Shopify Insights for Smarter Ecommerce Growth
Explore actionable ecommerce tips, Shopify how-to guides, industry trends, and proven strategies built around the challenges merchants face every day.
10 Min • 12 November 2026
Shopify for Handmade Goods: How to Sell Craft Items in 2026
You make things by hand. Now you want a place to sell them where the brand, the customers, and the profit stay with you. Shopify for handmade goods does that well, whether you pour soy candles or stitch leather wallets. As a Shopify agency, we’ve worked with merchants who now run successful businesses. Many of them started by selling handmade goods from home. Shopify even has a dedicated page for selling handcrafts. But is it worth it? For most makers who want their own brand and customer list, yes. Here’s why, and how to set it up. Can You Sell Handmade Items on Shopify? Yes. Shopify has no rule that limits handmade products. You can sell one-of-a-kind pieces, small batches, personalized orders, craft kits, and even digital patterns from the same store. Shopify is a store builder, so there's no handmade review process at all. You can mix handmade pieces with supplies or printed merch if it fits your brand. A few limits still apply. Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy bans certain products in every store. Some handmade categories also carry their own rules where you sell. Cosmetics, candles, food, and children's items often need specific labels, safety testing, or permits. Check your local rules before launch. Our guide to laws and regulations every Shopify seller should know is a good starting checklist. Why Shopify for Handmade Goods Works in 2026 Shopify works for handmade goods because you keep control of your brand, your margins, and your buyers. You pay a monthly plan and card processing. Use Shopify Payments, and there's no extra transaction fee on top. Demand is there too. IMARC Group puts the US handicrafts market at USD 372.05 billion in 2026. They credit part of that growth to shoppers who want unique, handmade, and artisan products. Here's what makes the platform practical for makers right now: Shopify now allows up to 2,048 variants per product for every merchant. Size, color, finish, and engraving combos can all live on one product page. Shopify POS lets you sell at craft fairs and pop-up markets using the same stock count as your website. Since March 2026, Shopify's Agentic Storefronts can show products from eligible stores inside ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google's AI Mode. You manage it all from your Shopify admin. Every buyer's email belongs to you. Repeat orders don't depend on a marketplace algorithm. Does Shopify Make Products for You? No. Shopify doesn't make, stock, or ship products. It runs your storefront, checkout, payments, and orders. Making the product is on you or a production partner you choose. You have three practical routes: Make everything yourself. Every piece is truly handmade, and your brand story rests on it. Add print on demand for extras. Apps like Printify and Printful print and ship items such as totes or mugs after an order comes in. Shopify itself doesn't print or ship them. Keep these separate from your handmade line so buyers know what they're getting. Stock other brands with Shopify Collective. If you're eligible, you can sell products from other Shopify brands. Someone else still makes them. A merchant who wanted to open a handmade Shopify store A year ago, a merchant came to us who cut and stitched leather wallets by hand in a spare room after work. He'd sold a few to friends and had a small Etsy shop. His first question on our call was simple: "Does Shopify make the wallets, or do I?" We told him Shopify would run the store and he'd keep doing the making. Next, we looked at his plan. He wanted to launch with 30 designs in six leather colors. Making 180 combinations by hand would have meant months of work before his first sale. So we suggested a leaner launch: Five core designs. Initials embossing as a paid option on each product page. A clear "made to order, ships in 5 to 7 days" note near the Add to Cart button. We kept his Etsy shop open for discovery and connected it to Shopify with a sync app. For the branded totes he wanted at local markets, we pointed him to a print-on-demand partner. His launch was smaller than he first pictured. But it was also a store he could run alone, with promises he could keep to his customers. How to Start Selling Handmade Items on Shopify Start small, price for your time, and build product pages that show how each piece is made. The six steps below follow the order we use when we set up a handmade store for a client. 1. Pick a focused first collection Launch with a handful of pieces you can make well and repeat. A tight catalog is easier to photograph, price, and restock. Add new designs once you know what sells. 2. Price for your time, not just materials Add up materials, packaging, and your hours at a fair hourly rate. On top of that, add overhead, platform fees, and your profit margin. Many new makers skip the labor time and end up working for free. If the final price feels high for the customers, your photos and story need to show why it's worth it. 3. Choose your Shopify plan Most makers start on the Basic plan. In the US, it's $29 a month billed yearly or $39 billed monthly, and prices vary by country. Upgrade later when your sales justify lower card rates. Read our guide to Shopify pricing plans, which breaks down each tier. 4. Pick a theme built for a craft store A Shopify craft store needs room for stories, close-up photos, and process shots. Shopify's free Craft theme was made for this, with sections designed to bring craftsmanship to life. Here's our walkthrough of the Shopify Craft theme. Horizon, Shopify's newer free theme, is a solid pick if you want a more modern base. 5. Write product pages that show the making Handmade buyers want to see the hands behind the product. Show the process, the materials, the exact size, and care instructions. Say upfront that each piece varies slightly. Natural light and a plain background go a long way. Use the words buyers actually search for in product titles and descriptions. "Hand-thrown ceramic mug" is much better than "Homemade Mug" every time. Our Shopify SEO guide walks through the rest. 6. Set up personalization and made-to-order Add custom text fields, swatches, or file uploads so buyers can personalize their order. Our guide on adding product personalization in Shopify compares Shopify's own options with apps. If you make in batches, set up preorders on Shopify and show the production time on every product page. Adding clear lead times stops most "where's my order?" emails from customers. One last thing before launch. Weigh each item packed, not bare, so your shipping rates come out right. A handwritten thank-you note costs almost nothing and makes the order feel personal. Shopify vs Etsy for Handmade Sellers Etsy gives you instant traffic. Shopify gives you ownership. Most growing makers end up using both. Etsy's reach is real. The marketplace reported about 88 million active buyers in its Q3 2026 shareholder letter. You pay for that reach on every order, though. In the US, Etsy charges a 6.5% transaction fee, a $0.20 listing fee, and payment processing of 3% plus $0.25. Shopify and Etsy Fee at a Glance FeeEtsyShopify (Basic plan)Monthly planNone$29 billed yearly or $39 monthlyListing fee$0.20 per listingNoneTransaction fee6.5% of the order totalNone with Shopify PaymentsPayment processing3% plus $0.25Card rate set by your plan On Shopify, you pay a plan fee plus card processing. The tradeoff is that you bring your own traffic through search, social, email, and in-person sales. Read more about the Etsy vs. Shopify comparison to choose between the two. Our guide on how to integrate Etsy with Shopify also covers how to sync both platforms. 3 Handmade Shopify Stores to Learn From These three handmade Shopify stores sell very different crafts, and each one does something worth copying. Popov Leather: handmade leather goods Popov Leather makes belts, wallets, and bags by hand in its workshop in Nelson, British Columbia. It started as a basement hobby with early sales on Etsy. Today, a full workshop team sells through its own Shopify store. Most wallets can be laser-engraved with a name or initials. Every piece carries a lifetime guarantee, and customer photo reviews back up the quality. East Fork: handmade pottery East Fork makes pottery in Asheville, North Carolina, with regional materials. Their pottery is made by humans and reduction-fired in Asheville. Their product pages help buyers know exactly where each item comes from. The company always sells its standard colors but releases limited-edition seasonal colors to keep customers coming back for more. Pura Vida Bracelets: artisan-made jewelry Pura Vida Bracelets began in 2010, when two friends met bracelet makers in Costa Rica and chose to partner with them. Handmade string bracelets are still the heart of the brand, which moved from Magento to Shopify Plus as it grew. The strategy that works for them is the monthly Bracelet Club subscription, which turns one-time buyers into repeat customers. Getting Your Handmade Business Live on Shopify Shopify for handmade goods works best when you treat your store as a home base. Etsy, markets, and social media can feed it, but your store holds the brand and the customer list. Start with a small collection, price for your time, and let your product pages tell the story. Rather spend your hours making than configuring? Talk to our experts who can handle the Shopify store setup while you focus on the craft. FAQs 1. Is Shopify good for handmade goods? Yes. Shopify suits makers who want their own brand, customer data, and pricing control. It doesn't bring built-in traffic like Etsy, so plan how you'll market the store from day one. 2. How much does it cost to start a handmade Shopify store? The Basic plan costs $29 a month billed yearly or $39 monthly in the US. Also budget for a domain, card processing on each sale, packaging, and any paid apps you add. 3. Can I sell on Shopify and Etsy at the same time? Yes, and many makers do. Use a third-party sync app to keep inventory and orders aligned, since Shopify's Marketplace Connect no longer takes new Etsy connections. 4. Do I need a business license to sell handmade items on Shopify? It depends on where you live and what you sell. Shopify lets individuals open a store, but your city, state, or country may require a license or tax registration. Food, cosmetics, and children's products usually have extra rules. 5. Can you sell handmade items on Shopify? Yes. Shopify has no rules that limit handmade products. You can sell one-of-a-kind pieces, small batches, personalized orders, and craft kits from your own store. There’s no handmade review process like the one on Etsy, but it's always better to check your local rules before you launch. 6. Does Shopify make products for you? No. Shopify runs your storefront, checkout, payments, and orders. It doesn’t make, stock, or ship products. As a handmade seller, you make your own pieces. For extras like printed totes or mugs, a print-on-demand app such as Printify or Printful can make and ship them after each order.
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10 Min • 29 October 2026
Shopify Editions Fall 2026: What’s New in the Exponential Edition
Shopify Editions Fall 2026 went live on October 28, 2026, under the name "Exponential." The Fall '26 Editions page lists 222 updates across 11 categories, from AI agents and Sidekick to POS, payments, and developer tools. The timing is deliberate. Adobe expects US online holiday spending to reach $275.1 billion this season, with traffic from AI tools up 130% year over year. Most of the Fall '26 updates are built for that shift. What Is Shopify Editions Fall 2026? The Fall '26 Edition is Shopify's newest product release, announced on October 28, 2026. Shopify named it "Exponential" because every merchant, shopper, and developer on the platform makes the network stronger for the next one. Agentic commerce, payments, and developer tooling get the most attention. Vanessa Lee, Shopify's VP of Product, summed it up in the official announcement. "Every merchant that joins Shopify benefits from every other merchant that has ever been on Shopify." Here's how the 222 updates split by category: CategoryUpdatesDeveloper57Payments30Operations23Retail (POS)20Fulfillment19Agentic16Online store16Sidekick12Shop11Merchandising9Marketing9 Some features are live now. Others carry "coming soon" or "early access" labels, so check the admin before planning around any single feature. Shopify Editions 2026: How Fall '26 Fits the Year Shopify shipped three Editions in the 2026 cycle. Each one moved merchants a step closer to selling wherever shoppers use AI. Winter '26 "Renaissance" (December 10, 2025): 150+ updates, including Sidekick Pulse, SimGym, Rollouts, and Agentic Storefronts. Identixweb covered it in this Winter '26 Edition breakdown. Spring '26 "Everywhere" (June 17, 2026): 150+ updates, led by Shopify Catalog, the Universal Commerce Protocol, and Campaign Autopilot. The full recap sits in the Spring '26 Edition guide. Fall '26 "Exponential" (October 28, 2026): 222 updates listed on the Editions page. Agents can now complete checkout, Sidekick has been rebuilt, and network data powers fraud defense and discovery. Shopify Editions News: Agentic Checkout Leads the Fall Release The biggest Shopify Editions news this fall is checkout inside AI agents. Shoppers can find a product, approve the purchase, and pay with Shop Pay without leaving the chat. Orders still land in the merchant's admin with the customer's name, email, and shipping details. shop.md turns ChatGPT, Claude, or any other agent into a personal shopper. It searches more than a billion products, checks out with Shop Pay, and tracks orders. Shop Pay now works inside Muse from Meta, Claude Duet, Grok Bot, and Instinct. Google Search, AI Mode, and the Gemini app can sell products with checkout powered by Shopify. Compare-at-price flow to AI shopping agents through Shopify Catalog, so markdowns show up with no extra setup. Shopify connectors work with nine agents, so merchants can manage orders and inventory from ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, and others. Shopper behavior backs the push. Salesforce forecasts that 20% of 2026 holiday ecommerce traffic will come from AI chat agents. WebMCP makes every store ready for agents WebMCP tools now run on every Liquid and Hydrogen storefront and checkout. Browser agents get structured data to search products, update carts, and finish checkout once the buyer approves. Merchants don't need to install anything. The checkout tools went live on September 28, a month ahead of the Edition. Catalog eligibility and the knowledge base A new admin view shows whether a store qualifies for Shopify Catalog, the data source ChatGPT, Copilot, Meta, and other agents use. It also links to fixes for anything in the way. The knowledge base, under Sales channels > Agentic, lets merchants approve what agents learn about return windows and shipping. Nothing Shopify drafts reaches an agent until the merchant publishes it. Sidekick, Canvas, and the Redesigned Admin Sidekick was rebuilt for Fall '26. It can now run calculations, write code, search the web, and remember what a merchant teaches it. Every change needs the merchant's approval. Usage is climbing fast. Daily Sidekick sessions grew 4.2x year over year, and Sidekick made more than 25 million theme edits in the first half of 2026. It can now apply several changes from one approved plan, edit draft orders, and explain why a payout came in lower. Canvas shows the entire store on one surface. Merchants can edit it directly or ask Sidekick for anything from a small tweak to a full redesign. Canvas is in early access, and Shopify says stores go from no theme to launch 20% faster with it. Here’s our guide to Shopify Sidekick use cases for every merchant. New Theme Architecture: What It Changes for Storefront Builds Page structure now lives inside the Liquid template instead of a separate JSON file. Themes get blocks, typed contracts, partial updates, markdown files that guide AI agents, and Tailwind styling built in. Our team saw the problem this solves during a Horizon rebuild. After the Summer '25 Edition introduced Horizon themes and nested theme blocks, the team moved a client's product page onto the new framework. The merchant loved it. Size guides, care notes, and FAQ blocks could be rearranged in the theme editor with no developer ticket. The developers had a harder time. Each page was split between a JSON template and a tree of section and block files. Reviewing one product page meant opening several files and piecing them together. Handing the build to a second developer took a full walkthrough call. The Fall '26 architecture closes that gap. A developer, or a coding agent, can now read a whole page from top to bottom in one file. Shopify also now delivers only the CSS each page uses, so pages load faster. Hydrogen has been rebuilt to work with any framework, and Vercel Shop gives headless teams a ready Next.js template. Payments, Fraud, and Checkout Updates Payments got 30 updates, the most of any merchant category. The headline is Shopify Protect, a set of fraud and dispute tools that learns from signals across millions of stores. Shopify Payments stops more than 12,000 high-risk payments every minute, at no extra cost. High-risk orders are now blocked before payment is authorized. The Shopify Protect Rule Builder lets merchants write fraud rules and test them against past orders. AI drafts chargeback responses for each bank, and carrier proof of delivery attaches to disputes automatically. Seven local payment methods joined Shopify Payments: Alipay, WeChat Pay, MB WAY, OXXO, Satispay, Scalapay, and GrabPay. Checkout gets a tiled payment layout and custom fields for gift messages or delivery instructions. Apple Pay in any browser is coming soon. Shopify Managed Markets now offers prices that include duties and taxes with flat-rate shipping, and Shopify says brands saw 50% higher international conversion. For the basics, see our guide on Shopify fraud protection tips. POS, Shop App, and Marketing Highlights POS can now recognize more store customers who've paid with Shopify Payments elsewhere. A known customer at the counter has over 60% higher lifetime value than an unknown one. Carts sync across POS devices, and staff can open a known customer's abandoned online cart at the register. Universal Checkout on Shop lets shoppers buy from several brands in one cart, and Shop now has a web home at shop.com. Campaign Autopilot adds Microsoft Advertising, Snapchat, and SEO, with X Ads coming soon. Shop Campaigns expands to over 35 new markets. Shop Promise eligibility grew 20x, and badged products rank higher in Shop search and Shopify Catalog. Shopify Messaging adds WhatsApp automations and a ready-to-send Black Friday email campaign. Shopify now supports 13 more languages, including Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. Storefronts can now launch in Arabic, Hebrew, or Urdu. Developer and App Deadlines to Watch Two deadlines can break features on live stores if teams ignore them. Script tags. Since October 1, 2026, apps can't create or update storefront script tags. On March 1, 2027, Shopify will stop loading them, per the script tag deprecation notice. Apps must move to app embed blocks or web pixels. Expiring access tokens. All public apps must use expiring offline access tokens by January 1, 2027. Apps still on old tokens will hit authentication errors. Developers also get an app security check in the Shopify CLI and IP restrictions for API calls. Merchants should ask app vendors now whether these migrations are done. What to Act On Before The Holiday Season 2026 Not every update needs action this month. Focus on discovery, checkout, and fraud during peak traffic. Run the Shopify Catalog eligibility check and clear anything it flags. Review and publish the knowledge base facts agents will see. Set compare prices on sale items so agents show the markdown. Bundle the BFCM theme, discount, and catalog changes into one Rollout with automatic rollback. Turn on Shopify Protect tools and review risk rules before traffic spikes. Confirm no installed app still depends on script tags. Most store owners don’t have spare hours for these admin changes this close to peak season. Identixweb’s Shopify store setup and management team can take care of Catalog fixes, Rollout setup, and app checks while merchants focus on selling. What's Next After Shopify Editions Fall 2026 Shopify reports Q3 2026 results on November 3, 2026, its first earnings update since the Edition launched. Several features are still marked as coming soon, including Apple Pay in any browser and a store audit log. Shopify hasn't announced the next Edition date. One gap stands out for us: B2B. Only two of the 222 items mention B2B directly. Wholesale brands that need quoting or approval workflows will still rely on apps or custom builds. Shopify Editions Fall 2026 points in one clear direction. Stores need clean product data, published policies, and a checkout agents can complete. Merchants who tighten those basics before Black Friday will see the payoff first. FAQs 1. When was Shopify Editions Fall 2026 released? Shopify released the Fall '26 Edition, called "Exponential," on October 28, 2026. 2. How many updates are in the Shopify Fall '26 Edition? The Editions page lists 222 updates across 11 categories. Developer is the largest category with 57, followed by Payments with 30. 3. What’s new in the Shopify Editions Fall 2026? Major updates include Shop Pay checkout inside AI agents and WebMCP tools that let browser agents shop any store. Sidekick was rebuilt to write code and search the web, and Canvas lets merchants redesign a store with it. Shopify Protect brings new fraud and chargeback tools. 4. What is Shopify Canvas? Canvas is a design surface that shows a whole store on one screen. Merchants edit it directly or through Sidekick. It's currently in early access. 5. Do merchants need to set up WebMCP? No. WebMCP tools run by default on every Liquid and Hydrogen storefront and checkout. 6. Which AI agents support Shop Pay checkout? Shop Pay works in Muse from Meta, Claude Duet, Grok Bot, and Instinct. Shoppers can also use shop.md with ChatGPT, Claude, and other agents. 7. Which Fall ‘26 updates should I act on before Black Friday? Start with the updates tied to discovery, checkout, and fraud. Run the Shopify Catalog eligibility check, publish knowledge base facts, and compare at prices on sale items. After that, turn on Shopify Protect tools and group BFCM themes and discount changes into one Rollout. 8. Will the script tag and access token changes affect my store? Only if an installed app still relies on them. Apps can no longer create or update script tags, and Shopify stops loading them on March 1, 2027. Any widget or tracking code still using them will stop working. Public apps must also switch to expiring access tokens by January 1, 2027, while custom apps aren’t affected. Merchants should ask each app vendor to confirm both migrations are done.
10 Min • 27 August 2026
Is Your Shopify Store Slow After Installing Apps? Here’s What to Check
You may have experienced your Shopify store loading slowly just after you have installed a few apps. But owners need apps to run their store. Maybe the store needs product reviews, or they need upselling, a chatbot, a loyalty program, or an analytics app. Individually, each one solves a problem. But after a few installations, the store suddenly feels heavier. Product pages take longer to appear, buttons respond slowly, or content jumps around while loading. This is common when I audit Shopify stores, but I just don't immediately start deleting apps. If you're wondering why Shopify is so slow after adding apps, the first step is to identify what changed on the storefront. Shopify itself lists installed apps, theme code, and manually added third-party code among the major factors that can affect online-store performance. The right approach is to identify what is actually slowing the store, decide whether the app provides enough business value, and then optimize, or remove it. TL;DR: What should you check first? If a Shopify store became slow after installing apps, check: Whether the slowdown started at the same time as an app installation Which apps load JavaScript or CSS on the storefront Whether apps are loading on pages where they aren't needed Whether multiple apps perform the same function Whether app widgets are causing layout shifts Whether previously removed apps left legacy code in the theme There is no number on how many apps a merchant can use. I have seen stores with revenue > $1M use more than 20 apps. What matters is what those apps load and how efficiently they do it. First, I would confirm that the apps are the problem It's always easy to blame the newest app for a slow store. But a Shopify store can load slowly for several reasons at the same time. A theme update, new tracking pixel, oversized media, extra theme sections, or manually added JavaScript. Start with Shopify's own performance data. Go to: Shopify Admin → Online Store → Themes The Themes page includes a performance metric summary for the store's Core Web Vitals. More detailed performance reports are available under: You may not be able to see it if: Your online store is password-protected. The store does not yet have enough real visitor traffic to generate the metrics. You are trying to access the detailed reports without the required Reports staff permission. The detailed reports are available through: Shopify Admin → Analytics → Reports From there, you can search for: Largest Contentful Paint Interaction to Next Paint Cumulative Layout Shift Shopify's Web Performance reports can show performance over time, by page URL, and by page type. They also provide info on changes such as app installations, theme updates, and new code. This makes the report particularly useful when investigating a recent slowdown. One limitation is that this isn't instant monitoring. Shopify says Web Performance data can be delayed by up to 36 hours, so don't expect a change made five minutes ago to immediately appear in the real-user report. For a broader speed audit, my guide on how to speed up a Shopify store covers other common performance problems beyond apps. Know the three performance metrics that matter Shopify currently uses the same three Core Web Vitals Google focuses on: LCP, INP, and CLS. MetricWhat It MeasuresGood TargetWhat Apps Can AffectLCPHow quickly the main visible content loads≤ 2.5 secondsRender-blocking scripts, stylesheets, slow widgets, third-party resourcesINPHow quickly the page responds after interaction≤ 200 msHeavy JavaScript, long-running tasks, multiple interactive widgetsCLSHow much content unexpectedly shifts≤ 0.1Late-loading banners, reviews, popups, badges or other widgets You can check the target number by clicking each report I have mentioned earlier. Here’s my checklist on whether you feel Shopify app bloat in your current store. The complete checklist if you have Shopify App bloat 1. Separate the apps that load on the storefront or backend Not every Shopify app slows down the storefront. Some apps operate almost entirely inside Shopify Admin or in backend workflows. Others directly add content, JavaScript, CSS, tracking, popups, recommendations, reviews, or widgets to customer-facing pages. Start by separating installed apps into two groups: Storefront-impacting apps Examples of these apps include reviews, upsells, chat, personalization, recommendations, subscriptions, popup tools, search widgets, badges, analytics, and visual merchandising features. For example, Anua, a Korean Skincare brand, uses iCart, an upsell app, to show upselling products in their cart. Backend/admin apps Examples might include certain reporting, inventory, workflow, fulfillment, or administrative tools that don't need to render customer-facing code. This immediately narrows down where to investigate. 2. Look for too much JavaScript JavaScript is one of the first places I check if I feel too many apps are slowing down your store. Apps can use JavaScript for: Recommendations Sliders Popups Cart drawers Reviews Personalization Chat Analytics Event tracking Dynamic discounts Interactive widgets None of these features are bad, but Shopify states that poor INP is often caused by too much JavaScript coming from theme code, app code, third-party code, or tag managers. How to check it Open Chrome DevTools and inspect the Performance and Network panels. Look for: Long-running JavaScript tasks Unusually large script files The same third-party library loaded more than once If you notice these issues but the fixes involve editing theme code, it may be time to involve a developer. Small changes made without knowing how an app or theme works can sometimes affect store functionality or customer experience. A Shopify developer can help identify which scripts are necessary, remove unnecessary code safely, and optimize store performance. At Identixweb, we provide Shopify Speed Optimization Services to help merchants improve store performance without compromising the features their customers rely on. 3. Check whether apps load on pages where they aren't needed This is one of the most important checks I do. Imagine a product-review app. The full reviews widget may matter on product pages. But does all its JavaScript need to load on the homepage, blog articles, contact page, cart page, and every collection? The same question applies to: Product recommendations Size charts Wishlist tools Product badges Delivery widgets Cart tools Popup tools Ask your developer: Does this app load storefront assets globally or only where its functionality is used? That question can reveal a lot about how efficiently the app was built. 4. Review your app embeds Go into the Shopify Admin > Online Store > Edit Theme > App Embeds App embed blocks are commonly used for functionality such as: Chat bubbles Product badges Analytics Tracking SEO integrations Floating storefront elements You can activate or deactivate individual app embeds from the Theme Editor. Before disabling any app embed, check its features and how it affects customer experience, tracking, or store operations. Review the app name, understand its purpose, and confirm whether it is connected to tools like analytics. If you are unsure, test the change on a duplicate theme first instead of turning it off directly on your live store. An embed may power tracking, accessibility features, consent management, or another business-critical function. Instead, identify what each embed does and test changes individually. 5. Look for multiple apps doing the same job App overlap is the most common problem I encounter that slows down the store. For example, a store might have: An email app with a popup A separate popup app Each tool may have been added at a different point in the store's growth. For each installed app, document: Business purpose → feature actually used → storefront resources → monthly cost → overlapping apps Then decide whether one well-built tool could replace two or three separate apps. 6. Check whether an app is causing layout shifts Have you ever opened a product page and watched this happen? The title appears first, then the reviews widget loads, and after that a promotional bar appears. That is called a layout shift. Shopify considers a CLS of 0.1 or lower good. Late-loading app elements such as banners, reviews, badges, recommendations, and widgets can contribute to CLS when the page hasn't reserved enough space for them. Ask your developer to check apps that contribute to CLS. 7. Don't assume the app is the only problem Sometimes an app gets blamed because it was the most visible recent change. But Shopify identifies three major areas merchants should examine: Theme code Installed apps Manually added third-party code such as tag managers and tags. For example, you may install an app and simultaneously add a Meta pixel or add another analytics script through GTM. If speed drops, the app could be only one part of the problem. A safe way to audit Shopify apps Don't uninstall five apps and then check CoreWebVitals. Even if the score improves, you won't know which change caused it. Use this process instead. Step 1: Record a baseline Measure the CWV performance for: Homepage Collection page Popular product page Step 2: Back up your theme Duplicate the current theme before touching theme files or legacy app integrations. Step 3: Test one app at a time Where possible, disable an app embed or storefront feature individually. Keep everything else unchanged. Step 4: Run several tests This is what you want from your developer. Do not make a decision based on a single score. Shopify warns that a single Lighthouse run can vary by 5–10 points because of CPU and network conditions and recommends comparing median results from multiple runs. Step 5: Compare the right metric If the page loads slowly, investigate LCP. If clicks feel delayed, investigate INP. If widgets move content around, investigate CLS. Step 6: Remove or combine only after confirming the cause If an app provides little value, duplicates functionality, and creates measurable storefront overhead, then removal becomes a much easier business decision. Can't find which app is slowing your Shopify store? When multiple apps, theme changes, and third-party scripts are affecting your storefront, finding the exact cause of slow performance can be difficult. Identixweb’s Shopify Store Performance and Speed Optimization service helps identify performance bottlenecks, reduce unnecessary code and scripts, and improve storefront speed without removing functionality your store still needs. FAQs 1. Can installing too many Shopify apps make a store slower? Yes, particularly when an app adds customer-facing JavaScript, CSS, third-party requests, widgets, or tracking code. However, not every app affects the storefront, so the app's integration and resources matter more than simply whether it is installed. 2. What is a good Shopify speed score? Rather than relying on one speed score, merchants should monitor Shopify's Core Web Vitals. Shopify considers LCP of 2.5 seconds or less, INP of 200 ms or less, and CLS of 0.1 or less good performance thresholds. 3. How many Shopify apps are there? There isn't a useful universal number. A smaller number of poorly chosen apps will still create problems. Audit what each app loads, where it loads, and the value it provides instead of relying on app count alone. 4. How can I tell which Shopify app is slowing my store? Start with Shopify's Web Performance reports, then test the same homepage, product, and collection pages while disabling one storefront app feature or embed at a time. 5. Does uninstalling a Shopify app remove all its code? Not always. Older or manually integrated apps can leave theme changes behind. For apps built with Theme App Extensions, Shopify says that the app code is removed when the app is uninstalled.
9 Min • 26 October 2026
Shopify Conversion Rate Optimization: The BFCM 2026 Fixes That Matter Most
Black Friday is November 27. Cyber Monday is November 30. You have five weeks. Your ads, emails, and texts will send shoppers to your store, whatever you do. What decides your BFCM revenue is what those shoppers find when they land. That is the job of Shopify conversion rate optimization (CRO). Last year, Shopify merchants sold $14.6 billion over BFCM with an average cart of $114.70. At that volume. Why BFCM Traffic Converts Differently? BFCM shoppers don’t behave like your regular visitors. They arrive with a deal in mind, usually on a phone, and they leave quickly if anything feels off. Here’s what’s different about BFCM traffic: Most visitors land on a sale or product page from an ad or email, not on your homepage. Smartphones drove 56.4% of online holiday transactions in 2025, according to Adobe. Gift buyers want to know the gift will arrive in time and can be returned. Cross-border shoppers placed 16% of Shopify’s BFCM orders last year. Shop Pay was used on 32% of Shopify BFCM orders, so shoppers expect one-tap checkout. Step 1: Find the Biggest Leak in Your Shopify Conversion Funnel The first step in CRO for Shopify is finding out where shoppers leave your store. Before changing anything, check your conversion funnel in Shopify Analytics. Go to Analytics > Report > Conversion rate breakdown It follows visitors from session to add to cart, to checkout, to completed purchase. Compare your BFCM week from last year with the last 30 days, then split the numbers by device, traffic source, and landing page. Based on our experience, here are the reasons and their fixes. Where shoppers drop offWhat it usually meansStart withLow add-to-cart rate, worst on mobileShoppers can’t see the deal, price, or delivery date fast enoughProduct page fixesGood add-to-cart, few reach checkoutSurprise costs, or a cart that stallsCart fixesReach checkout but don’t buyPayment, form, or trust problemsCheckout fixesOne traffic source far below the restThe ad promises something the page doesn’t showLanding page match For example, let's take a store with 20,000 sessions. Of those, 1,400 add to cart, 560 reach checkout, and 380 buy, for a 1.9% conversion rate. Here the biggest problem sits between cart and checkout, since only 40% of carts make it through. Lift that to 50%, and you’d get 475 orders instead of 380. At last year’s average BFCM cart of $114.70, that’s roughly $10,900 more from the same traffic. Step 2: The Fixes, Stage by Stage Start with the stage your data points to. Every fix below can be done by mid-November without a redesign. 1. Make the landing page match the ad If someone clicks “30% off all serums,” the page they land on should say exactly that with the sale price showing. Send product ads to product pages and offer ads to a sale collection. See our Black Friday landing page examples for more ideas. 2. Show the deal and the delivery date on the product page Shopify applies automatic discounts in the cart and at checkout. Depending on your theme, your product page might still show the full price. Check it on a real phone. If the discount isn’t visible, add a sale badge or a compare-at price with the savings right next to it. Gift buyers also need a delivery date. Shoppers abandon checkout because delivery is too slow. Show an estimated arrival date and your holiday order cutoff on the product page. Above is a store using a delivery date calendar on their cart page. 3. Remove the cost surprise Unexpected costs are the top reason people walk away from checkout. Show your shipping costs or free shipping threshold in the cart. Set the threshold a little above your current average order value. If you sell abroad, show local currencies and duties through Shopify Markets. 4. Turn the cart into a place to decide A full-page cart pulls shoppers off your sale page. A slide-out cart drawer keeps them where they are. Show the discount they’ve unlocked, how much they’re saving, and how close they are to the next reward. Suggest one relevant product. Keep express checkout buttons inside the drawer. 5. Make checkout a one-tap job Turn on Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal, and show them on product pages and in the cart. Also, don’t force people to create an account. 6. Test every discount code on a phone Make sure to test every discount code you’re promoting on your phone. A code that fails at checkout costs you the sale. Check expiry dates, time zones, minimums, and discount combination settings. Our guide to Shopify discount combinations explains how they interact. 7. Check your page speed Run your key product pages and cart through Google PageSpeed Insights, especially on mobile. Compress large images, remove unused apps, and check for scripts slowing down your store. Test everything on a real phone. For more fixes, see our guide on what to check after installing Shopify apps. If the store already feels slow, see what to check after installing Shopify apps. Case study: How Anua turned its cart into an upsell engine In August 2025, Anua, the Korean skincare brand, moved its Shopify store off a full-page cart and onto iCart, our cart drawer app. BFCM was three months away, and their cart had three problems. The cart page sent shoppers away from the product they were looking at. Most people bought one product instead of a full routine, so order values stayed low. Nobody could see how close they were to free shipping or a reward either. A slide-out cart drawer replaced the cart page, and they upsell offers in the cart drawer itself. Anua’s cart drawer using iCart What we like most is the timing. The new cart went live in August, so it had months of real shoppers behind it by the time November traffic arrived. Results: $857,686.65 in store revenue during BFCM week Average order value: $116.81 Share of orders with an upsell added: 7342 Your 5-week BFCM Conversion Plan Here’s the plan we’d follow with five weeks left. DatesWhat to doOct 26 to Oct 30Check tracking and run your funnel auditNov 2 to Nov 13Make your fixes. Theme edits and new apps stop on Nov 13Nov 16 to Nov 20Test on real phones and place test ordersNov 20 to Nov 30No new ideas. Only fix what’s brokenNov 27 to Nov 30Watch your numbers live Shopify’s Rollouts feature helps here. It’s available on Basic and up. You can schedule your BFCM theme to go live on November 27 and switch back on its own after Cyber Monday. If your Shopify store has limited traffic, prioritize bigger improvements over small A/B tests. At a 2% conversion rate, detecting a 10% relative lift (from 2% to 2.2%) requires approximately 80,700 sessions per version. Most stores won’t get there in five weeks, and a hidden shipping cost doesn’t need a test anyway. Hold off on a new theme, a new payment provider, URL changes, or a batch of new apps until December. If your store already feels slow, here’s our guide on what to check after installing Shopify apps. What to Watch During BFCM Weekend Check a few numbers every few hours so you can fix problems the same day. Last year, Shopify sales peaked at 12:01 PM EST on Black Friday, so be around then. Watch revenue per session, not just conversion rate. A sudden increase in ad traffic can pull your BFCM conversion rate down even while revenue climbs. What you seeLikely causeQuick fixRevenue per session drops as sessions riseAd traffic landing on the wrong pageCheck top landing pages and pause the weakest ad setMobile add-to-cart rate fallsA product page is broken, slow, or sold outOpen your top five products on a phoneCheckout conversion dropsA payment method or code is failingPlace a test order Start With the Biggest Drop-off, Not the List Good Shopify conversion rate optimization before BFCM is mostly about orders. Check your Shopify Analytics and find the stage where you lose the most shoppers. Fix it, test it on a phone, and implement all your ideas by November 20. After Cyber Monday, compare your BFCM funnel with a normal month and keep what worked. Look beyond total sales. Check whether more shoppers completed checkout, whether your cart offers increased average order value, and which product pages performed better. These numbers will tell you what actually helped and what needs more work. BFCM lasts four days, but the improvements you make to your Shopify store should keep helping you convert shoppers long after the sale ends. FAQs 1. How early should I start conversion rate optimization before Black Friday? Six to eight weeks ahead is ideal. With five weeks left, audit now, finish changes by mid-November, and implement all the strategies in your store a week before Black Friday. 2. What is a good Shopify conversion rate during Black Friday? Anything between 3- 5% is good. Compare against your own BFCM week from last year, not an industry average. Revenue per session also tells you more than conversion rate during a sale weekend. 3. Why does my conversion rate drop on Black Friday when sales go up? Ads and deals on sites bring in lots of first-time visitors who are comparing prices. Sessions grow faster than orders, so the rate dips. Check conversion by traffic source to find the channel pulling it down and optimize it. 4. How do I check that my Shopify conversion tracking still works? Go to Shopify Admin > Settings > Customer events and use the Pixel Helper to test your tracking. Place a test order and check that the checkout completion event fires. Then verify the purchase event in GA4's Realtime report and Meta Events Manager's Test Events, if both platforms are connected.
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Hari Krishna
December 7, 2022
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