How Shopify Store 2.0 Transforms Online Store Design

Are you a marketplace seller looking to expand your business? Do you want to scale your small business to a larger one and move towards an online store? Traditionally, businesses had geographical boundaries for selling and buying products. Now, with e-commerce, these boundaries have disappeared, allowing merchants and shoppers to engage globally. Shopify is the leading e-commerce platform, and during its Shopify Unite event on June 29, 2021, Shopify Store 2.0 was announced.

In this article, we introduce Shopify Store 2.0, its key features, Shopify theme development, and the pros and cons of Shopify Store 2.0.

Shopify Store 2.0: Key Features

Shopify Store 2.0 offers new features, themes, and developer tools beneficial for both merchants and shoppers. Shopify has been redesigned with three main areas of focus: theme and online editors, store content, and developer tools. With this new store, everyone gets the option to create, customize, scale, and monetize on Shopify.

Upgraded Theme Architecture

The updated theme architecture allows for more straightforward and adaptable customization options. Previously, merchants were restricted in how they could represent their business online, with section flexibility limited to the home page. Now, merchants can add sections not only to the home page but also to every page of their Shopify store. This means they can add, remove, and rearrange sections throughout the website.

App Modularity

With app modularity, developers can add and remove user interface components using the theme editor without touching the theme code. Shopify Store 2.0’s simple-to-use interface allows you to manage, work with, and host apps supporting resources for your app.

Theme Editor

The theme editor allows merchants to add metafields and properties without the need for APIs or any coding. You can add any content to the product page, including additional information useful for potential buyers. Metafields support various media types like images or PDF files. The metafield file picker allows users to upload and select media for product pages.

Theme ‘Dawn’

‘Dawn’ is the first open-source reference theme. It utilizes Shopify Store 2.0 features, offering better performance, new cart capabilities, more accessibility, full customization, and the inclusion of sections and app blocks. This theme loads 35% faster than other popular themes.

Better Checkout Experience

Shopify Store 2.0 provides a better checkout experience that is quicker and allows any store to handle a large number of transactions per minute. These checkout modifications work with Shop Pay. Additionally, the ‘buy now, pay later’ option enhances the buying experience, enabling shoppers to pay less upfront while increasing conversions and average order values for merchants.

New Developer Tools

Shopify Store 2.0 introduces new features for building apps and themes. New developer tools include Shopify GitHub integration, the Shopify CLI tool, and Theme Check.

File API

The File API, updated in version 2021-07, allows for creating, updating, and deleting generic files. This API enables merchants to use different files for different apps, and developers can access settings or files through the new File API. The GraphQL API simplifies the process of transferring or selecting existing media records through settings or files.

Benefits of Shopify Store 2.0

• Enhanced Customization: Sections can be added to any part of the online store, not just the home page.
• Improved Performance: The ‘Dawn’ theme loads 35% faster than other themes.
• Simplified App Integration: Easily integrate and manage apps.
• Advanced Developer Tools: Utilize new tools for building and managing apps and themes.
• Better User Experience: Improved checkout process and support for multiple payment options.
• Greater Flexibility: Ability to add unique product information using metafields.

Challenges of Shopify Store 2.0

• Limited Free Themes: Only the ‘Dawn’ theme is available for free.
• Compatibility Issues: Stores designed on older versions may not run on the new version without specific coding adjustments.

Shopify Theme Development

Shopify themes are templates that merchants use for their e-commerce stores. ‘Dawn’ is an example of a Shopify theme. When working with Shopify Store 2.0, use Shopify CLI for theme development. Shopify CLI is open-source and can be used with Shopify GitHub integration to add version control to the themes you are developing. This integration allows users to connect their GitHub account with their Shopify login and manage Git repositories from the Shopify admin. This helps track changes in theme code and collaborate with other developers in real time.

Basic Steps in Shopify Theme Development

1. Install Shopify CLI on macOS or Windows.
2. Initialize a new theme using ‘Dawn’, which is easy to use.
3. Authenticate with Shopify CLI.
4. Preview your theme.
5. Push your theme to a new GitHub repository.
6. Install Shopify GitHub integration and connect your branch to your store.
7. Test your connection.
8. Publish your theme.

Pros and Cons of Shopify Store 2.0

Pros

• Adds sections to any part of the online store.
• Offers a variety of themes and designs.
• Easy theme changes on all pages.
• Convenient app integration.
• Ability to create new pages with new designs with less developer support.
• Customizable checkout section.
• Native integration of metafields.

Cons

• Only one free theme available (‘Dawn’).
• Stores designed on the old version may require specific coding to run on the new version.

Conclusion

Shopify Store 2.0 provides merchants with more control and flexibility to achieve more on the e-commerce platform. With the new online store, anyone can develop, configure, scale, and monetize their own Shopify business.

If you’re ready to move towards an online store, Shopivogue is here to help. If you’re looking for developers to design a stunning online store, Shopivogue’s developer team is at your service. Shopivogue has set a milestone in Shopify e-commerce store development. Our expert team accepts orders based on customer demands, designs stores accordingly, provides suggestions if necessary, and delivers a fully functional online store.