Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) has rolled out its Summer ’25 Edition, featuring over 150 enhancements designed to help merchants create better shopping experiences with greater ease and creativity. These updates span the entire platform, aiming to reduce technical hurdles and free up merchants to focus more on building their brands.
A highlight of the release is Horizon, a versatile new theme framework that balances aesthetics with customization. Merchants can quickly build visually stunning storefronts using pre-made designs or craft their own from the ground up. The innovative Theme Blocks let users design and tailor their shops effortlessly, no coding required. Additionally, an integrated AI tool generates personalized content blocks based on merchant descriptions, enabling unique, customized shop layouts.
Another standout feature is the AI Store Builder, which generates tailored shop designs simply by describing the brand. This tool benefits both new entrepreneurs and established businesses by accelerating the setup process and allowing users to concentrate on fine-tuning their store rather than starting blank. Ben Attwood, founder of Clubhouse Skin, noted that Horizon would have saved him significant time and resources during his brand’s launch.
Shopify also revamped its Point of Sale (POS) app for enhanced speed, responsiveness, and brand consistency. The updated app offers smoother navigation, smarter search capabilities, and a convenient “ship and carry out” option. The new Display Editor lets merchants position logos and brand colors precisely, while Tap to Pay transforms smartphones into mobile payment terminals.
The Shop app has been transformed into a dynamic, personalized discovery platform, featuring a real-time adaptive feed that responds to shoppers’ browsing and search behavior. Shoppers can now build, share, and collaborate on collections, while product variants are showcased as visual swatches, mirroring the look of the online store.
To support global expansion, Shopify now allows merchants to manage sales from multiple business entities within a single store dashboard, simplifying administration of complex legal and organizational structures. Shopify Payments has also expanded into new regions, including Mexico and 15 European countries.
Responding to growing demand for AI-powered shopping assistants, Shopify introduced the Knowledge Base app, giving merchants control over the exact information shared with AI agents answering customer queries about their store.
The Sidekick feature has been enhanced to tackle more sophisticated challenges by integrating additional data sources and providing deeper insights. It now supports 20 languages and accepts voice or chat inputs. Klavs Steenhof, digital lead at INTERSPORT Group, praised Sidekick’s upgraded capabilities in managing inventory and believes businesses that fully embrace AI will gain a competitive edge.
Overall, Shopify’s Summer ’25 Edition aims to make entrepreneurship faster, easier, and more innovative for merchants of all sizes.