Shopify Unite - 2019 - Quick Updates for Shopify App Developers

Are you a Shopify App Developer? Were you at Shopify Unite 2019? If not don't worry, we have compiled the most exciting announcements for you.

Shopify is a leader in the commerce world and their community of Shopify Partners is second to none. The commerce world is constantly evolving and Shopify is always the first to update their technological features to ensure they empower their partners and merchants.

Shopify has always enabled independent entrepreneurs to unleash their potential through their accessible API which offers a variety of opportunities to app developers and merchants.

And guess what? There’s SO many new opportunities and features that have just been announced and we are so excited!

The opportunity ahead - is looking pretty golden

Shopify Unite attendees saw inspiring Shopify leaders take to the stage including Tobi Lütke - CEO Shopify, Harley Finkelstein - COO Shopify and Katie Cerar - Product Lead, Shopify Plus.

Motivational speakers such as Alex and Piers - CoFounders of We Make Websites (nobody does Shopify better) told their success story and Klevu (AI powered search), hosted a boat cruise for Shopify partners to attend, (what fun clients we have).

Here's what Shopify had to say pre event:

At Shopify Unite, developers and partners come together to celebrate shared accomplishments, forge new connections and, ignite the future of commerce technology…“Shopify is building for the long-term—a future of unprecedented opportunity that would not be possible without you, our valued partners.
Shopify

A new user interface and intuitive navigation

Enhancing the customer experience is easier than ever with Shopify’s new set of features. The new online store design offers merchants so much more control over the look and feel of their stores. Giving merchants the ability to create and fully customize their storefront to match their brand without any technical know-how.

Shopify has introduced things like new Sections on every page allowing merchants to easily edit and customize ANY of their site pages- not just the home-page. Their new feature for content portability means that merchants won’t need to manually transfer content from one theme to another when they fancy a spruce up of their site theme.

But where do you, as an app developer fit in? Read on to find out.

App sections

More importantly for app developers, Shopify are introducing brand new app sections giving merchants the option to add apps to their storefront with fewer limitations.

This shows that Shopify is listening to your needs. They have redesigned a few elements for their partners to enable a seamless integration of workflows and apps.

Developers can expect better accessibility, with full screen app extensions on the home screen, compatibility with all current apps, and a simpler design for a better app experience.
Shopify

what does this mean for you as an app developer? will you need to adapt?

Whilst merchants won't have access to updates until later in the year, developers can take a sneaky peek and explore these changes within the Section API in the Developer Preview. Check out Shopify’s super handy documentation and explore API changes in the Developer preview.

Multiple languages - is your app up to date?

Shopify understands how critical it is for ecommerce brands to appeal to a global market in order to scale and increase conversions. Excitingly, merchants can now forget about having to manually optimize their storefront for every region they want to sell to.

How? Shopify’s online store will now support different subdirectories in URLs (such as shop.ca and shop.fr) to support and offer the same shopping experience in multiple languages. Not forgetting that the URL will be correct for each region, meaning it will be easier to optimize for regional search engines. Plus, it will be culturally correct, unlike Google Translate.

But it is up to you to make sure your app is up to date and compliant with these new APIs.Read Shopify’s API documentation to stay compliant or risk losing sales.

Shopify admin is officially global

With clients all over the world developing apps for Shopify, this is, in our opinion, one of the best announcements from Shopify this year. The Shopify admin and Partner Dashboard is now even more accessible to entrepreneurial developers across the globe. With 11 new languages in the admin panel and a total of 10 languages in the Partner Dashboard- Shopify is unlocking global expertise.

Translated Shopify App Store

Similarly, Shopify recognises the need for app developers to scale globally and to engage with merchants all over the world.

As a result, Shopify has translated and localized the Shopify App Store’s homepage and navigation into 10 languages. THIS IS INCREDIBLE!

This is revolutionizing the Shopify ecosystem and once again, offering more opportunities for app developers (and merchants) around the planet to grow. Languages include English, French, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German, and Japanese.

Augmented reality check

Shopify love technology, and so do we. The announcement for a new Video and 3D feature is being introduced later this year and will see improvements in product interaction through AR technology, video and 3D imagery.

If you’re an app developer interested in media, Shopify’s new media API’s might appeal to you. It will allow developers to build an app which allows merchants to create and edit videos and images. The media API app extension is coming soon, so watch out for it. Check out the media API guide here.

POS cart extenion

Shopify’s Point Of Sale is a fantastic tool for merchants who are combining the offline and online experience and it is only going to get better.

With the new POS cart extension it means that loyalty schemes and promotional campaigns can be seen by the shopper directly in the cart. This makes it even easier (and faster) for shoppers to discover offers in one very crucial place- the checkout. If you are a POS app developer or you are thinking about becoming one- this is the best time!

The new functionality means POS app users will benefit from a more seamless experience and enhanced results from using the app both online and offline. Take a look at the technical documentation for further info.

Back office - new and improved

Improvement in back office functionality was on the agenda and there are some updates being rolled out over the summer. These include Fulfillment, Delivery profiles and Order editing API’s.

Fulfillment API

This API is in beta but it will soon (October 2019) allow app developers to offer their customers more control and visibility into order fulfillment such as:

  • Better communication between the app and merchant (so important)
  • Multi-location order fulfillment
  • Visibility of fulfillment process for merchants
  • The ability to decline a fulfillment request

Delivery profiles API

Coming to partners over the summer, the new Delivery Profiles API will soon help Shopify businesses to:

  • Optimize the customer checkout experience
  • More sales by setting per product shipping rules
  • More sales by setting per location shipping rules

Order editing APIs

That’s why Shopify merchants will soon be able to edit orders at the buyer’s request, both online and offline. This new features gives merchants a more flexible approach to shopping online- opening up huge capabilities in relation to buyer control, personalisation and customer relationship management.

Shopify’s new order editing feature will enable apps to add, remove, or replace items before the line item has been fulfilled, offering merchants more post-purchase flexibility and ensuring customers get exactly what they want.
Shopify

Developer tools

Shopify are renowned for caring about their partners and Developers, and for this very reason, announcements have been made for how Shopify plans to increase the power of their developers.

Shopify app bridge

We wanted to highlight The Shopify App bridge. The App Bridge provides tools for Shopify App Developers to improve building and debugging and it has seen some brand new improvements.

The Shopify App Bridge now uses Feature Detection which allows embedded apps to take advantage of hardware capabilities such as access to cameras. You’ll find more information here.

This is just a few of the announcements at Shopify Unite 2019! There is so much to look forward to and with improvements and updates happening fast it’s important to keep your content marketing strategy on point.

👉🏽 Want to learn more about how to attract and retain Shopify merchants? We have built a program specifically for you! For more details on the program lessons and 1-1 support, click here.

Or explore our services for Shopify developers, here.