One of the leading online store platforms, Shopify, has ever-increasing success, well, thanks to the growing demand for online selling. In fact, in 2020 data has indicated that more than 450 million people bought from a Shopify store. The platform is only getting bigger and it continues to meet the demands of its customers, constantly introducing new and exciting features that aim to optimize the selling experience for merchants. These new features make the platform more flexible, faster, and user-friendly, which gives more advantages to store owners. 

If you’re a Shopify user or a store owner, you’ve probably heard about Shopify 2.0 or Online Store 2.0. It was announced at Shopify United (Shopify’s Conference) on the 29th of June, 2021 that Shopify 2.0 would introduce a host of new features that will be welcomed by both developers and Shopify store owners.

So, what are the new features of Shopify?

1. Upgraded theme architecture

The current upgrade in theme architecture for the online store provides easier and more customization options for merchants. Merchants can now add sections to all pages, not just the home page, which we think is the best new feature, unlocking a range of new opportunities to personalize every aspect of a store. 

2. Flexible store content

Merchants can now add metafield and properties without the use of APIs or code.  What does it mean? Merchants will be able to add exactly the content they need to the product page and the developers don’t need to hardcode.  Anything that is unlikely to appear in the core store editor can now be added in via metafields. On the developer side, it was revamped in three key ways: more flexible, standard metafields which makes it much simpler, and presentation hints which make it more user-friendly to merchants with lesser custom codes. 

3. Enhancements to the theme editor

A new Liquid input setting has been added to the theme editor, allowing merchants to add custom Liquid code to pages directly from the editor. The Liquid setting is similar to the HTML setting type in that it allows merchants to access Liquid variables, allowing them to access global and template-specific Liquid objects.

These changes make it easy for merchants to work with the new capabilities of Online Store 2.0 and make decisions about their online store without having to consult a developer, letting you focus on developing innovative integrations and solutions.

4. New Developer Tools

In addition to the Shopify GitHub integration, an updated Shopify CLI tool, and Theme Check, you'll be able to develop themes in a more robust way with version control, a better sandboxed environment to develop themes locally, and a streamlined development process with a Shopify-specific real-time linter.

5. A new reference theme

6. The Shopify Theme Store reopening

The Shopify Theme Store has been closed since 2018. Now that millions of merchants are utilizing Shopify to run their businesses, it's time to create themes for these worldwide business owners. This is a great opportunity for theme developers!

Updating your themes and apps

For maximum benefits, you should consider migrating your themes and apps as soon as possible to the new requirements of Online Store 2.0, especially as merchants have grown to demand the Online Store 2.0's scalability.

What are the advantages it offers to store owners?

• Higher speeds
• More flexibility to change the content of an online store 
• The ability to construct new pages with complex designs without the help of a developer.
• The new block will be available in all stores when a developer is hired to design a new section, ensuring that the investment will be long-term. 
• Making changes to the theme on all pages is simpler. 
• Apps that are more easily integrated 
• Ability to change the portion of the check-out page 
• Metafields are natively integrated 
• The number of apps, themes, and services available will continue to expand at a rapid pace.

Now that there’s version 2.0, what happens to stores built in the previous version?

There should be no changes in your store, except for the theme editing interface. Any Shopify 1.0 stores will continue to function normally, and there should be no noticeable changes.