A Deep Dive into Shopify's October Updates

Every day, millions of entrepreneurs rely on Shopify to power their businesses, whether they’re launching a small side hustle or running a large retail operation. Shopify is here to make online selling a breeze for everyone!

In a world where shoppers have countless choices, merchants are up against tough competition for attention, sales, and customer loyalty. But fear not! Shopify is constantly innovating, rolling out exciting new features designed to give you a competitive edge.

Dive in and discover the latest tools that will help you boost your sales and manage your store with ease!

Streamline fulfillment: buy shipping Labels for 100 orders at once!

Save time with Shopify's new bulk shipping label feature! From the Shipping Labels page, you can now buy labels for up to 100 orders in one go. Just select Buy labels for X orders to get started. On the Create Shipping Labels page, group orders by item type or quantity to speed up fulfillment for similar orders – all at your preferred location.

New location settings page: enhanced filtering & management for multi-store merchants

Shopify has rolled out a major update to the Locations settings in Shopify Admin, making location management smoother and more efficient. With the new Locations index, shops with up to 1000 locations can now easily search, filter, and paginate through their store listings.

Key enhancements include:

• An updated Default Location card
• Simplified editing for location names and addresses
• A new address validation feature for accurate entries
• A cleaner, streamlined design for easier navigation

These updates are designed to reduce errors, improve organization, and make it easier than ever to manage your store locations from one place.

App blocks for discount code field now displayed in mobile checkout order summary

Starting October 11, 2024, app blocks that customize the discount code field in checkout now appear in the order summary at the top of one-page mobile checkouts.

This change means that content added above or below the discount code field will be more visible to customers, making it easier for them to find and apply discounts. Previously, these app blocks were only visible at the bottom of the page, but now they’re conveniently positioned for a seamless mobile shopping experience.

For more on checkout customization, visit the Shopify Help Center.

Bring your brand colors to life on POS idle screens

With POS version 9.20 and Customer View version 1.26, your POS terminal idle screens can now display your brand colors, creating a cohesive and branded look in both light and dark modes. This new feature allows your POS terminal to automatically inherit brand colors set up in your Shopify admin, adding a fresh, professional touch to the idle screen display.

How to enable:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Point of Sale > Settings.
2. Under Devices, select Customer displays.
3. Choose Idle screen.
4. Add or update your brand colors by clicking Add brand colors or Edit brand colors.
5. In the Idle screen section, choose Apply primary color 1 and contrasting color to apply your branding.
6. Click Save.

Ensure you’re on POS App version 9.20 and Customer View version 1.26 to access this update. For more on using brand colors, visit the Shopify Help Center.

Tap to pay on iPhone expands to more countries with Shopify POS!

Tap to Pay on iPhone with Shopify POS is now available for in-person sellers in Australia, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom – bringing the convenience of contactless payments to even more regions without the need for additional hardware. Using the iPhone’s NFC chip, Tap to Pay enables seamless payments from contactless cards and digital wallets like Apple Pay, all processed through Shopify Payments.

This feature prioritizes security, ensuring card details and PINs are not stored on devices or servers, so your business data stays safe. Standard credit card processing fees apply.

Visit the Shopify Help Center to find more updates on using Tap to Pay on iPhone

Introducing unverified returns in Shopify POS v9.20

With the latest Shopify POS update (v9.20), you can now offer unverified returns, allowing staff to process returns to gift cards even when a customer doesn't have a receipt or order number. This option gives you flexibility to maintain customer satisfaction while ensuring the return is tracked within the customer profile.

To enable unverified returns, make sure gift cards are activated in your store settings. Check the Shopify Help Center for a complete setup guide.

Customize product publishing & order attribution for each Hydrogen storefront!

Shopify’s new feature enables unique resource publishing across multiple Hydrogen storefronts, allowing you to showcase different products and collections for each storefront. Now, in Shopify admin, each Hydrogen storefront will appear by its custom name instead of a generic "Hydrogen" channel, making publishing destinations clearer and enhancing order attribution.

With this update, API calls for publishing products should use each storefront's specific publicationId, replacing the previous single Hydrogen channel ID. Adjust your API integrations accordingly to ensure accurate resource allocation across storefronts.

Enhance order security with a 2-minute delay for risk checks

Now, collective retailers can enjoy an added layer of security with a new 2-minute delay before they send orders. With this feature, they can implement custom fraud risk automation using Shopify Flow. That’s a great option to prevent the fulfillment of potentially fraudulent orders.

With this update, retailers easily review, cancel, or hold high-risk orders after conducting thorough fraud checks. Ensure your business is secure while order management is more efficient.

Check more details here.

Elevate your customer win-back strategy with extended buying cycle automation

Now, Shopify’s customer win-back marketing automation template has been enhanced to support longer buying cycles. With the new integration of Flow’s Customer Joined segment trigger, customers enter the workflow right when they join a segment rather than after their order is fulfilled and waiting for 60 days.

This upgrade is perfect for businesses with extended purchasing timelines, making them target customers who made purchases years ago. Anyway, after improvement, your outreach is timely and relevant.

Remember, this new template replaces the existing one, so you’ll need to set it up and disable the old version to take advantage of these awesome features. While Shopify provides a robust automated marketing foundation, customizing segment criteria and email content is essential to fit the brand's unique needs.

Automate your workflow with a new metaobject entry trigger in Shopify Flow

You can now enhance your automation capabilities with the new Metaobject Entry Created trigger in Shopify Flow. This feature lets you start workflows whenever a new entry is made for a specific metaobject, providing all related fields. Imagine the possibilities!

This update helps streamline various processes, such as automating responses to custom forms created in Shopify Forms. Now, when a customer submits information, you can trigger workflows in Flow effortlessly.

For more detailed instructions, check the Shopify documentation. And don’t forget about questions or feedback, which you can find in the Shopify community!

Brand your customer account login page

The login page for new customer accounts now matches the branding and colors of your entire checkout and accounts experience. You can customize these settings easily in the checkout and accounts editor.

ShipSurance is now available for Managed Markets shipping labels

Merchants using Shopify, Advanced, or Plus plans can now enjoy free shipping insurance on all Managed Markets shipping labels purchased through Shopify admin, covering up to $200 USD. Additional optional insurance can be acquired on any plan, extending coverage up to $5,000.

The process for purchasing insurance and submitting claims remains consistent with the Shopify Shipping insurance process in Shopify Admin.

New apps tab in the checkout and accounts editor

Shopify introduced an Apps tab in the checkout and accounts editor, making it easier to manage all your app blocks in one convenient location.

With this update, you can quickly customize and preview new functionalities on the Checkout, Thank You, and Order Status pages by utilizing the relevant app blocks in each section. For more information, check out the Shopify Help Center.

Excited? We are, too! But the launches you read about here are just the tip of the iceberg. Stay in the loop with new updates, features, and products as part of our monthly editions on the Shopify platform and our digest. Join us and stay at the forefront of innovation!

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Check out our blog to stay up to date with all the latest news and insights on Shopify and ecommerce. Want to discover real-world examples of remarkable results with Shopify? Explore our case studies and see how businesses leveraged Shopify’s powerful tools to boost sales, increase retention, and create seamless experiences. If you have any questions about setting up a store on Shopify or optimizing it for better performance, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team for a consultation. Whatever your request, we are here to assist you.