Originally published on LinkedIn in June 2025 after Summer Editions in Toronto.
Shopify Summer '25 Editions: A Real Revolution with Little PR
Summing up Shopify's rocket-speed development is always a challenge, but the recent Summer '25 Editions took it to another level, with over 170 new updates! Instead of a detailed breakdown of every single feature, think of this article as your personal, curated guide to the most significant changes and my impressions from the recent Shopify Editions event in Toronto.
Everything under the hood: where to find all 170+ updates
For a complete list of all the new features from the Summer '25 Edition, Shopify has a super clear dedicated hub . I'll highlight a few here too, but definitely save that page as a reference.
(Feel free to dive in. I won't be offended if you get lost in all those amazing details!)
Sidekick: from mere curiosity to a key tool
You may have played around with Sidekick when it first appeared, and maybe it didn't impress you much back then. That's changing fast now! Shopify is investing massively in this AI assistant and turning it into a powerful partner for merchants. And why is it gaining popularity?
Multi-step reasoning
Image generation
Voice control and screen sharing
Better hints and guidance
Apple Pay: seamless checkout
The ability to offer Apple Pay as a standalone payment method is a huge win for conversion rates. I personally saw this in beta two years ago with a major client, and it's great to see Shopify maintaining its commitment to flexible and constantly evolving payment options. They also expanded Apple Pay support for subscription services , simplifying recurring payments.
Shopify Flow: automation beyond the store
Shopify Flow keeps growing and becoming an automation giant. And the best news? Its new ability to communicate with external systems , not just apps installed in your store. This means:
Fewer custom apps: Merchants can use low/no-code solutions for complex automations across different platforms, saving development time and costs.
Simpler Flow creation: Features like sample data for variables and nested actions within "for each" loops make building complex workflows a much more intuitive affair.
A theme revolution: the new Horizons experience
Customizing your Shopify store is now significantly easier and more powerful thanks to the new Horizons system themes . This complete rebuild changes the rules of the game when it comes to speed and flexibility:
Generating theme blocks with Shopify Magic
Copying and pasting sections and blocks in the theme editor
Renaming blocks and sections in the theme editor
Displaying recommended theme blocks in the picker
More configuration options without unnecessary clutter thanks to conditional settings
These features will drastically cut time to market and reduce development investment. At the Toronto Editions.dev event we saw a fantastic 10-minute demo showing how quickly and beautifully a store can be designed with absolutely no coding. We're incredibly excited for our clients to be able to try this out themselves!
Exclusive insights from Shopify Editions Toronto Highlights from last week
There's a lot more great news — I've barely scratched the surface. But now I'd like to share something even more relevant with you.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the annual Shopify Editions partner event in Toronto. It was an invaluable experience. So much so that our team of three attendees is planning to expand to five next year! The sheer amount of practical insights we gained was simply phenomenal.
While I won't go into every specific detail, here are my main, personal takeaways from the event, offering a glimpse into the future of Shopify and e-commerce:
Pagefly generates $1 million USD annually from Shopify referrals. That's inspiring. It clearly shows the enormous opportunity for agencies like ours in partner referrals — something we actively want to strengthen.
I reconnected with Kimonix. Their app for collection management and automation looks promising; I'm looking forward to testing it with a client soon.
A poker night with clients. I met someone who organizes poker nights with their clients: it's a fun and relaxed way to build relationships. We're already brainstorming how to bring this idea to life for our own clients!
Oversubscribed events signal a massive opportunity. Many Toronto events had over 300 people on the waiting list. This confirms massive demand for quality content and activities within specific areas of the Shopify ecosystem. If time allows, we'd love to help organize an agency-focused event next year.
Loyalty programs in times of economic uncertainty. Data from Loyalty Lion showed that registered loyalty program members shop 4x more frequently during unstable economic periods. A key insight for merchant strategy!
Embracing the "AI-first" mindset. It was fascinating to see how others are implementing AI. I particularly liked the idea of a dedicated AI budget for each developer and pair programming with tools like Cursor to help skeptical colleagues.
Easy store duplication coming soon. New CLI commands for copying stores , combined with improved staging processes, will drastically save time and simplify complex campaign, template, and product launches.
Tobi's take on the "death of SaaS." During his AMA, the Shopify CEO directly addressed my question about Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's statement about the "death of SaaS." His response? He considers it a PR stunt and reaffirms Shopify's belief in the lasting strength and relevance of SaaS.
Shopify is expanding into enterprise. Shopify is not moving to enterprise; it's expanding there. This means their core mission remains to improve commerce for everyone , from startups to global giants. This commitment to abstracting complexity and broad utility is what truly drives Shopify.
Merchants value expert opinions. When offering services, merchants increasingly want direct, expert recommendations rather than diplomatic answers. This reinforces the importance of being more direct and sharing our honest, informed opinions.
The biggest Shopify deal in history: the education vertical. A milestone deal was recently closed in the education sector: over 1,100 universities in the US will soon implement Shopify POS, marking one of the most complex POS deployments for the platform.
Partners are building their own IP. Shopify is actively encouraging partners to build their own technology to fill gaps in the platform. This signals Shopify's maturity: they acknowledge they can't solve every specific business need, and so they enable partners to innovate for bookings, ticketing, manufacturing, and more.
Shopify is the future of global commerce. It's time to stop comparing Shopify to other platforms. Its relentless pace of innovation means that what is "good" today will be "amazing" tomorrow. Choosing a different solution because of current limitations is short-sighted; Shopify allows you to leverage market instability to grow.
52% year-over-year growth in Europe. The argument that "Shopify is only for the US" is officially dead. Shopify's growth in Europe and their investment in this region speaks for itself.
Innovate, or get left behind. During economic uncertainty, rigid, old e-commerce solutions hold you hostage. Those who invest and innovate thrive. Abandoning the sunk cost fallacy and embracing Shopify's scalability will allow you to turn unfavorable market conditions into opportunities for explosive growth.
Shopify and its 3 promises: To be the most innovative AI commerce platform in the world. To be the most AI-native company in commercial go-to-market. To package all the innovations they create for their partners to scale.
A new partner program is coming! Shopify has hired highly qualified talent from Microsoft and is launching a partner program that will allow partners to directly sell Shopify licenses as part of a partner-led go-to-market strategy.
Seeking feedback from partners. Shopify is actively seeking feedback from partners and merchants regarding platform improvements. My goal is to create a European whitepaper with insights from leading agencies to help Shopify effectively unlock the local market.
Agencies migrating from proprietary platforms. We met two agencies that boldly decided to abandon their own platforms to migrate hundreds of merchants to Shopify. This bold move, on closer inspection, made enormous sense and brought clients better value and agencies increased growth and profit. And yes… I saw Post Malone 😊
agency in CZ and SK
