Shopify just released its Winter 24' Edition, a release of major additions and features to the Shopify platform. The features that Shopify releases are meant to help brands improve their e-commerce operations and marketing. You should read the complete release information here to see how their updates could impact your brand.

We've compiled a list of the most critical features for marketers and outlined how you can take advantage of the new features.

• Rich Attributes
• Shopify Subscriptions
• Shopify Bundles
• Shopify Discounts
• Shopify Checkouts
• Storefront Performance
• Shopify Markets Pro
• Shopify Audiences
• Shopify Collabs
• Marketing Reports

Rich Attributes

• What is it? Shopify has added additional attributes to the product category that can then be attributed to the product. The update should make it easier for merchants to create, classify, and organize products.
• Why is it important? As marketers rely more heavily on AI in places like Meta's Advantage+ and Google's Performance Max, the more data passed to the platforms, the more effective they can be. Improving the internal taxonomy on Shopify means that brands are more likely to be able to add meaningful data to their products and product variants, further improving the results they see in the ad channels.

Shopify Subscriptions

• What is it? Shopify has fully released its Shopify Subscriptions app, allowing brands to sell products on a subscription basis easily. Customers can easily modify or skip subscriptions directly from their accounts.
• Why is it important? As customer acquisition costs continue to rise in 2024, brands are trying to find new ways to improve average order value (AOV) and lifetime value (LTV). Subscriptions are an excellent option for increasing customers' LTV and customer loyalty.

Shopify Bundles

• What is it? Shopify had previously launched a bundling functionality to allow brands to bundle together products for sale easily.
• Why is it important? Bundling products together is crucial for improving a brand's average order value. Consumers want help understanding products that should go together, and brands want a way of incentivizing larger baskets without a straightforward discount.

Shopify Discounts

• What is it? The team at Shopify has released three new discount types. Brands will now be able to create a discount to offer "buy x get y," "amount off," or "free shipping." These discounts can be offered through a code or applied automatically.
• Why is it important? Discounts are an important tactic for improving a brand's revenue and improving conversion rate in the short term. Giving brands additional discount constructs allows them to be more creative with their offers and a/b test effectiveness for their audiences.

Shopify Checkout

• What is it? The Shopify checkout has always been intuitive, but the platform has decided to improve it further by launching a single-page checkout flow. The checkout now is faster to complete and loads faster than before.
• Why is it important? Simplifying the checkout process, speeding it up, and improving the load time will directly improve conversion rate and cart completion for merchants across the board. Increasing conversion rates should also help brands see more effective results from their advertising.

Storefront Performance

• What is it? Brands can now access their web performance on the Shopify dashboard. The data will highlight site speed across three Core Web Vitals, allowing marketers to monitor their website performance and speed.
• Why is it important? Google has stated that they regularly take site speed into account for search rankings. Ensuring a fast-loading website increases your Google search rankings and improves your website conversion rate.

Shopify Markets Pro

• What is it? Shopify Markets allows brands to easily create a global business by enabling new localization tools and automation. The tools simplify the process and alleviate the complexity of building a global business.  
• Why is it important? Introducing a brand to new markets can allow for additional growth and revenue. Reaching a global audience previously required significant operational overhead, but Shopify has simplified this process and allowed younger brands the opportunity to expand into new markets more easily.

Shopify Audiences

• What is it? Shopify had previously released Shopify Audiences, allowing brands to create audiences using their website's Shopify data. The platform has since introduced a more intelligent algorithm, which should improve campaign performance and increase audience size.  
• Why is it important? As brands lose the ability to easily target audiences due to privacy policies, the need for new audience targets and first-party data continues to grow. Shopify audiences are a great way to reach high-value audiences on key ad platforms like Meta and Google.

Shopify Collabs

• What is it? Shopify Collabs has been updated to allow brands to more easily discover creators across social platforms. Shopify has also improved the process for monitoring and paying commissions.
• Why is it important? Content creators continue to be an important part of the creative ecosystem for brands. Simplifying the process for managing collaborations means that brands are more likely to engage with creators and improve their brand reach.

Marketing Reports

• What is it? Shopify is upgrading its marketing reports. The platform will be adding the ability to report on the predicted value of customer cohorts.
• Why is it important? Understanding which cohorts drive the highest LTV can help brands focus their marketing on acquiring high-value customers. Brands can also use the report to improve retention efforts and optimize over time.

TL;DR

The Shopify Winter '24 Edition introduces significant platform enhancements, including features like Rich Attributes, Subscriptions, Shopify Audiences, and Bundles to boost e-commerce operations and marketing.

These updates will greatly impact brands, helping them increase marketing efficiency, reach, and competitiveness, especially as customer acquisition costs increase and markets become more competitive.