hopify has just released its Editions Spring '26, the twice-yearly drop of new features, and this time it runs to more than 150 updates. We went through all of them and picked out the ones that matter most if you sell online.
Your customers can now buy inside AI chats
More and more people use AI assistants like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to shop, whether to find products, compare options or ask for recommendations. With this edition, those conversations can now end in a purchase. Customers can check out and pay with Shop Pay without ever leaving the chat.
For this to work, your products need to be easy for AI to understand. Shopify now handles much of that automatically, organising and enriching your product information so these assistants show your products correctly. Shopify reports that products prepared this way sell twice as well in AI chats.
The takeaway for your store: AI is quickly becoming a place where people buy, not just browse. Clear, complete product information is what gets you in front of those shoppers. This is the development we are watching most closely on behalf of our clients.
Shop Pay now works almost anywhere
Shop Pay, Shopify's one-click checkout, used to be reserved for Shopify stores. It is now open to any brand, on any platform, with access to more than 250 million shoppers who already have their details saved.
Why this matters: a fast, familiar checkout is one of the simplest ways to turn more visitors into buyers. Shoppers who recognise Shop Pay and can pay in a single click are less likely to abandon their cart. Even if part of your business runs outside Shopify, you can now offer that same smooth experience.
(Source: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shop-pay/shop-pay-on-any-platform)
Marketing that runs itself
Shopify launched Campaign Autopilot, a tool that plans, runs and improves your marketing campaigns across different channels for you, while you stay in control of the budget and the rules. It can now advertise in more places, including ChatGPT, Pinterest and Microsoft's ad network, all set up in one place with the results in a single report.
For smaller teams especially, this takes a lot of the day-to-day work out of advertising. The thing to get right is the setup: clear goals and a sensible budget, so the tool works towards the results you want.
(Source: https://shopify.com/blog/introducing-campaign-autopilot)
Search that understands what shoppers mean
Shopify improved the search on your online store so it copes with typos and unusual wording. If a customer misspells a product name or describes it in their own words, they will still see relevant results instead of an empty page.
It sounds small, but search is often where ready-to-buy customers drop off. A shopper who cannot find what they want usually leaves. Better search quietly protects sales you might otherwise lose.
(Source: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/storefront-search)
Easier selling across borders
This edition includes several updates for brands that sell internationally. Shopify's Managed Markets, which handles duties, taxes and local compliance for you, is now available to businesses in the UK and Canada. You can also sell and redeem gift cards in your customers' local currencies, and shipping has become cheaper for small parcels in Germany through DHL Kleinpakket.
For brands expanding into new countries, these changes remove some of the cost and friction that usually come with going international. It is an area where the right setup makes a real difference to your margins, and one we help clients with regularly.
(Source: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/international/managed-markets/requirements-and-considerations)
Would you like to explore what these updates mean for your store? Feel free to get in touch.