Inside Commerce is the first podcast to talk you through what the latest Shopify release means for ecommerce stores. James discusses the relevance of key new features and upgrades with Ben Homer, Senior Solutions Engineer, pulling apart the benefits and implications for merchants.
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Shopify Editions always attracts lots of attention. Following an embargo in the partner community of the pre-release information, there’s a frenzy of LinkedIn posts sharing the key features updates. Our podcast goes deeper, sifting through the 100+ updates to focus on the strategic pillars that are most relevant, and what the feature improvements mean for ecommerce teams.
We focus on four key strategic areas:
- The new Horizon theme suite
- Architectural development in Markets for International commerce
- POS (Point Of Sale)
- Sidekick AI Assistant
James Gurd and Ben Homer focus on the strategic implications of new features and discuss what Shopify’s ‘declarative commerce’ positioning means in terms of product focus.
The new Horizon theming is covered, exploring how flexibility for content management is the main focus, enabling business user to do more before they need development resource. This includes AI block generation, block copying and block nesting.
For Markets, James & Ben discuss how the latest improvements aim to empower merchants, streamline internationalisation, and simplify multi-store management, ultimately enhancing the ecommerce experience.
Ben Homer from Shopify explains the reasoning behind new enhancements in Shopify’s offering, focusing on B2B capabilities, point of sale systems, and the integration of generative AI to improve business efficiency. The dialogue emphasises the importance of localisation in markets, the user experience in retail environments, and the potential of AI tools like Sidekick to streamline operations and data management. Additionally, the conversation touches on the next generation of developer platforms and the operational efficiencies they bring to ecommerce businesses.
Key takeaways:
- Declarative Commerce is a vision for the evolution in how users interact with software.
- AI capabilities are integral to ecommerce solutions – it’s now an expectation.
- Shopify’s UI overhaul aims to make the platform more intuitive and user-friendly.
- The Horizon theme offers a modern foundation for Shopify stores.
- AI block generation allows for rapid content creation.
- Merchants have options for upgrading without forced changes.
- Markets and multi-entity capabilities simplify multi-store management
- B2B capabilities now allow for better localisation across different markets.
- The new POS features improve customer interactions and operational flexibility.
- Generative AI tools like Sidekick are designed to enhance productivity.
- Sidekick can assist in data analysis and reporting, saving time for users.
- Continuous improvements in Shopify’s platform are aimed at empowering users.
Chapters:
- [00:00] Introduction to Shopify Editions Summer 2025
- [02:46] What does Declarative Commerce really mean?
- [06:11] Horizon Theme and AI Block Generation
- [09:06] Enhancing Content Management with Block Copying & Nested Blocks
- [14:56] Options for Merchants: Upgrading to New Functionality
- [18:00] Markets: Simplifying Internationalisation
- [21:10] Multi-Store Management and Inheritance Features
- [23:14] Shopify’s Philosophy on Software Development
- [24:21] B2B Capabilities and Market Localisation
- [26:26] Enhancements in Point of Sale (POS) Systems
- [31:09] The Role of Generative AI in Business Efficiency
- [41:40] Next Generation Developer Platform and Operational Efficiency
Want to suggest a topic or guest for a future episode? Contact us via the website or on LinkedIn.