Shopify has debuted more than 150 new products and enhancements as part of Shopify's Summer Edition, a comprehensive overhaul aimed at creating a faster, more resilient, and unified experience for merchants.

The enhancements span across Point of Sale (POS), AI, analytics, merchandising, and more. They are designed to streamline the commerce experience for both merchants and developers, with a focus on improving efficiency and user experience.

Among the updates are AI-powered tools that support content generation and assist merchants in quickly responding to customer queries. These features aim to enable smoother in-person transactions and enhance customer service.

Shopify has also evolved its Markets feature, which was formerly a cross-border selling solution, into a central command centre for growth and expansion. This evolution is part of Shopify's broader strategy to provide a unified commerce experience for its merchants.

New features specifically tailored for Australian merchants include a reimagined Markets, which allows merchants to sell internationally, expand into B2B and sell in person with Shopify POS, consolidated into one location in their admin.

A raft of AI enhancements have also been threaded through its platform, including the extension of AI image generation in Media Editor to everywhere in the Shopify admin plus mobile app. There's AI-powered product creation and Shopify Magic, which suggests personalised and intelligent recommendations for all product categories. This then assigns the right attributes to new products, such as colour, size, and style, to minimise listing errors.

Another new feature is suggested replies, which gives brands an ability to reply to online shoppers with real-time answers to their questions based on information specific to a merchant’s store. Additionally, POS updates such as automations and discounts have been introduced.

Shopify said it's also completely rebuilt its analytics to work smarter, faster, and more intuitively for merchants. This revamp is expected to provide merchants with more accurate and actionable insights, enabling them to make better-informed business decisions.

“The Summer ’24 Edition reflects our mission to create a unified commerce experience for our merchants," Shaun Broughton, Managing Director, APAC at Shopify, stated. "his unwavering belief in simplicity is what allows entrepreneurs and teams to expand into new markets, quickly pivot on up-to-the-minute data, and share new and exciting products, all without the costs and complexity that can so often hinder business growth.”

Shopify now sits behind 25% of online retail in Australia.