Shopify just dropped its Summer '25 Editions—called Horizons—with over 150 updates. Here's a breakdown of the most useful and interesting changes across the platform.
🧱 New Theme Features and Design Tools
Shopify’s theme system got a pretty big upgrade.
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Horizon Themes: 10 new free themes, optimized for different types of stores.
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AI Theme Generator: Describe your store and Shopify will build a theme based on that.
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Editor Updates: You can now preview blocks by hovering, copy/paste them across templates, use filters in the editor, and create conditional rules.
All in all, it makes editing and launching storefronts a little easier and faster.
🤖 Sidekick Improvements
Sidekick, Shopify’s AI helper, is getting smarter and more accessible.
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Can now troubleshoot things like slow sales.
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Generates visuals directly in the admin.
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Works on mobile, supports voice, and has screen sharing.
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Available in 20+ languages.
Useful if you want help without jumping between support articles.
📈 Updated Analytics
Shopify’s reporting tools are getting streamlined:
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Real-time data across your whole store.
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Query builder (ShopifyQL) now in reports.
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Clean dashboards for product, customer, and marketing data.
More useful for making day-to-day decisions without needing external tools.
📦 Split Shipping
Split shipping lets customers:
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Send parts of their order to different addresses.
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Choose different shipping methods for different items.
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See estimated delivery times per shipment.
Helpful for holiday shopping or larger orders.
🌍 Centralized Global Selling (Shopify Markets)
Shopify is making it easier to manage multiple sales channels:
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One admin for international, B2B, and retail.
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Localized options for language, currency, and tax.
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No need to run multiple stores anymore.
Useful if you’re selling internationally or managing different customer types.
🧾 New B2B Tools
If you sell wholesale or to businesses:
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You can collect deposits on orders.
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Set payment terms (like net 30) for different customers.
This helps with bigger orders and managing long-term accounts.
🛍️ Point of Sale Updates
In-store tools got a few practical improvements:
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Digital receipts can be sent in one tap.
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The system checks if a product is eligible for return.
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Stores can transfer items between locations for pickup.
Makes the in-person shopping side a little smoother.
🧠 AI Content + Merchandising Tools
A bunch of new AI-powered features are rolling out:
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Generate product images with a prompt.
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Auto-fill product attributes to make items easier to find.
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Smarter ad tools that optimize spend and targeting.
This stuff reduces manual work and might help with conversions.
🧩 Headless Storefront Improvements
The Hydrogen stack is now easier to work with:
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A new visual editor lets teams build storefronts without touching code.
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Real-time collaboration and previews.
Headless setups can now be managed without a full dev team.
🧮 More Product Variants
Previously, Shopify capped product variants at 100. That limit is being lifted.
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Add more colors, sizes, customizations.
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Better suited for brands with complex catalogs.
You don’t have to hack together workarounds anymore.
💳 Better Payment Options
New options for Shop Pay Installments:
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Premium BNPL tools now available.
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More flexibility for customers, especially on higher-ticket items.
Could help reduce abandoned carts on larger purchases.
🎮 Horizon Drive Mini-Game
Shopify added a small game called Horizon Drive to help users learn about new features.
It’s lighthearted and might help you catch updates you’d otherwise skip.
Final Thoughts
This Summer’s release is mostly about smoother workflows, easier design tools, and more flexibility for growing stores. Whether you’re a solo founder or managing a team, there’s something here that could make daily tasks less tedious. Worth poking around the admin to try the new features.
