Shopify 2.0 - When is an upgrade worth it?
In June 2021, Shopify released its next-generation theme engine: Shopify 2.0. This brings you more scalability, convenience, and flexibility. It allows you to get more out of your online store without extensive development knowledge. The e-commerce landscape is constantly changing and evolving. With Shopify 2.0, you don't have to worry about keeping up with these changes.
If you are interested in growing your brand and online store, now is the right time to upgrade to Shopify 2.0.
What are the benefits of upgrading to Shopify 2.0?
The update brings a whole host of benefits. The most important ones are:
- Better scalability
- Improved performance
- Improved Theme Editor: Changing or updating content is now much easier
- Higher flexibility: create new designed pages with little to no development support
- Sections Everywhere: Optimize your layouts on every page of your store
- Faster page speed
- Simpler and more convenient app integration
- Native integration of metafields
The new Online Store 2.0 Theme Architecture
Blocks/Sections form the different parts of a page, such as banners or text blocks with images, etc. Sections in Shopify allow you to build your page and move different elements without having to hardcode them.
Originally, Shopify limited this functionality to homepages only, which greatly increased the scope of programming work on other pages. With Shopify 2.0, you can now work easily and flexibly on your website with "Sections Everywhere". On every page of your store, you can now move different content sections to maximize the impact of your layout.
You can also create better, more dynamic landing pages, product, and/or collection pages to display individual content optimally.
An example:
You have a store that sells different collections or brands. You can design the product page separately for each collection or brand using individual building blocks.
What happens to stores created before Shopify 2.0?
Apart from the theme editing interface, all stores developed with Shopify 1.0 will continue to function normally. Nothing changes in your store.
How can I migrate from Shopify 1.0 to Shopify 2.0?
You can definitely get a head start and upgrade from version 1.0 to 2.0, but depending on the extent of customizations in your existing store, you may need the support of Shopify experts.
An upgrade to an Online Store 2.0 theme works in several ways:
- New theme via the Shopify Theme Store
- A new version of the existing theme
- Migrating the old theme to the new architecture
We are happy to help you find and follow the right path. In the first step, we will discuss: Does the theme meet your requirements? You may have developed new business strategies in recent months that can be better implemented with new sections or a new theme. We help you build new sections, review the code to ensure your apps are supported and updated, and perform tests to see what we can improve on your site.
What does that mean in detail?
1. Conception
We analyze your current website and discuss with you what functions you will need and what you want to improve. We are happy to advise you on further optimizations.
2. Implementation & Optimization
First, we will set up a local Git repo so that we can show the differences between files with each update.
To transfer your design settings from your old design, we copy the settings_data.json from the "Config" folder into your new Theme 2.0. Then we recreate all sections from your current Theme Editor and connect your apps. The Git repo helps us to also migrate and improve your customizations.