Shopify Summer '25 Edition: Top 7 Upgrades to Unlock Creativity and Build Better Storefronts—Faster

Shopify Editions Summer ’25 is built for momentum. From bold new storefront design tools like Horizon and AI-generated content blocks to faster checkout flows, smarter POS, and global selling made simple, these updates help you create, launch, and grow without the usual roadblocks. Whether you're refreshing your brand or scaling across markets, these 7 highlights are all about unlocking creative freedom, saving time, and helping your business stand out.

Let’s unlock what’s powering your next move.

From Vision to Storefront, Horizon Makes It Easy

Unveiled as the hero release in Shopify’s Summer Edition, Horizon marks a leap forward in how storefronts are built, customized, and scaled. It redefines the storefront experience by combining creative flexibility, built-in AI, and performance-first architecture into one intuitive theme foundation.

• Choose your foundation. Pick from 10 professionally designed themes that offer a polished starting point and strong performance out of the box.

• Make it your own. Customize your storefront using over 30 Theme Blocks that you can drag, drop, and arrange to match your layout vision.

• Looking for something specific? Describe the content you need and the built-in AI Block Generator will create it for you—whether it’s a seasonal promo banner or a product feature grid.

• Want something completely custom? Use the AI Store Builder to generate three unique design directions based on your brand. Just describe your style and let AI bring it to life.

Horizon is a promising indicator of where modern commerce is headed: modular, AI-assisted, and built for speed. For SMBs, it offers a strong out-of-the-box experience with flexible presets and a faster path to launch. However, for enterprise brands that require deeper customization, Horizon is best understood as a foundation, not a finished solution. While its AI capabilities can accelerate development, they still require thoughtful input and a well-defined design system to produce results that align with a brand’s identity.

At Avex, we see Horizon as a smarter starting point that allows us to move quickly where it makes sense, so we can go deeper where it matters most. By combining its efficiencies with our technical and creative expertise, we deliver fully customized, scalable Shopify solutions that reflect the depth, complexity, and ambition of the brands we serve.

Own Your Story in Every AI Search

As AI shopping assistants become more common, Shopify’s new Knowledge Base app helps you control how your brand shows up in AI-powered chats. Whether a shopper is asking about your bestsellers, sustainability practices, or return policy, you decide how the answers are shaped.

• Customize the answers AI shopping agents give by reviewing and editing FAQs pulled from your store’s policies and catalog.

• Create custom FAQs to make sure your key differentiators and value props are front and center.

• Monitor buyer questions to understand what shoppers are actually asking about your products and policies.

View how often AI agents reference your store to inform future refinement of your content and messaging.

Smarter Decisions & Faster Actions. Powered by Sidekick.

With your storefront built and ready to go, the next step is understanding what’s working and what needs attention. That’s where the newly upgraded Sidekick comes in. Now equipped with multi-step reasoning, it analyzes your store’s performance, identifies patterns, and suggests data-backed actions to help you grow smarter.

You can simply ask a question by voice or chat, share your screen, and get guided step by step—right from the Shopify admin or the mobile app.

Beyond analytics, Sidekick also allows you to create visuals with no extra effort. Whether it’s for a launch, a campaign, or a product that needs a standout image, just type in what you need and Sidekick creates it directly within the Shopify admin in seconds. No extra tools, no design experience, no time wasted.

Now available in 20 languages across all admin regions, Sidekick is more accessible to teams everywhere. It brings deeper insights, smarter guidance, and effortless creative support right when you need it.

A Smarter POS for Seamless Selling

To streamline your omnichannel operations, Shopify has made connecting your digital and physical retail experiences more seamless than ever. The redesigned Shopify POS brings speed, customization, and smarter tools to the forefront, giving your team the ability to serve and sell faster while keeping your brand front and center.

While there’s a lot to explore, these are the key updates that could most significantly shape your in-store experience:

• Smoother navigation & smarter search: connects your team with customers seamlessly

• Tap to Pay on mobile: turns your phone into a payment terminal with no extra hardware required

• “Ship and carryout” in one transaction: allows customers to take what’s in stock and ship the rest (POS Pro)

• Custom-branded customer displays: set your brand’s POS system apart with logos, brand colors, and media across idle, cart, and checkout screens

• SMS opt-ins at checkout: grows your marketing list by encouraging customers to opt-in during checkout or through digital receipts

• Store credit support: allows staff to issue, accept, and refund credit directly in POS

• One discount for multiple savings: can be applied across products, orders, and shipping for a faster checkout (POS Pro)

• Draft order discounts: are possible with admin-created offers (POS Pro)

• Multiple retail entity support: makes running multiple international entities through one single admin possible

From checkout to fulfillment, Shopify POS helps you deliver a faster, more branded, and more unified retail experience wherever you sell.

Going Global Made Easy

Shopify’s newest international tools remove the friction from global expansion. Whether you're navigating regional regulations or syncing in-store and online operations, these updates give you the structure to scale, without losing sight of your day-to-day execution.

One Store, Multiple Entities

You can now manage and sell through multiple entities within a single Shopify store using Shopify Payments. Here’s how you gain powerful flexibility and operational clarity:

• Unified Operations: Manage your global online and retail entities from a single store, with consolidated, easy-to-understand reporting.

• Localized Customer Experience: Automatically detect customer locations to deliver a consistent and personalized shopping experience, whether online or in-store.

• Domestic Payment Processing: Accept payments in each entity’s local currency through one store, minimizing international transactions and currency conversion fees.

• Local Currency Payouts: Receive payouts in each entity’s domestic currency, directly to local bank accounts, streamlining financial operations across regions.

​​Shopify Payments has expanded to more countries, now available in Mexico and 15 new markets in Europe.

Shop App Just Got More Personal

The Shop app is now a dynamic, personalized discovery tool that helps your brand get seen, shared, and shopped—faster. It adapts in real time to each buyer’s behavior, turning product discovery into a curated experience and extending your storefront’s reach.

What you need to know:

• The dynamic app feed updates in real time based on shopper behavior, surfacing more relevant products and driving visibility.

• Shoppers can create and share collections, making product discovery more collaborative and engaging.

• Product detail pages now mirror your online store, including swatches and subscription options for a consistent experience.

• Enhanced tracking now includes live updates, with easy options to pay customs and reschedule deliveries directly in the app.

Store credit and loyalty points appear in the Shop app and at checkout via Shop Pay, streamlining redemption and retention.

Markets Are Now Built for B2B

Shopify Plus merchants can now use Markets to create tailored B2B storefronts, customizing catalogs, pricing, currency, and themes for each wholesale segment. You can also preview the experience using the “View as” feature in the Products section.

To support more streamlined operations, you can:

• Validate VAT numbers in the EU and UK to automatically apply tax exemptions with Shopify Tax.

• Set order minimums and maximums for B2B customers using the free Checkout Blocks app.

• Add gift cards to B2B catalogs without workarounds, with full reporting support.

• Sync with NetSuite to manage companies, orders, PO numbers, and payment terms. 

• Use 9+ compatible B2B apps, including QuickBooks, lookbooks, and collaborative buying.

For Shopify Collective, there’s now no sales minimum to join (U.S. only), and it’s easier to search and discover suppliers through personalized recommendations.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Out of the 150+ updates in Shopify’s Summer Edition, we’ve highlighted the most important ones to help you streamline operations, scale faster, and create more personalized experiences.

If you're curious about a particular feature or want to explore how these updates can support your goals, our team is here to help. Whether you're reimagining your storefront with AI and Horizon, expanding globally, or scaling B2B, there's a tool here to help you move faster and unlock your next big opportunity with ease. 

Explore all 150+ updates and let us know where you’d like to go next.