In 2021, Shopify announced the release of their new Online Store (OS) – Shopify 2.0, opening up fresh and innovative expectations for e-commerce businesses. So far, this latest version has been successful in offering an improved customer experience. Besides, now there’s a wider room for developers to enhance the website for sellers and shoppers.

Shopify has been in constant efforts to develop its commerce infrastructure for a very long time. It has generated above $120 billion of merchandise volume ever since it launched. This states how Shopify is being welcome by merchants and developers in creating an e-commerce revolution concerning sales and shoppers’ experience.

Shopify has always introduced new releases that can contribute considerably to better sales and more customer outreach. Shopify 2.0 is becoming a game-changer in so many different ways. Let’s explore the various features of the new OS!

What Are The Latest Features Of Shopify 2.0?

Shopify is a trusted platform when it comes to providing an online store experience. Numerous acclaimed brands have established their value through the revolutionary characteristics of Shopify. This is why Shopify made a huge investment in launching the upgraded version so that the platform becomes accessible to more sellers.

In a nutshell, Shopify 2.0 has enriched the user interface incredibly. There are more distinctive themes that are highly customizable to suit your storefront. Developers may hit cloud nine as more tools to incorporate branded content are now available. The new changes will let merchants scale their business to a larger audience with better customer retention rates.

So, how about understanding each of the new features in detail? Below are the top 5 stellar features that Shopify 2.0 offers amongst many. Let’s go through each of them elaborately!

1. Sections On All Pages

An online store must always have an organized structure with necessary segmentation. Only then the customers will find it easy to navigate through your website and choose their pick. Page sections are remarkable tools for adding various categories of data and content onto each page of a website. Sections may include text boxes, banner images, product thumbnails, etc.

With improved theme architecture, Shopify 2.0 will be able to welcome your audience with a great website layout. Earlier, only the home page was eligible to display flexible sections. But, now the improved version lets you add sections on all the pages of your website. 

This allows you to bring in more customizations to each element of your store. With Shopify sections, you can stack multiple images and text each one over the other. It also implies you can update your pages from time to time about trending topics and products. You can list more products under various categories and any additional services that your business is offering with so much ease and navigability.

2. Utilize Metafield Functions

Metadata is an essential factor in ranking your business higher on search engine result pages. Wondering what metafields are? These include any extra piece of information about the website which could be beneficial for your customers in finding your store. Earlier, the backend developers had to add separate codes on the product pages to access metafields. But, Shopify 2.0 has made an upheaval in this regard as well.

Now, the theme editor lets you add metafields where you can include all the additional details for the products, such as ingredients or compositional materials. It’s easier for developers as they needn’t spend time framing and incorporating the code into the website. 

The metafields presets are very flexible. There are standard metafields that make transitioning from one theme to another simpler. However, you can also add many other types of metafields which allows for themes to be easily customized by the merchant. 

3. Better App Integrations

To offer an exclusive experience, you might have to integrate other Shopify apps or third-party apps & extensions. Previously, embedding an app to the Shopify store involved specific settings and backend upgrades. 

This is because the basic Shopify store didn’t offer any provision for this. There used to exist the hurdle of restructuring such additions whenever the theme was changed; consistency across diverse themes was difficult.

However, Shopify 2.0 addresses these pain points of the merchants. You can now add app blocks to extend other apps into your personalized theme templates. You can take control of these apps; such as where they should be displayed on the website, the location of the page, and more. Configuring these apps also has become more direct with these innovative takes.

4. Faster Site Speed

A quickly loading site attracts more customers easily. As the load speed increases, there’s a better probability for your storefront to endure lesser bounce rates. Especially with Shopify, improving the site speed is a major milestone for better visibility and ranking.

Shopify 2.0 has enabled various app integrations and theme upgrades so that there are inbuilt functions that will boost the website’s speed. This is a beneficial alternative to relying on another external app through codes. Even the introduction of the fast-loading basic theme Dawn is a huge advantage for developers and merchants as it loads 35% faster than previous basic themes.

5. Access More Developer Tools

Shopify aims to bring the best out of its platform and hence, has introduced an entire package of the latest developer tools. These are primarily focused to assist in the process of integrating your business with Shopify.

As you know, Shopify has its very own coding language called ‘Liquid’. Since theme architecture is of utmost priority under Shopify 2.0, there are options to develop and test new local themes. Some of the tools consist of Github Integration, Shopify CLI, Theme Check, etc. All of these tools assist in theme development, testing of themes, fixing issues with these codes, and much more.

Shopify has announced the major changes regarding store check-out also. Before, only merchants enjoyed the advantage of adding checkout apps to their stores. However, now even non-merchants and non-plus members can integrate third-party check-out apps. Yet, app customization is still available only for Plus merchants.

More New Features Under Shopify 2.0

Besides the above ones, there are more advanced elements that Shopify 2.0 provides for merchants and developers. 

A lot of new themes have been introduced which are more flexible and have customizable blocks. The elementary theme under Shopify 2.0 is Dawn which acts as a reference for developers to create more themes. Impulse, Venue, etc. are a few of the other new themes introduced in the new Shopify OS.

The theme editor has been upgraded remarkably. Developers can freely add liquid codes through the theme editor. Instead of searching through the lengthy page, the new feature of adding sections has enhanced the user interface. 

You can now customize themes very easily to obtain local themes that make your storefront appealing and unique. The new theme structures support multiple languages and more payment methods. This is a great way to make your store more inclusive and accessible to a wider audience.

Migrate To Shopify 2.0 Today To Get A Flexible Store Setup

Shopify 2.0 is going to be a game-changer in improving e-commerce with such a wide range of features. Along with improving your store performance, it will let you showcase a storefront that adheres to your goals and objectives without the hassles of code creation externally.

If you’re planning to upgrade your online store with the latest Shopify version, it would be the right choice. Get the best e-commerce services from Three Acres and simplify the process of migrating your store to Shopify 2.0. Our experts are proactive in customizing your storefront according to your specific requirements. Happy selling with Shopify 2.0!