Shopify , a provider of internet infrastructure for commerce, has unveiled the Boring Edition – which focuses less on flashy new releases and more on improvements to existing products. Including 150+ updated features, this release responds to merchant feedback, helping retailers run their businesses even smoother than before.
Winter ’25 boring edition is all about honing in on perfecting existing features, and redefining the meaning of “boring”. The upgrades include features that allow customers to manage all aspects of their orders and returns, more automations for marketing, and operational workflows, optimising cart infrastructure to boost load speeds by up to 50% and more.
This includes features to improve the omnichannel shopping experience – from online to in-person selling – as POS sales made by Shopify merchants in Australia have grown by 29% since Black Friday last year. Updates like bundling through Shopify POS, split-screen search views, and customisable channels offer a more personalised experience for retailers.
“The Winter ’25 Edition is a testament to our ongoing commitment to perfecting our craft and delivering the best features for our retailers,” said Shaun Broughton, Managing Director, APAC at Shopify. “Rather than overcomplicating things, we’ve focused on refining our core features. We’re constantly evaluating our offering and listening to feedback from our merchants to provide the updates they truly need. Ultimately, the success of our retailers is our success, and we’re dedicated to helping them thrive.”
More control for customer account experiences
- Seamless order and return management: Allows customers to manage all aspects of their orders and returns within a unified account via a passwordless login.
- Better customer relationships: Merchants can gather feedback using apps like Zigpoll, storing it in a single customer record for better engagement.
- Personalise the customer experience: Build personalised experiences directly into customer account pages in minutes with no code. The result: a seamless, branded experience that removes friction and drives sales.
- B2B functionality: While Shopify has a host of out-of-the-box B2B features, a seamless B2B customer account experience was a challenge—until now. With Customer Account Extensions, merchants can easily build a tailored experience for their wholesale customers, with self-serve functionality for quotes, invoicing, bulk ordering, and even B2B storefronts.
Improved workflow to avoid repetitive tasks
Shopify Flow lets merchants set up custom workflows to avoid repetitive tasks for inventory management, loyalty programs, and discounts. Here are a few things that now work better:
- Returns and exchanges: Automate more of the returns workflow with new triggers and actions specifically designed for managing returns, and even canceling returns if products are not sent back.
- Marketing automations: Marketing templates in Shopify Flow are now easily accessible in the Flow library, meaning merchants can quickly set up campaigns like abandoned cart or welcome emails using our templates.
- Segment triggers: Merchants can now automate operational workflows and key marketing moments based on when a customer joins or leaves a segment.
Personalised Shopify Checkout
Optimised cart infrastructure to boost load speeds by up to 50%, Checkout Blocks available to all plans for customised thank you pages, and integrated chat apps into the checkout. We’re also improving draft orders by enhancing features such as:
- Checkout customisations: Merchants who require customisations in their draft order checkouts can now upgrade to Checkout Extensions.
- Bundle options for B2B: When dealing with Bundle orders, merchants can customise product assortments and purchasing options that match buyers’ needs, regardless of how they check out.
- Functions support: Checkout rules and payment and delivery customisations powered by Shopify Functions can now be executed in draft orders.
Smoother in-person selling with upgrades to Shopify POS
The future of commerce is offline as much as online. Over the most recent Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend, we saw Shopify POS sales grow 29%. Some of our latest POS updates include:
- Shopify POS for Bundles: Merchants can now manage and sell bundles directly through Shopify POS.
- Split screen selling: POS search results now display via a split screen view so results are always visible alongside the cart.
- Metafields in POS: Retail offers one of the most personalised channels for merchants to capture customer data. Now, metafields are available through POS, leveraging first-party data to create more relevant and efficient marketing communications. Example: A pet store staff asks customers in the store what sort of pet they have and can create a metafield for “animal type” in that customer’s profile.
More delivery settings for more fulfillments
Fulfillment and delivery settings are now applied across more Shopify order sources, including:
- Third party channels such as Facebook and Amazon
- Draft order invoices
- Subscription orders
- Order editing
Previously, the rules and settings that merchants set up to control order routing were only applied to online checkout orders. Now, merchants only need to set their fulfillment logic once, saving time, preventing overselling, and reducing the scope for errors.