Fall has arrived, and it's not just bringing vibrant foliage, but also fresh releases. Look forward to designs for the Figma community, new B2B features, and extensions of the subscription function!
A quick note: This October roundup showcases all the highlights that were published this month – including those rolled out for the Shopware Cloud. Therefore, you will find a note for each feature indicating which form it refers to: self-hosted and/or Cloud.
Dive in, explore, and get inspired by the details in each section and our video!
Overview:
New releases for the Figma community
Designers, take note!
1. Revamped Figma Storefront Design Library:
This update includes new components and enhancements to existing ones (dive deeper with the Storefront Library's changelog).
The library now comes with documentation for each Storefront component. This makes it easier to use, especially for those just stepping into the world of Shopware.
2. Release of the Storefront UI Kit:
The kit encompasses all default screens for the storefront, such as the list page, product detail page, cart, and checkout.
Thanks to the kit's integration with the storefront library, our partners can adapt their designs more quickly. They can utilize Shopware assets without having to create everything from scratch.
This is a significant milestone for the Storefront Design. For the first time, we've made a UI Kit available to the public. We know many partners have been eagerly awaiting this update – and now it's here.
The comprehensive documentation enables everyone to make the most of the storefront library's components. We're proud to continuously enhance our resources and make them accessible to all.
In this video, Rachel shows you the highlight features of October.
All the updates that are primarily relevant for developers can be tracked in our announcement on GitHub. It might also be worth taking a look at the changelog.
This is about features that are not included in the Community Edition. Take a look at our overview to compare the different Shopware plans and activate the Shopware Commercial extension to use the commercial features.
Expansion of Shopware Subscriptions
Been loving the Subscriptions feature on Shopware Beyond? We've got some exciting news! We're dialing it up a notch with two game-changing additions:
Discounts
You can now offer your customers discounts on subscribed products, making subscriptions even more appealing. Simply set an individual percentage discount. You can configure this for every delivery interval.
Discounts combined with subscriptions are the perfect match, offering three major benefits:
Boosted customer loyalty: Discounts are the golden ticket to get customers hooked on subscriptions. They ensure customers return regularly, fostering a closer relationship with your business.
Long-term customer commitment: When customers see bigger savings on longer subscriptions, they're more likely to stick around. That's steady revenue for you and less hustle in the new customer chase.
Max out on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): A satisfied subscriber who regularly benefits from discounts will spend more over time. This boosts the average value of a customer for your business and maximizes overall revenue.
Setting a minimum term for subscriptions
From now on, you can determine when a subscription can be canceled for the first time for each delivery interval. This provides you, as a merchant, with greater planning security. By controlling the minimum subscription duration, you can better forecast and adjust your business models accordingly. Moreover, this function allows you to offer your customers attractive discount deals based on the length of the subscription.
Two new features for Shopware B2B Components
As you may have already heard, our B2B Suite is getting a major facelift, both technically and content-wise. The result? A fresh feature set, which we call B2B Components. The best part is that merchants can cherry-pick the tools they need. And yes, both Shopware Evolve and Beyond users can unlock these at no extra cost.
This month, we released two features for the B2B Components: B2B Employee Management and B2B Quote Management.
B2B Employee Management: Empower your business customers' employees
In the digital B2B market, it's all about fostering company-to-company connections. Business customers have unique needs, distinct from individual shoppers. Case in point: Often, multiple employees of a company make purchases on behalf of the firm simultaneously.
With our new "B2B Employee Management" feature, we offer precisely this capability. Business customers can now create individual logins for their employees. These employees can then place orders on behalf of the company. Moreover, access can be finely tuned through different permissions and roles.
Note: This release is just the beginning. In future updates, we will further expand the functions of "B2B Employee Management." In particular, the introduction of approval workflows will be the focus of the next development phases.
B2B Quote Management: Customized offers for your business partners
In the B2B realm, personalized pricing and bespoke offers can make or break a deal. That's where our "B2B Quote Management" steps in, offering unmatched flexibility.
How it works: Clients fill their carts and ping you for a custom quote. You get the heads-up via email, and from your dashboard, you can track, tweak, and finalize offers. Set item-specific prices, or throw in a blanket discount.
And if you're feeling proactive? Create offers on-the-fly and shoot them over to clients, no request needed.
For the business customer, the process is equally transparent and straightforward. They are informed about received offers and can view them in their profile in the storefront. There, they have the choice to accept or decline the offer. Upon acceptance, the products with the agreed prices and discounts are directly converted into an order.
We plan to further expand this feature, especially to improve merchant-customer interactions. Specifically, we want to optimize the dialogue between the request, initial offer, and final order, providing both the merchant and the customer with additional communication options.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all GitHub contributors for their pull requests that have been incorporated into this version. 💙
