Shopify’s game-changing updates

In 2023, Shopify focused on delivering game-changing updates that empowered merchants of all sizes to thrive in the competitive world of e-commerce. These updates aimed to streamline operations, boost performance, and leverage AI for enhanced productivity. Ultimately, they allowed merchants to focus on what matters most: connecting with customers and driving sales.

Let’s take a closer look at some of Shopify’s key updates introduced last year.

• Better Performance
  • Faster loading times
  • Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) success
  • Optimized duties calculations
  • Accelerated product serialization
  • Code cleanup
  • AI-powered efficiency
  • Improved observe query performance
• Harnessing AI for Enhanced Productivity
  • Data-driven decision-making
  • Faster coding
  • Smarter support
• Handling Black Friday with unwavering Reliability
• Conclusion

Better Performance

At the heart of Shopify’s 2023 updates lay a focus on streamlining operations, ensuring that merchants could manage their stores with greater ease and efficiency. Key highlights included.

Faster loading times

From Admin pages to checkout to Storefront API queries, Shopify prioritized speed across the platform. By streamlining code and leveraging AI, they achieved dramatic improvements, like reducing Admin search results load time by 7x and serializing product variants 200x faster.

Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) success

During the crucial shopping season, Shopify’s infrastructure handled 145 billion requests and $4.1 billion in Gross Merchandise Value, demonstrating its reliability with 99.999+% uptime.

Optimized duties calculations

Cross-border commerce has become increasingly prevalent, and Shopify recognized the need for efficient duties calculations. In 2023, Shopify implemented significant improvements in duties calculations, ensuring a seamless checkout experience for international customers and reducing merchant burden.

Accelerated product serialization

Serialization involves assigning unique IDs to product variants, a crucial process for managing complex product catalogs. To address this bottleneck, Shopify made significant performance enhancements, accelerating serialization by 200x. 

Code cleanup

Millions of lines of unnecessary code were removed, simplifying the platform and improving the developer experience. CI feedback loop speed rose by 20x, and memory usage in key background processes shrank significantly.

AI-powered efficiency

Tools like GitHub Copilot and VaultBot assisted developers, leading to over 20,000 lines of code being accepted every weekday and 32% of engineering questions being answered by AI.

Improved observe query performance

Observe, the dashboard where merchants can track Shopify’s performance, experienced a 5x increase in query performance. This enhancement gave merchants real-time insights into their store’s health and performance, allowing them to proactively address any issues and maintain optimal efficiency.

Harnessing AI for Enhanced Productivity

Shopify embraced AI to make life easier for both developers and merchants in 2023:

Data-driven decision-making

Shopify’s AI-powered performance insights tool leveraged store data to identify potential bottlenecks and areas for optimization. This empowered business owners to make data-driven decisions and implement targeted strategies to enhance their store’s performance and maximize their return on investment.

Faster coding

By integrating with GitHub Copilot, developers gained access to AI-powered code suggestions. This not only accelerated the development process but also reduced the likelihood of errors, allowing them to dedicate more time to crafting innovative features.

Smarter support

VaultBot, Shopify’s internal AI-powered chatbot, emerged as a valuable resource for developers. Proactively addressing frequently asked questions, resolving technical issues, and providing relevant documentation links, VaultBot saved developers valuable time and alleviated the burden on support teams.

Handling Black Friday with unwavering Reliability

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are the biggest shopping days of the year, and your online store needs to be ready. In 2023, Shopify merchants had a smooth sailing experience thanks to Shopify’s rock-solid reliability:

• Ensuring sales continuity: Merchants enjoyed 99.999+% uptime, guaranteeing 24/7 availability and uninterrupted sales opportunities.
• Exceptional scalability: Shopify handled a staggering 29.7 petabytes of data, showcasing the platform’s robust infrastructure and capability to manage peak traffic surges seamlessly.
• Enhanced efficiency: During peak hours, the platform processed 967,000 requests per second, ensuring efficient handling of a massive volume of transactions.
• Streamlined order fulfillment: Shopify’s database infrastructure facilitated 19 million queries per second, guaranteeing swift and accurate order processing for increased customer satisfaction.
• Real-time business insights: Shopify enabled real-time data synchronization and event handling. This empowered merchants with immediate insights for informed decision-making during this crucial selling window.

Conclusion

By focusing on performance, efficiency, and latest tools, Shopify empowers its merchants to navigate the complexities of online selling and achieve success. The 2023 updates solidify Shopify’s commitment to providing a reliable and scalable platform for businesses of all sizes to thrive in the ever-evolving eCommerce field.