.”
Subscriptions: Inline editing of subscriptions in the admin, oversell protection respecting inventory settings, and Buy X Get Y discounts now applicable to subscriptions.
- “Edit, remove, or add subscriptions directly from the product details page in the admin…”
- “Shopify Subscriptions now respects your inventory settings when renewing subscriptions…”
Bundles: Improved reporting, clearer representation across platforms, and accurate inventory checks before checkout.
- “Product bundles and their components are now represented more consistently across emails, the order details page, and more.”
Shop App: Online store search filters and collections now available in Shop, and customers can initiate returns directly within the app.
- “Custom search filters on Shop…improve how customers browse in the app.”
- “Customers can now initiate returns and exchanges directly from the order management page in the Shop app.”

Retail (POS):

Support for bundles, retail customer segments, and customer metafields.
Unverified retail returns allowing refunds to gift cards.
“Enable your retail staff to process returns without a receipt or order number and refund to a gift card.”
Split-screen search on the POS home screen.
“The Shopify POS home screen now displays the cart alongside search results and lets you easily add searched items with just a tap.”
Offline payment processing.
“Accept in-person card payments even if your network is down.”
Expanded availability of Tap to Pay on Android and iPhone.

Checkout:

Checkout Blocks now available on more pages (thank you and order status) for all plans.
“All plans can now make simple customizations on the thank you and order status pages with the free Checkout Blocks app, no coding required.”
Support for chat apps in checkout (all plans on thank you, Plus on any page).
Smoother and faster checkout loading.
“Customers can start interacting with the checkout page more than one second sooner…”
Faster accelerated checkout buttons.
Extensions and Functions now work with draft orders (Plus exclusive for Extensions).
“Now any checkout customizations that were built with UI extensions will also load in your draft order checkouts. Exclusive to Plus.”
“Checkout customizations that were made using Shopify Functions now also apply to draft orders…”
Draft order price locking.
Conditional restriction of gift card payments via apps.
Split shipping now available for all merchants.

Marketing:

Customer account extensions for personalization without code.
“Personalize customer accounts without code using apps, like you do in checkout.”
Customizable customer accounts menu links and branded login pages.
Custom UTM parameters for Shopify Email campaigns.
Improved email ROI comparison and image editing within Shopify Email.
New holiday email templates and countdown timers.
Marketing automation triggered by customer segments in Shopify Flow.
“You can now trigger automations when customers join or leave a segment with Shopify Flow.”
AI-powered suggested replies in Shopify Inbox (English only).
Shoppable ads on Roku.
Enhanced metafield controls for forms and the ability to exclude more existing customers from ads (Plus).
Shop Campaigns available on all plans in the US and Canada, including winback campaigns and Google Shopping ads integration.
Improved engagement in the Shop feed with brand visuals and personalized recommendations.

Wholesale (B2B):

Improved draft orders with price locking and bundle support (Plus also gets deposit collection and vaulted card charging).
“We’ve upgraded draft orders so you can lock product prices and offer bundles…”
Checkout UI extensions and Functions now work with draft orders (Plus exclusive for Extensions).
Customizable B2B customer accounts via extensions.
“Customer account extensions are now available. Use apps to add features for B2B customers…”
Self-serve returns for B2B customers (Plus).
Automation of new account setup with Shopify Flow (Plus).
Custom identity providers for consistent login (Plus).
Tax exemptions for companies (Plus).
B2B-specific analytics (Plus).

Global:

Natural search in more languages with Semantic Search.
“Customers around the globe can now search using everyday language with Semantic Search.”
More localized Shopify experience for Europe and Japan.
VAT invoices with Shopify Tax for EU and UK.
Increased shipping insurance for Managed Markets.
Duties included in prices for all Managed Markets merchants.
“All Managed Markets merchants can now reduce surprises at checkout by including international duties and taxes as part of the product price.”
New payment options for Managed Markets and expanded Klarna availability.
Automated privacy settings for new markets.

Shipping:

Unified fulfillment logic across different order types.
“Your order routing and fulfillment settings are applied across subscriptions, draft order invoices, and imported orders to prevent overselling.”
Ship to store now available on all plans.
Better UPS rates for small items.
New shipping carriers in Europe (DHL Paket in Germany and Yodel in the UK).
“Buy labels from shipping carriers in more countries including DHL Paket in Germany and Yodel in the UK.”
Streamlined bulk label creation and direct filing of shipping claims in Shopify.
Improved shipping refunds and the use of metafields for order routing.
Multiple fulfillment holds for better clarity.
More options for handling inventory when uninstalling fulfillment apps.
Address validation expanded across the admin.
“Addresses are now validated across the admin including draft orders, shipping labels, customer profiles, B2B company locations, and more.”

Operations:

Organizations now available for all plans for easier staff and billing management.
“Now everyone can group stores into a single organization to more efficiently manage staff in one place, and consolidate to a single bill.”
Permissions for files and role-based staff access controls.
“Assign staff permissions for managing files, allowing specific people to create, delete, edit, or view.”
“Role-based access controls are now rolling out, so you can easily and securely give staff access by assigning them one or multiple roles.”
Rollout of Sidekick, a personal AI-powered assistant.
“Your personal AI-powered assistant Sidekick is rolling out in English to merchants around the globe.”
Faster-loading admin.
“The admin is the fastest it’s ever been, with initial page load speeds increased by 25% and page-to-page navigation 12.5% faster.”
New analytics rolling out with custom queries (ShopifyQL) and RFM analysis report.
“Get more customized insights using the metrics and dimensions you choose with the new analytics, now rolling out to everyone.”
“The new analytics lets you query your data directly from a report in real time using ShopifyQL, for more dynamic and customizable reporting.”
“Understand your customer segments and decide how to best re-engage each of them with the Recency, Frequency, and Monetary report in the new analytics.”
Store credit insights and powerful search across Shopify.
Improved theme discoverability and relevant metrics on mobile.
Enhanced automation capabilities in Shopify Flow, including Admin API request support, search for Flow runs in the admin, metaobject triggers, and improved troubleshooting.
“Shopify Flow can now automate workflows without custom HTTP calls, with the Send Admin API request supporting nearly all Admin API actions and returns data.”
“Quickly find Shopify Flow runs right from the admin page you’re on—like order and product pages.”
“Shopify Flow can now trigger workflows…on new metaobject entries.”
Return automation in Flow and syncing catalogs with custom IDs.
Standardized reauthentication flow.

Finance:

Unified finance view in the admin and Shopify app.
“More easily view and manage all your business’s finances from the admin or the Shopify app with a new, comprehensive finance home.”
Enhanced Shopify Balance for Plus merchants in the US.
Recurring payments with Shopify Bill Pay (US only).
More payment options with Shopify Credit (US only).
Shopify Tax automated filing in the US and availability in the EU & UK for VAT compliance.
“Shopify Tax automates the preparation, filing, and remittance of your sales tax returns in the US.”
“Shopify Tax is now available in the EU and UK, simplifying VAT compliance…”
Easier document submission for Shopify Capital.

Developer Focus:

Functions now work with larger carts and more automatic discounts.
Hydrogen improvements including optimistic variants, gift card support, sitemaps, and custom environment files.
GraphQL is the definitive API, with REST endpoint mappings for easier transition.
“GraphQL replaces REST with new endpoint mappings to find equivalent operations.”
Faster Theme CLI and GitHub-based theme editing in VS Code.
Theme Blocks now live, allowing reuse and nesting of blocks.
“Define a block once within a theme and reuse it across sections.”
Metaobject theme setting for requiring specific metaobject types in sections and blocks.
More content accessible via GraphQL Admin API (menus, pages, articles, blogs).
Accelerated Liquid workflows with faster Theme CLI.
Low inventory cart warnings in the Storefront API.
Customizable and enhanced accelerated checkout buttons with Functions and bundle support.
Faster cart requests on storefronts.
Self-serve return API for building return apps.
“You can now build return apps and flows for customers using the Customer Accounts Return API.”
Action and Block extensions now available across POS.
Extension-only discount apps.
“Build discount apps using admin extensions with Shopify-hosted UI…”
Dynamic scaling for Function execution limits.
Conditional rendering for UI extensions.
“Hide action extensions and minimize blocks so that elements are only shown to the relevant merchants.”
Improvements to purchase options UI extensions.
Continuous cart authentication.
Customizable line item appearance (Plus).
Exclusive control for fulfillment apps.
Extended fulfillment constraints.
Public Shopify Subscriptions Reference app.
Pixels support B2B context (Plus) and checkout alerts.
Resource picker for app-specific objects.
Segment join/leave events via API.
Print extensions now support PDF rendering.
Subscription oversell protection via Selling Plans API.
Metadata for delivery options.
Cookie banner metafields.
GraphQL orderCreate API.
Session recordings with pixels.
Custom pricing plans for managed apps.
“Managed app pricing now lets you set private plans for individual shops.”
Ad campaigns with ecommerce events and click dates for attribution.
Bid suggestions for all app ads.
Simpler “Built for Shopify” documentation and updated requirements (starting July 2025).
“Get support” buttons can link anywhere.
Highlighted brand search results in the app store.
Better in-admin app visibility and feature-based app discovery.
Improved theme discoverability.
Automate Collective returns via webhook.
More powerful .dev Assistant with thread support and expanded GraphQL coverage.
“The .dev Assistant now supports threads for better context sharing and query refinement and supports more REST to GraphQL use cases.”
Better GraphQL guidance and webhook compliance insights.
Optional access scopes for faster app installs and updates.
New developer community forum.
“Introducing a dedicated forum for developers to support each other and connect with Shopify’s product team.”
Function logs in the CLI and increased function input limit.
Faster-loading apps on mobile.

Conclusion:

The Shopify Winter ’25 “Boring” Edition delivers a substantial set of improvements and refinements across the platform. While not introducing revolutionary new features, the updates focus on enhancing performance, providing greater customization capabilities, streamlining workflows, and deepening support for key areas like bundles, subscriptions, B2B, and global commerce. The emphasis on developer experience also indicates Shopify’s commitment to its ecosystem. Overall, this release aims to provide a more stable, efficient, and flexible platform for merchants of all sizes.