Shopify has introduced its Summer '25 Edition updates, named Horizons, which encompasses over 150 product enhancements. These updates are designed to transform merchant storefronts and product discovery, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), user experience (UX), point of sale (POS), the Shop App, and payments.

A central feature of this edition is the AI-powered store design foundation, Horizon. This tool enables merchants to create professional storefronts without the need for technical expertise. The AI Store Builder, part of this suite, can generate store designs from simple keywords, significantly reducing the time required for design processes.

The Horizons Edition also includes a new suite of tools tailored for marketers, aimed at boosting brand performance both online and in-store. The Shop app feed has been updated to enhance product discoverability and personalization, providing a more tailored shopping experience for users.

POS v10 has received upgrades to allow for more customized displays and improved customer service. These enhancements are intended to streamline operations and improve the overall customer experience at the point of sale.

AI functionalities have been integrated to support design, reporting, and strategy. An AI-powered Knowledge Base has been launched, which aims to optimize brand visibility across generative AI platforms and shopping assistants. This Knowledge Base app is described as 'SEO for AI conversations', enhancing discoverability in AI-driven shopping queries.

Shopify Payments now supports multi-currency payouts and the management of multiple entities from a single store, offering greater flexibility for merchants operating in diverse markets.

Managing Director, Shaun Broughton, APAC at Shopify, said: "Merchants today need flexible, intuitive tools that work as hard as they do. Our latest Edition, Horizons, represents a step change in how our merchants can spend less time on tech and more time building their brands. These updates enhance their efficiency and customer engagement, while progressing toward our vision of 'declarative commerce', where merchants can simply express their goals, and our system charts the optimal path forward. Through this shift, merchants can focus on innovation and strategic growth rather than time-consuming tasks."

The Sidekick AI assistant now offers proactive insights and recommendations based on data analysis, further supporting merchants in strategic decision-making processes.

Shopify Catalog, another feature of the Horizons Edition, allows developers to create applications and AI agents that connect merchants with customers.

Storefront MCP is another tool available to developers, enabling the creation of AI shopping agents for individual brands. This aims to simplify the shopping experience for consumers by providing tailored assistance and recommendations.