The Shopify Editions Winter 2026, titled The Renaissance Edition, places a strong emphasis on AI-powered tools and merchant-focused improvements. This release introduces a wide range of updates—referred to as Shopify updates—designed to support business growth and performance by helping Shopify merchants better understand how to grow their stores and implement optimizations more efficiently.
While previous Editions focused heavily on designers and developers, this Edition is primarily centered on merchant tools, data insights, and automation, with updates specifically designed to help businesses scale and operate more efficiently. That said, several updates are still highly relevant for designers and agencies.
Below is an overview of the most important updates designers should be aware of.
Shopify Rollouts (Coming Soon)
Rollouts is a new feature aimed at simplifying sales campaigns and store optimizations by allowing merchants to plan, test, and validate changes more effectively.
With Rollouts, merchants will be able to:
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Prepare theme design changes in advance and schedule them to go live at a specific time (ideal for campaigns)
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Create A/B tests for theme changes, define traffic splits, and compare performance through analytics, with the ability to track performance over time to inform future store optimizations
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Validate untested changes using an AI tool that simulates shopping behavior
Rollouts applies to theme changes only. For scheduled price changes, Shopify Flow can still be used. Rollouts will be accessible from the Shopify admin under Markets.
Online Store Enhancements
Headless Stores and Product Pages
Shopify Editions Winter 2026 brings a wave of innovation to online stores, with a spotlight on headless commerce and next-generation product pages. Thanks to the enhanced Shopify Storefront API, merchants can now build fully custom, headless stores that connect seamlessly with their Shopify admin. This means you can design unique shopping experiences tailored to your brand, all while maintaining the robust backend Shopify is known for.
A standout feature is the ability to create custom blocks using the intuitive theme editor. Merchants and developers can now craft and arrange custom sections on product pages, making it easier than ever to highlight bestsellers, showcase reviews, or promote flash sales. These custom blocks not only elevate your store’s visual appeal but also streamline the checkout experience, helping to boost conversions and average order value.
To ensure every change leads to better results, the new Shopify SimGym app lets you simulate shopper behavior before going live. By testing updates in a risk-free environment, you can optimize your store layout, product pages, and checkout flow based on actionable insights—giving you a competitive edge in understanding what resonates with your customers.
The Shopify Product Network further enhances product pages by allowing you to instantly surface relevant products from other Shopify brands. This means you can expand your product catalog without managing additional inventory, offering customers a wider selection and increasing the chances of cross-sells and upsells. Whether you’re looking to fill gaps in your lineup or offer complementary products, this network makes it easy to keep your store fresh and competitive.
Shopping with AI
Shopify is expanding product discoverability through AI-powered chat platforms such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity. These platforms, collectively referred to as AI chats, are transforming commerce by surfacing products and enabling purchases directly within conversational interfaces, allowing merchants to reach customers in real-time AI-driven conversations. Merchants will be able to manage which products are available and control how their brand appears within these AI experiences.
In addition, Instant Checkout is now available to most ChatGPT users in the United States. When enabled, customers can complete checkout directly within the chat. If disabled, the AI will redirect users to the merchant’s website to finish the purchase. This feature has already launched with select brands such as Glossier, SKIMS, and Spanx.
This update introduces new opportunities for merchants and designers to ensure products are optimized for AI-driven discovery.
Sidekick Updates
Sidekick, Shopify’s AI assistant, has been expanded to support more advanced and multi-step tasks. It can now:
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Create action plans and execute multiple tasks
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Build custom apps tailored to a store’s specific needs
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Remember previous conversations and preferences
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Create collections, discount codes, customer segments, and edit Shopify emails
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Generate custom reports and data visualizations, including new heatmap-style insights
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Apply requested design updates directly to themes
These features are part of giving Sidekick more operational power as an AI-powered assistant, helping merchants automate tasks and streamline their daily workflows.
Developers can now also create Sidekick app extensions, allowing Sidekick to access app data and perform actions within third-party apps.
Sidekick Pulse & Reusable Skills
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Sidekick Pulse proactively generates five tailored recommendations based on store data, market trends, and performance, then guides merchants through implementation.
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Reusable Skills allow merchants to save prompts, reuse them later, share them with others, or import community-created Skills.
Shopify Product Network
The Shopify Product Network enables merchants to display products from other Shopify stores within their own storefront (e.g. on collection pages, search results, or post-purchase pages) while earning a commission on each sale. This feature allows merchants to instantly surface products from other brands, helping to fill catalog gaps and increase sales quickly and seamlessly. Products are clearly labeled as “Sold by [store name]” at checkout.
This tool uses Shopify data to identify gaps in customer demand and recommends complementary products to fill those gaps. Currently, this feature is available in the United States.
Shopify Product Network vs Shopify Collective
Although similar in concept, these tools serve different purposes:
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Shopify Collective allows merchants to import another store’s products directly into their catalog. Orders are fulfilled and shipped by the supplier. This model suits direct partnerships.
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Shopify Product Network allows merchants to host and promote products from other stores without importing them into the catalog, offering a more dynamic and data-driven approach.
Both models allow merchants to earn commissions without managing inventory or fulfillment.
Other Notable Updates
Additional updates introduced in this Edition include:
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Shopify SimGym: a free app that simulates storefront changes and predicts how AI shoppers may respond
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Enhancements to the Shop app, including shoppable videos, customizable product pages, and expanded order tracking. Improvements to the Shopify mobile app now offer new operational and design features, such as image editing, quick sales, and theme generation, enabling merchants to manage their stores on the go with integrated AI-powered tools.
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Support for displaying unit prices (e.g. price per 100g), now available and required in some regions
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Ability to duplicate collections and create conditions such as “tag does not equal”
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Shop Pay Installments now available in the UK. Expansion of payment options includes new in-store and online payment methods, such as QR code payments, to enhance the checkout experience.
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Auto-translation for Shopify forms into 19 additional languages
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A new Unlisted product status for live but non-discoverable products (useful for gifts or upsells)
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Support for up to 2,048 variants per product (still limited to 3 options)
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Customer login via Google or Facebook
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Shopify Collective now available in 35 additional countries
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Tinker, a new AI app for content ideation and creation
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Merchants can now apply requested design updates directly to themes, with the ability to generate theme edits and custom blocks using AI-powered tools like Sidekick.
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Introduction of shop campaigns allows merchants to run marketing and promotional campaigns across multiple channels, driving sales and increasing discoverability through automation and targeted advertising.
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Expanded order tracking now provides merchants with access to full inventory adjustment history for improved analytics and stock management.
Final Thoughts
The Winter 2026 Edition reflects Shopify’s continued focus on helping merchants prioritize impactful improvements and implement them more efficiently using AI. While design and development knowledge remains valuable, these tools significantly lower the barrier to testing, optimization, and iteration.
For designers and agencies, this Edition introduces new opportunities to support clients through AI-assisted insights, experimentation, and smarter decision-making.
The full Shopify Editions Winter 2026 announcement can be found on Shopify’s official website.
