Why Shopify Extensibility Checkout Migration is a Big Deal

‘Deprecation’ – if you know, you know, the dreadful word no developer wants to hear. It means you need to scrap the old, configure the new, redo logics, rebuild customizations, and go through the whole process of development-testing-development-testing.

We are soon to bid farewell to checkout.liquid on Shopify. In the words of Shopify:

August 13, 2024 was the deadline to upgrade from checkout.liquid to Checkout Extensibility for the Information, Shipping, and Payment pages. Checkout.liquid is deprecated and has not been updated with new functionality since 2021. With ever changing regulations worldwide, including the introduction of card industry rules under PCI DSS v4, checkout.liquid is less secure than Checkout Extensibility, and we must discontinue its support.

Shopify Help Docs

Starting August 14, 2024, they began the process of shutting down checkout.liquid for the Information, Shipping, and Payment pages completely, and shops that aren’t upgraded will see the following impacts:

1. All customizations are locked, that means, no support, no fixes, nothing, nada.
2. Payment gateways are locked as well, meaning you cannot change your payment gateway providers anymore, unless you migrate to Extensibility, of course.
3. Risk indicators for orders are now disabled, so fraud indicators and recommendations in the admin aren’t available for new orders.
4. But, the worst of all – payouts may be delayed by up to 5 days after a transaction is processed.

They are really serious about it, huh? Well, they should be, and this migration is actually one of the best deprecations (I mean, upgrades) that they have announced for a while now. You see, payment processing, orders management, and everything else attached to the whole checkout process is getting complex as the industry is growing. There are new regulations to consider, legal nerds can check them out here. There is a lot happening, and Shopify is pushing us to take care of that.

But compliance is not the only thing – the new checkout is faster, much more secure, and brings in a host of new features. So if staying compliant is not on the top of your list, maybe these fancy new features will be. Let’s take a look.

Checkout UI Extensions

Top of the list is the ability to customize your checkout UI. You spend so many hours trying to build the perfect experience for your customers, only to have them land on an old school checkout page. Please don’t do that. These UI extensions help you customize, personalize, and design an awesome-looking checkout process.

Branding API

The new branding API capabilities empower developers to dramatically transform the look and feel of checkout with advanced color settings and schemes, header and footer customizations, and container styling in the main body and order summary sections.

Privacy Consent Support

It has privacy consent support, which lets apps collect consent directly within the checkout process to meet compliance regulations across markets. Less checkboxes, faster checkouts, yay!

UI Components

Shopify has introduced a couple of new UI components to be used in the checkout process, for example, maps, lists, and product thumbnails, among others.

Mobile Apps Support

For brands with mobile apps, Shopify has a neat Checkout Sheet Kit, a wonderful resource to bring your fully customized, app idiomatic, and easy-to-maintain checkout experience to native mobile apps with just a few lines of code.

Checkout this curated list of apps designed for the new extensibility checkout.

Try before you buy

You can add try-before-you-buy (TBYB) as a purchase option, which lets you ship orders to your customers before collecting payment and then charge them at a future date. You can also create a full authorization on your customer’s payment method before fulfilling the order to ensure that your customer can pay for the product at a future date.

B2B

Any and all features on Shopify Plus that are tied to your B2B store can only be done with the new Extensibility Checkout – no two ways about it.

Shop Cash

If you don’t know about it already, Shop Cash helps you introduce a rewards program to your store. It is a well-built system that does not need a lot of effort setting up and, of course, improves your conversion rates by a significant margin. Check out this great blog to know more Shop Cash.

Other Features

Here is a list of all the other features that are only available with Checkout Extensibility – we covered the ones that are the biggest and have the most impact.

• Preorders
• Shopify Functions
• Product bundles
• One-page checkout
• Local currency order editing
• Automatic payment capture per fulfillment
• Bundles in draft orders
• Capture tax ID at checkout
• Region-specific address fields in checkouts
• Split shipping at checkout
• Web pixels

Future-Proofing Your Shopify Store

Migrating to Checkout Extensibility is more than just a necessary update – it’s a step towards future-proofing your Shopify store, here is why:

• Scalability: The new architecture is designed to handle growth, supporting larger transaction volumes and more complex operations as your business expands.
• Flexibility for New Features: By adopting this new framework, your store will be better positioned to quickly implement future Shopify innovations and features.
• Enhanced Security: The new system is built with modern security practices in mind, better equipping your store to handle evolving cyber threats and compliance requirements.
• Improved Developer Experience: As Shopify continues to invest in this new architecture, expect more developer-friendly tools and resources, making future updates and customizations easier.
• Better Performance: The new checkout is optimized for speed and efficiency, providing a foundation for maintaining high performance as e-commerce technology advances.
• Compatibility with Emerging Technologies: The new system is better suited to integrate with emerging e-commerce technologies like augmented reality, voice shopping, or whatever comes next in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
• Long-term Support: By moving to the current standard, you ensure long-term support and updates from Shopify, avoiding the risk of using deprecated systems.

When do you need to migrate?

Now! The deadline has already passed and although everything you have on your current checkout.liquid is working, anything that needs you to edit, make changes, or fix bugs, is no longer possible. The whole thing is locked, and you need to migrate to make changes or build new things on top of it.

If you haven’t done any customizations, and are only using the default setup, you still should migrate as soon as possible to take advantage of all the new features we told you about.

Now, for the developers who like to work long hours on deadline day, starting January 6, 2025, Shopify will begin auto-upgrading checkouts that continue to use checkout.liquid with 30-day notice via email.

1. The Information, Shipping, and Payment pages will revert to a default state, losing all checkout.liquid customizations.
2. The storefront will continue to process checkouts absent these customizations.
3. Brand settings defined in the online store theme editor will be automatically applied to the default checkout, but any visual customizations made through .liquid or associated custom JavaScript and CSS files won’t be loaded.

For business owners, yesterday was the time to pick up that phone and call your agency partners, dev leads, or CTOs. If you don’t have any of those, take solace in knowing that we, at Codup, can always be those people for you.

Jokes aside, this is critical, and you should be migrating to the new extensibility checkout. Given the urgency of the situation and because a major chunk of store owners out there haven’t yet migrated, Codup has introduced a no-bullshit, straightforward, cost-effective, plan to help businesses migrate. Book a time with us and we will get you started in no time.

Migrating yourself

If you already have a dev team, or if you just are a know-it-all who likes to do things himself, consider the following when trying to attempt a migration yourself.

• Learning Curve: The new system introduces novel concepts and APIs, requiring time and effort to understand and implement effectively.
• Custom Code Adaptation: Existing customizations in checkout.liquid may not directly translate to the new system, necessitating significant rewriting or reimagining of functionality.
• Testing Complexities: Ensuring all aspects of the new checkout work correctly across various scenarios and edge cases can be time-consuming and complex.
• Performance Optimization: While the new system offers improved performance, achieving optimal speed and efficiency might require fine-tuning and expertise.
• Compliance Issues: Ensuring the new checkout adheres to all relevant regulations and standards, especially for international businesses, can be challenging without comprehensive knowledge.
• Integration Conflicts: Existing third-party integrations may not be immediately compatible with the new system, potentially requiring updates or replacements.
• Downtime Management: Minimizing disruption to live stores during the migration process can be tricky, especially for high-traffic sites.
• Resource Allocation: Balancing the migration project with ongoing store management and development needs can strain internal resources.

Not a know-it-all?

In the likely event that you need help with the migration. Of course you do, why else would you be reading a blog about it?

Here is our calendar to book time and discuss your migration:

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