A New Horizon: Shopify’s Summer 25 Editions is Here

One of Shopify’s biggest strengths as a platform is the constant investment into R&D and the continuous updates Shopify offers its users free of charge. By platforming on Shopify, organizations can ride the wave of the industry’s innovation; whatever updates, enhancements, or capabilities Shopify releases, organizations have access to.  

Shopify’s new Summer Editions 2025 is titled “Horizon,” and introduces over 150 updates that enhance design flexibility, utilize AI integration, and empower global commerce capabilities. Here’s an overview of key changes and new features: 

Design & Storefront Innovation 

Horizon Theme Framework 

The new theme framework makes updating and customizing storefront themes easier than ever before. Drag-and-drop and theme and content blocks mean business users can customize the end-user experience without involving developers or IT.   

• 10 New Preset Themes: Optimized for conversions and mobile responsiveness. 
• AI Block Generation: Describe desired features (e.g., “holiday sale banner”), and AI creates custom content blocks. 
• Drag-and-Drop Theme Blocks: Easily rearrange layouts without coding. 
• Enhanced Theme Editor: Features hover-to-preview, predictive search, and conditional settings for streamlined customization. 

AI Store Builder 

• Quick Store Setup: Input your brand description, and AI generates three complete store layouts with images and copy.
• Ideal for Rapid Launches: Facilitates quick setup for new stores or seasonal campaigns. 

AI & Automation 

Shopify is integrating AI agents and support into their storefronts. These agents provide analytic analysis like an ability to identify sales trends, support 20 languages, offer voice integration, and utilize AI shopping agents that take into account user’s browsing and purchase habits to recommend products they’re likely to be interested in.  

Sidekick AI Assistant Enhancements 

• Multi-Step Reasoning: Analyzes complex queries, such as identifying sales dips. 
• Visual Generation: Create images within the admin using simple prompts. 
• Expanded Language Support: Now supports 20 languages. 
• Mobile & Voice Integration: Available on mobile with voice chat and screen-sharing capabilities.(Avada) 

AI Shopping Agents 

• Shopify Catalog: Enables integration with AI shopping platforms like Perplexity, allowing products to be discovered through conversational AI.(Shopify) 
• Knowledge Base App: Automatically generates AI-readable FAQs based on store policies, enhancing customer interactions.(Shopify) 
• Storefront MCP: Allows developers to build AI agents that can make tailored product recommendations and guide shoppers to checkout.(Shopify) 

Global Commerce & B2B Enhancements 

Expanding internationally is easier now thanks to Shopify Markets allowing multiple international business entities to be managed from a single store as well as more B2B third-party apps being added to the Shopify App store.  

Shopify Markets Updates 

• Multi-Entity Management: Manage multiple business entities within a single store, streamlining global operations. 
• B2B Workflow Support: Customize product catalogs and pricing by currency or market, crucial for international wholesale. 
• NetSuite Integration: Improved connector enhances data synchronization accuracy. 
• Expanded App Ecosystem: More third-party apps, including QuickBooks, now compatible with B2B stores. 

Checkout & Shipping Improvements 

• Flat Rate Shipping for Multi-Location Orders: Charge a single flat shipping rate when items ship from multiple locations. 
• Editable Thank You & Order Status Pages: Customize post-purchase pages for a more personalized customer experience. 
• Enhanced Apple Pay Integration: Apple Pay now available directly in checkout payment options, improving conversion rates. 

Point-of-Sale (POS) System Upgrades 

The customer experience is improved by a faster and more capable Shopify POS system, unifying a business’s revenue streams to a single touchpoint.  

Shopify POS Version 10 

• Redesigned Interface: Faster navigation and smarter search capabilities. 
• Custom Branding: Brand customer display screens with your logo, colors, and media. 
• Mixed Fulfillment Orders: Process in-store purchases and ship items in a single transaction. 
• Store Credit Integration: Issue refunds as store credit directly in the admin. 
• Device-Level Payment Settings: Customize payment processing per location. 

Developer Tools & Platform Enhancements 

While not as flashy, Shopify is also building out and improving the developer experience on their platform so engineers can be working on the next development that will change commerce.  

Next-Gen Developer Platform 

• Local Development Support: Build and test apps without deploying, using localhost. 
• Declarative Custom Data Definitions: Shopify automatically manages your app’s metafields and metobjects in every store it’s installed in. 
• Direct API Access for POS: Quickly build POS extensions with direct access to Shopify data. 
• Polaris Unified UI Components: Build Shopify apps and extensions across admin, checkout, and customer accounts with a single, standardized UI system. 

Shopify Flow Enhancements 

• Sample Data for Flow Variables: Build automations faster with real sample data for each variable. 
• Detailed Flow Troubleshooting: Better troubleshooting with detailed step data and retained logs for 14 days. 
• Enhanced “For Each” in Flow: Improve list handling with a more flexible loop that allows nested loops and multiple actions. 

Operational Efficiencies 

• Refund to Store Credit: Issue refunds as store credit directly in the admin, regardless of the original payment method. 
• Edit Subscription Orders: Modify orders that contain subscriptions and pre-orders before shipping. 
• Import Data from More Platforms: Easily import products, customers, and inventory from platforms like Square, WooCommerce, Etsy, Wix, Amazon, eBay, Clover, and Lightspeed. 
• Confirm Returns to Update Reporting: Ensure sales reports and taxes are only updated after confirming the return with a new processing step. 

Strategic Implications for Enterprise Merchants 

Here are some implications and outcomes of these updates and enhancements for enterprise merchants:  

• Accelerated Global Expansion: Enhanced Shopify Markets and B2B support streamline international operations. 
• Operational Efficiency: AI-driven tools like Sidekick and the AI Store Builder reduce time spent on routine tasks. 
• Enhanced Customer Experience: Improvements in POS and checkout processes lead to a more seamless customer journey. 
• Developer Empowerment: New tools and APIs facilitate faster and more flexible app development. 

These updates continue Shopify’s cementing as a platform for enterprise merchants that also offers tools that maintain ease of use without limiting or losing complexity capability.