Shopify Editions Summer 2023 – Part 2: AI for Ecommerce and App Development

This article is the second of Coalition Technologies’ 6-part series tackling Shopify Editions Summer 2023 updates.

Shopify’s Summer ‘23 Edition, the latest iteration of its twice-annual showcase, unveiled a host of new additions to the platform. This includes 100+ product updates, features, and Shopify apps that have been in development for the past six months. 

These additions are designed to help you be more productive, creative, and powerful in how you manage your store and tangibly improve business outcomes.

The underlying theme this year has been the focus on AI for ecommerce success. This comes as no surprise considering the pace at which companies are adapting it for business. The AI-enabled ecommerce market alone is set to reach nearly $17 billion by 2030. Shopify too has leveraged the technology to launch and make improvements to features across its ecosystem.

Here’s a rundown on the highlights of this edition and how you can use the new features to level up your ecommerce operation.

Shopify Magic: AI for Ecommerce

2023 has proved to be a watershed year for AI. It has already changed so much of how people go about their work and their lives. And arguably, it’s proved to be a boon for entrepreneurs more than almost anyone else, given the time- and cost-savings it’s brought about across the business value chain.

In recognition of this, the platform has launched Shopify Magic, a suite of AI-enabled ecommerce features that will define the Shopify experience for years to come. Here are some of the components of Shopify Magic:

Sidekick

Chatbots are quickly becoming key to AI deployment across enterprises. According to Forbes, some 73% of businesses either use or plan to use AI chatbots. It’s no wonder that Shopify has made Sidekick the centerpiece of Shopify Magic.

Sidekick is a first-of-its kind ecommerce AI assistant for Shopify store owners. It functions as a chatbot accessible through the Shopify dashboard.

You can use it to gain a more comprehensive understanding of your business and rapidly implement site changes without having to dive into the theme or enlist developer help. 

Whether you need to pull up specific sales figures, set up product discounts, create new site copy, or even completely change the look and feel of your store, the AI ecommerce assistant can do it for you in the blink of an eye. 

You can sign up for a free trial for Sidekick on the Shopify Magic landing page.

Shopify Email

Shopify Email offers remarkably powerful features that go beyond just automating email writing. It lets you design branded emails, complete with pre-built and customizable templates to help your emails stand out. 

You can also manage and analyze campaigns within Shopify and completely automate workflows, such as welcome and upsell emails. Shopify Email uses AI to facilitate your ecommerce journey beyond the core site platform, centralizing business activities for site owners. 

Blog Generator

Yes, Shopify too has jumped on the long-form content bandwagon. But this is not necessarily intended as a me-too product. Rather, using Shopify Magic, you can craft on-brand content that borrows from your store’s history. 

Attuned to ecommerce needs, the AI is able to craft captivating copy designed to drive traffic to your store and convert your prospects. This includes blogs, articles, promotional copy, and on-site copy, such as headers and product descriptions. The latter option is also available through Shopify’s Online Store editor.

AI-Generated Chat Responses and FAQs

Shopify can suggest personalized instant answers for your customers’ most common questions. The ecommerce AI lets you respond instantly to live chat queries using AI-generated responses. This helps you improve sales and customer satisfaction, while driving down operating costs.

Shopify Magic also automatically generates FAQ suggestions for your business based on previous customer chats. These take into account your store policies and conversation history. You can review and publish these using Shopify Inbox.

AI-Powered Review Summaries

Looking to save your customers the trouble of browsing through a long list of product reviews? Shopify has a feature for that too. The ecommerce AI can quickly encapsulate buyer reviews into a concise summary available at the top of the review section. Your customers can quickly review this to get a sense of buyer experiences, saving them time and helping you increase conversions. 

Shopify App Development

In addition to ecommerce AI features for site owners, Shopify has launched a wide range of features for Shopify app developers as well. There are over 8,500 apps on the Shopify app store, helping merchants to optimize checkout, increase upsells, enhance their themes, and more. With these new features, Shopify has made it easier for companies to develop and launch high-quality apps that improve the experience for site owners.

Improved Developer Onboarding 

A common issue for developers on newly launched Shopify stores is that they have no test data to work with when building an app. Now, Shopify allows you to create a development store populated with test data generated by the ecommerce AI.

Scalable App Bridge Built on Web Components

The App Bridge is a JavaScript SDK that allows your apps to communicate with the Shopify admin. It also lets you create interface elements, such as navigation menus and contextual save bars, that exist outside the app’s surface. By integrating directly into standard Web Platform APIs, it makes Shopify app development a whole lot easier for you.

Manage Shopify Flow Extensions from the CLI

You can now build in your own automations instead of relying on ecommerce AI. Shopify CLI’s functionality is being extended to include development for Shopify Flow. Building custom automations, such as triggers and actions is much easier, helping you run your store more efficiently.

Configure Apps With Code

You can now configure your apps locally using TOML instead of having to do it in the Shopify ecosystem. You only need to link the configured apps to those in your Partner Dashboard and take it live using the Shopify CLI.

Build Shopify Apps Using the New Remix Template

Shopify app development has received a definitive boost with the ability to create new apps using the Remix template. As you might expect, the template lets you leverage the Remix framework to deliver superior UX for your users.

Create Admin UI Extensions With Direct API Access

Admin extensions let you seamlessly integrate your app functionality with the Shopify admin. You can now use Shopify APIs to create action and block extensions that effortlessly blend in with the admin’s look and feel.

Build Extension-Only Custom Apps

Extension-only apps, as the name suggests, are custom apps made up entirely of extensions. They don’t have embedded app pages, but they come with a Shopify-generated app URL to list your app on the app store.

Simplified App Extension Deployment

Shopify now allows you to deploy your app extensions so that they’re versioned together. If your app was created after July 26, 2023, it automatically uses simplified (unified) deployment. If it was created before then, you can opt in to simplified deployment. Bear in mind that on September 5, 2023, all apps will automatically be set to simplified deployment.  

Metafields Perform Up to 4X Faster

Retrieving data from metafields has often been a challenge and likely to slow performance when syncing store data. However, you can now get Shopify’s metafields to perform up to four times faster using the GraphQL Admin API. 

Powerfully Extend Shopify’s Backend Logic

Shopify Functions enable developers to customize how Shopify’s backend works. Like a typical function, you can define the input, then write out the logic and the output. You can use this to create practically any function you can think of, from new payment customizations to checkout validations and delivery optimizations. It’s a great way to supplement the benefits of ecommerce AI for site owners. 

Improve App Uptake

Shopify’s new ‘Built for Shopify’ (BFS) label makes it easier for merchants to identify top-tier apps on the Shopify App Store. By clearing Shopify’s highest quality bar, you can earn the label for your app, ensuring increased downloads and trials for it. 

Shopify has also released more resources and guidance to help you achieve this label. This includes its updated App Design Guidelines and beta access to Polaris v12. 

Need to Speak With Shopify Experts? Consult Coalition

Coalition Technologies is a certified Shopify partner with a proven track record of building high-performing ecommerce websites across industries. We’ve built nearly 800 websites and generated over half a billion dollars in revenue for our clients globally. Whether you need to build a Shopify site from scratch or level up your existing one, we can help.

Reach out to us to schedule a personalized consultation for your business. Keep up with our blog for more updates on Shopify app development and ecommerce AI features. 

Stay tuned for parts three through six for a complete breakdown of everything new in Shopify’s Summer ‘23 Edition.