Updated September 2026
Shopify's Summer '25 Edition, released in June 2025, packed more than 150 updates. Most were small. Three have turned out to matter for everyday stores: Horizon, the new theme foundation; AI tools built into the theme editor and admin; and a round of B2B improvements. Shopify has since released its Winter '26 and Spring '26 Editions, so this is less a news recap than a look at which Summer '25 features are worth using now, and what to do about them.
Horizon: Shopify's new theme foundation
Horizon is the design system behind a family of free Shopify themes. Summer '25 launched it with ten themes, including Horizon itself and variations such as Tinker, Dwell, Fabric and Atelier. They share one codebase, so the editing experience is the same whichever one you pick.
The difference you'll notice is theme blocks. In older themes like Dawn, each section comes with its own fixed set of blocks: an image banner has a heading, text and buttons, and that's all you can put in it. Horizon's blocks are defined at the theme level. You can reuse them in any section and nest them inside each other, for example a group that holds an image next to a heading, some text and a button.
Horizon vs Dawn
| Dawn | Horizon | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Blocks | Defined per section | Theme blocks, reusable and nestable |
| Layout freedom without code | Moderate | High |
| AI block generation in the editor | No | Yes |
| Good fit if | Your store works and you don't want a rebuild | You're launching, redesigning, or keep hitting layout limits |
Dawn is still supported and still a fine theme. Don't switch just because Horizon is newer. Switch when you're redesigning anyway, or when you keep paying a developer for layout changes that Horizon's blocks let you make yourself. A theme change is a rebuild: your customizations, app blocks and section settings don't carry over. Build the new theme unpublished, check every template on your phone, and only then publish.
AI in the editor and the admin
Summer '25 put AI into places merchants already work:
- Generate blocks. In Horizon themes, you describe a block, such as a promotional banner, and the editor generates a custom theme block for you. Treat it as a first draft: check it on mobile and edit the copy.
- Generate themes. Describe your brand and Shopify generates a starting theme. Useful for a new store, less so for an established brand with its own design.
- A better theme editor. Hover-to-preview in the block picker, block and section categories, one-click text editing, copy and paste for blocks and sections, and custom names for them. These work quietly and save real time.
- Sidekick. Shopify's admin assistant gained multi-step reasoning, all supported admin languages, image generation, and a mobile version.
The Edition also introduced tools aimed at AI shopping: the Knowledge Base app, which lets you shape the FAQ answers that AI agents can use about your store, and developer tools for building shopping agents and searching Shopify's global product catalog. These have grown in importance since. If customers find products through AI chat, read how AI recommends products, and what it needs from you and what it means that your store is now inside ChatGPT.
B2B: what shipped and what's changed since
For wholesale, Summer '25 added:
- Markets for B2B, so you can run several B2B markets with their own catalogs, currency and storefront customizations, and preview them with "View as". Exclusive to Plus.
- An updated NetSuite connector that syncs companies, orders, PO numbers and payment terms. Also Plus only.
- Gift cards in B2B catalogs, without workarounds.
- Nine more B2B-compatible apps, covering QuickBooks, collaborative buying and lookbooks.
The bigger B2B change came later. Since April 2026, merchants on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans can use Shopify's native B2B features: company profiles, payment terms, volume pricing and up to three active B2B catalogs. So if you skipped B2B in 2025 because you weren't on Plus, it's worth a second look. We cover when a separate wholesale store still makes sense in running one inventory across multiple Shopify stores.
Other Summer '25 changes worth knowing
- Duties in checkout for every plan. You can collect duties and import taxes at checkout, so international customers don't get a surprise bill at delivery.
- Flat rates for split shipping, so an order shipped from two locations can carry one shipping price.
- Shopify POS 10, a redesigned point of sale. See what's new in POS 10.
- Discount codes in the cart on Horizon themes, with no app needed.
What to do now
- Redesigning in the next year? Start from a Horizon theme and plan the build around theme blocks.
- Happy with your current theme? Keep it. Try Horizon as an unpublished theme to see what it would take.
- Selling wholesale by email or spreadsheet? Check which B2B features your plan now includes.
- Getting traffic from AI assistants? Fill in the Knowledge Base app and tidy your product data.
- Selling abroad? Look at collecting duties at checkout.
The full list is on Shopify's Summer '25 Edition page, and newer releases are on Shopify Editions. If you'd like help moving to Horizon or setting up B2B, talk to us. It's the kind of work our monthly store care plans cover.