4 Shopify Winter ‘23 Checkout Updates That Can Change The Game For Your Online Store

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is." 

Navigating eCommerce may not be on the same scale as navigating space, but the sheer customizations opened up by Shopify’s Winter '23 updates can definitely have you reeling.

Before we jump into it, let's take a step back to acknowledge the capabilities of Shopify’s last round of updates for checkout UI extensions. With checkout extensions, you could earlier:

Display Custom Banners

You know that feeling when you're shopping online, and you find the perfect product but then realize that the store doesn't ship to PO boxes? With UI extensions, you can display custom banners or messages, like a note that the store doesn't ship PO boxes. 

It’s a great way to keep your customers informed right when they’re paying attention.

Add Custom Fields

Checkout extensions allow you to collect additional information like gift messages or delivery instructions. Developers can add fields, personalizing the checkout process and making it convenient for customers.

Upsell/Cross-Sell Products

Who doesn't love a good deal? Shopify UI extensions allow promotions and product offers like upsells, free samples, and donations right on the checkout screen. 

This is a great way to boost sales and enhance the overall shopping experience for customers.

Okay, we’ve covered what you could do so far. Let’s talk about what you can do next!

Supercharged Features from Shopify’s Checkout APIs

Let’s get started.

1. Discount code & gift card APIs

With the new Discount Code and Gift Card APIs, brands can let buyers redeem both rights at the checkout and get instant confirmation that the offer has been applied to their purchase.

These APIs also open up a whole new world of possibilities for loyalty and marketing apps. 

By enhancing the customer experience and making it easier to apply discounts, these updates are giving businesses even more opportunities to grow and thrive.

2. Session Token API

Now let’s move on to another interesting update - the Session Token API. 

Think of a session token in an API like a secret handshake that lets you access and continue working with the same data. This particular character string makes sure you're dealing with the right session.

The Session Token API allows developers to make authenticated network calls, which are requests made by the extension to communicate with external servers, APIs, or services. These calls are necessary to fetch or send data, apply discounts, or interact with other apps and services integrated with the online store. 

For example, a checkout extension might need to make a network call to an external service to validate a discount code, retrieve shipping rates, or get information about a customer's loyalty points.

Using the Session Token API to make secure and authenticated network calls, you can create more efficient customizations for the checkout process. This new update ensures that your online store's checkout is safe and runs smoothly, making both customers and store owners happy.

3. Querying the Storefront API

With the latest update, Shopify has simplified the process of using Storefront APIs, and you can now directly query the Storefront API from within the checkout UI extensions. 

In the past, developers had to rely on making requests to external servers, which then communicated with the Storefront API, and this added extra steps and complexity to the process. The latest update makes it easier and more efficient for developers to access the Storefront API. 

This leads to greater flexibility, more powerful app integrations, and a smoother overall experience for developers and customers, like showing targeted products based on interests, neatly organizing items into groups, or even converting prices into different currencies.

The best part? Shopify handles the access tokens, so you only need to provide the query.

4. Editor Preview API

Imagine this - you're creating a cool checkout extension and want to make sure that it looks great for the store owners. To serve this purpose, Shopify recently launched a new property for the Checkout UI Extensions API called checkout.editor.

This property can detect whether your checkout extension is being displayed within the checkout editor tool (where store owners can make changes and preview the extension) or in an actual checkout process (when a customer completes a purchase in the store).

By knowing this, your checkout extension can adapt its behavior and appearance to provide the best user experience, whether it's for the store owner who is customizing the extension or for the customer who is using the actual checkout to complete a purchase. 

I’m excited about the potential of these new updates and how they’re going to impact businesses in the months to come. But wait, there's more! 

My team handpicked our favorite 6 updates from Shopify that are game-changers. 

Curious to find out what they are? 

Click here to visit that post and join us in celebrating Shopify's continuous evolution!