Shopify Winter Editions 2026: The major announcements
Shopify unveils its Winter Edition 2026 with major innovations in artificial intelligence, B2B, and developer experience.
Our Shopify team has selected the key announcements to help you grow your B2C, retail, and B2B businesses!
Sidekick: AI integrated into your Shopify admin
Shopify is taking another step in AI integration with Sidekick, an intelligent assistant that transforms the day-to-day management of your Shopify store.
Available for the Grow, Advanced, and Shopify Plus plans, Sidekick offers several additional features.
A word from the DATASOLUTION experts:
Shopify comes with a long list of reports by default, and for the past few months, it’s been possible to request insights directly from Sidekick to generate KPIs or trends with a simple prompt!
Shopify is accelerating its development and offering more and more features through Sidekick, including the ability to generate apps and workflows without writing a single line of code.
However, be aware that the code for the generated apps is not accessible, and we recommend testing this app generation in development environments and thoroughly validating with a developer or architect to ensure there are no unintended side effects.
Custom application generation
Describe your needs in natural language, and Sidekick will generate a custom application directly within your admin panel. Need an app to identify products to restock based on your sales velocity? A checkout link generator with discounts and QR codes? A personalized discount system for your VIP customers? Sidekick has you covered.
Note: These applications operate exclusively through the Admin API (orders, products, customers, discounts, content, analytics) and remain invisible to your end users.
Workflow automation
Building on its app generation capabilities, Sidekick simplifies the creation of your Shopify Flow automations. Describe your workflow in French, and AI will automatically build it, saving you valuable time.
Intelligent editing of themes
Directly from the theme editor, Sidekick becomes your design assistant. It can modify global settings, adjust colors, typography, spacing, or even create a specific atmosphere (“Make my shop more vintage”). Changes are suggested in real time; it’s up to you to approve them.
Reusable prompts (Skills)
For your recurring tasks, save your best prompts as “Skills” and reuse them with a single click: generating social media posts, writing product descriptions, sales reports, inventory forecasts… No more re-entering prompts!
Example Skill: “Projects the next 90 days of sales with a table of expected orders, projected revenue, and reorder quantities.”
A word from the DATASOLUTION experts:
This will save a lot of time when using the store, with the ability to launch pre-recorded prompts around the following themes, for example:
Product Creation Assistant
- Guides the entire entry process: SEO-friendly title, description, metadata
- Suggests relevant collections and tags
Automatic SEO Optimization
- Analyzes and improves titles, descriptions, and image alt text
- Generates optimized meta descriptions
Smart Inventory Management
- Alerts you to out-of-stock and overstock items
- Suggests restocks based on historical data
Agentic Commerce: Your products in AI conversations
Availability: Coming soon
Shopify is launching “Agentic Storefronts,” a new way to distribute your products directly within conversations with AI agents. Your products become natively discoverable in ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity, with more channels planned for the near future.
This feature allows you to control how your brand is presented to millions of users who search via chatbots, opening up a completely new distribution channel.
A word from the DATASOLUTION experts:
Product distribution through AI agents will arrive in France in a few months. Until then, it’s crucial to optimize product listings to ensure they are indexed and directly available on AI platforms.
Here are some actions to take to improve your search engine ranking:
Rich and structured descriptions: Write detailed descriptions using natural vocabulary, not just keyword-stuffed SEO. AI understands context: “perfect for,” “ideal if,” “suitable for people who.”
Complete metadata: Fill in all fields: clear title, vendor, product type, relevant tags. AI relies on this structured data to filter and make recommendations.
FAQs and rich content: Use metaobjects or enriched product pages with frequently asked questions, care guides, and styling tips. AI draws on this content to answer queries.
Rollouts: A/B testing and theme planning
Availability: Coming soon
Shopify natively integrates A/B testing and theme rollout scheduling with “Rollouts.”
This new feature, directly accessible from the admin panel, allows you to schedule your theme changes and test different versions in real-world conditions, without requiring a third-party application.
Save time and increase reliability for your seasonal campaign launches and continuously optimize your customer journeys.
SimGym: Test your site with AI clients
The “Shopify SimGym” app revolutionizes pre-launch testing. It simulates the behavior of real shoppers using AI agents that navigate your store, analyze the user experience, and provide actionable recommendations before you go live. Based on billions of real Shopify purchase data points, SimGym identifies potential pain points and helps you optimize your conversions from the start.
Quick Editing from the Theme Editor
Shopify simplifies the workflow for content creators with direct editing from the theme editor. Modify your products, collections, marketplaces, metafields, and other elements without leaving your workspace. This integration significantly streamlines daily management and eliminates the need to switch between different sections of the admin panel.
POS Hub: Next-generation iPad hardware
Shopify introduces the POS Hub, the only hub designed specifically for Shopify Point of Sale. This new hardware connects multiple devices simultaneously to your iPad via reliable wired USB connections, eliminating Bluetooth disconnection issues.
Technical Specifications:
- Stable wired USB connections with built-in monitoring and automatic updates
- Compatible with all Shopify card readers: POS Terminal, Tap & Chip, WisePad 3, and Chipper 2x
- Apple MFi certified, guaranteeing performance, security, and compatibility
- Keeps your iPad connected and charged during sales
- iOS updates without service interruption
- Connect multiple wired USB devices to the iPad simultaneously
A professional solution that meets the needs of retailers demanding reliable point-of-sale systems.
Marketing: Native Email & SMS in Shopify
Shopify now integrates a complete email and SMS marketing solution with flexible pricing tailored to businesses. Create and manage your campaigns directly from your admin panel, without third-party apps.
Key features:
- Send segmented emails and SMS messages directly from Shopify
- Ready-to-use templates for your communications (updates, reminders, etc.)
- Quick creation of on-brand emails with Sidekick assistance
- Integration of shoppable products directly into your emails
- Performance tracking: click-through rate, conversion rate, and analysis of preferred channels
This centralized approach simplifies your marketing stack while providing precise audience segmentation.
Information about this update can be found in the changelog : here
Guidelines for SMS marketing campaigns can be found : here
New B2B features
Shop credits for B2B accounts
Issue credits directly from a company’s location profile or when processing order refunds. Simplified financial management for your B2B relationships.
Order validation rules (Shopify Plus)
Define dynamic rules to determine which orders require manual validation, based on criteria such as order value or the products involved. Works through apps using Shopify Functions.
Payment requests via shipping (Shopify Plus)
For multi-shipment orders, send a separate payment request for each delivery, making cash flow management easier for your B2B customers.
Developer Experience
Filtering bot traffic in Analytics
Shopify now automatically excludes bot traffic from your statistics, giving you more accurate conversion rates and more reliable analytics data.
Checkout Kit for the web
Integrate Shopify checkout into any agentic feed via a JavaScript library that displays in a pop-up or new tab. Also available in Swift, Android, and React Native for a complete omnichannel experience.
Universal Shopify Catalog
Search billions of products across all Shopify merchants using MCP or REST tools. Soon, select partners will have access to a direct catalog feed, opening up new integration possibilities.
Shopify Dev MCP: Develop faster
Shopify’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) validates every API call in real time, detects errors before you see them, and generates production-ready code. An AI assistant that significantly accelerates development.
Shopify Functions replaces Scripts (June 2026)
In June 2026, Shopify Functions will fully replace Scripts, offering faster execution and greater functionality parity for a secure migration. Prepare for this transition now.
Multi-environment commands for themes
Execute CLI commands across multiple environments simultaneously, enabling batch operations on different stores. A major time-saver for agencies and developers managing multiple projects.
API transfers
Model real-world transfers, including those from locations not tracked in Shopify, with the new Transfers API. Better manage complex inventory flows.
Conclusion of the Winter Editions 2025
The Winter Edition 2025 marks a turning point in Shopify’s evolution with widespread adoption of generative AI, enhanced B2B capabilities, and a significantly improved developer experience.
These innovations position Shopify as an even more comprehensive and powerful platform for merchants of all sizes.
A word from the DATASOLUTION experts:
To give you a concrete example of how the platform has evolved since the launch of the first Edition in 2022, the team has listed the major new features announced over the past six months:
Summer ’22 (first edition): Launch of the “Connect-to-Consumer” concept with over 100 features for selling everywhere (social media, B2B, cryptocurrency, international) and contactless payment on iPhone.
Winter ’23: Unified checkout page, global infrastructure twice as fast, reusable content objects, and AI-powered automatic product description generation.
Summer ’23: Complete overhaul of the administration interface, new drag-and-drop visual shop editor, free app for creating product bundles, and advanced payment customization.
Winter ’24 : Bundled variant management, intelligent search by intent (available only to Plus accounts), point-of-sale terminals in the UK and Ireland, and improved international multi-currency sales.
Summer ’24: Massive rollout of the Sidekick AI assistant, unified marketplace management for physical, B2B, and international sales, stackable in-store discounts, and payment extensions for all plans.
Winter ’25: 50% faster checkout, integrated subscriptions across the platform, ROI measurement for email campaigns, and launch of point-of-sale functionality in France.
Winter ’26 (AI Renaissance Edition): Over 150 AI-focused updates with a proactive assistant, AI-powered custom app generation, a new enterprise hardware terminal, and a catalog API for chatbots.
