Shopify announces features twice a year in its Editions and keeps a changelog in between, so the useful question is which ones your store needs. We answer it from four Shopify stores we built: Cultiver, FleaSolve, Real Mad Honey and 310 Nutrition. You get what each used and why, and the steps we follow before adding anything new.
Start from the buyer’s hesitation, not the changelog
A feature list invites you to switch on everything. The four builds below went the other way. Each started from the question that stopped a buyer from ordering, and used only the features that answered it.
A hotel buyer and a home shopper both had to feel at home on Cultiver. FleaSolve’s buyers needed to trust a vet-grade treatment from a site, not a marketplace. Real Mad Honey sells a product most customers have never tried. And 310 Nutrition needed customers to come back for a second order, not just a first.
Four builds and the features each one used
| Store | The buyer’s question | What we built on Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Cultiver, Sydney linen brand | Is this premium enough for a hotel, and easy enough for my home? | A custom Liquid theme; bundle products and a compare view configured through metafields; a gift-cart incentive with a spend threshold in the cart drawer; a currency switcher; card and PayPal checkout; templates for Wholesale, Trade, Retailer and Hospitalize buyers |
| FleaSolve, UK flea and tick treatment maker | Can I trust this site as much as the marketplace listing? | A migration from WooCommerce to a Shopify 2.0-compatible theme; certifications, reviews and compliance messaging at the points of decision; Shopify Payments and PayPal; Klaviyo, GA4, Google Tag Manager and Meta Pixel connected |
| Real Mad Honey, wild honey sold in many countries | What is this, was my batch tested, and which size is good value? | Reviews and verification beside the size choice; price per gram and saving on each jar size, with an add-on spoon; a lab-report lookup by order number; prices and delivery by country |
| 310 Nutrition, US meal-shake brand | Can I find what I need, and is the subscription worth it? | Collections with filtering; the subscription offer made clearer on product and cart pages; cross-sell only where it adds to an order; lighter pages and a shorter route to payment |
None of these stores used every feature Shopify offered at the time. Each used a handful, chosen against one question. The full records are in the case studies, for example Cultiver and Real Mad Honey.
What the four builds have in common
Three choices repeat across the table, and they matter more than any single release.
- Settings over code where the client’s team will change things. Cultiver’s bundles, compare view and gift threshold are configured through metafields and settings, so the brand’s own team retunes merchandising without a developer.
- Fewer moving parts. FleaSolve’s move off WooCommerce removed the plugin upkeep that had been taking the brand’s time. On every theme build we audit apps: what stays, and what theme code can replace.
- Proof placed where the doubt is. Real Mad Honey’s reviews sit in the buy box and its lab reports are checked by order number. FleaSolve’s certifications sit at the decision points. A trust feature hidden on another page does little.
How we decide whether a new feature goes in
When a client asks about something from the latest Edition, we run the same six steps, and none of them needs us in the room.
- Name the question it answers. Write the buyer’s hesitation in one sentence. If you cannot, the feature is a curiosity, not a fix.
- Check what the theme can already do. Settings, sections and metafields often cover it without a new app.
- Audit the apps. List the apps installed, what each does and what it costs each month. A new feature is a chance to remove one, not only to add one.
- Try it off the live store. Use a development store or a duplicate theme with preview links. Nothing touches live orders until it has been exercised from basket to order confirmation.
- Measure speed on release. Check Core Web Vitals before and after. A feature that slows product pages can cost more than it adds.
- Decide who runs it. Name the person who will change its settings after launch. If the answer is “a developer, every time”, reconsider how it is built.
- 1Can you write the buyer’s hesitation it answers in one sentence?NoA curiosity, not a fix
- 2Does it need more than the theme’s settings, sections and metafields?NoUse the theme: no new app needed
- 3Have you listed the installed apps, what each does and costs?NoAudit first: a feature is a chance to remove one
- 4Has it run from basket to order confirmation off the live store?NoTest on a development store or duplicate theme first
- 5Do Core Web Vitals hold before and after the release?NoA slower product page can cost more than it adds
- 6Can a named person change its settings without a developer?NoReconsider how it is built
Steps 4 and 5 are written into every theme build on our Shopify development scope. If speed is the question, we explain what moves the numbers in Core Web Vitals: what actually moves them.
When a new feature or a custom build is not the answer
A custom theme is not right for every store, and neither is every release. Hold back when:
- The catalogue is small and the buyer’s question is simple. A well-chosen stock theme with good product content may be all the store needs.
- The feature is in early access or changes how checkout works. Let it settle, and test it on a development store first.
- The real problem is traffic or the product itself. No storefront feature fixes an offer nobody is searching for.
Several features in the table above, such as the lab-report lookup and the metafield bundles, were custom work because the buyer’s question needed it, not because custom is better by default.
