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What's New in Saleor 3.0+?

Saleor is fast becoming many major brands and startups' preferred eCommerce platform. Thanks to its headless architecture and GraphQL-first API infrastructure, the eCommerce platform grows rapidly and garners widespread recognition. At the moment, Saleor has over 15,000 stars on GitHub and a community of over 180 active contributors.

Saleor team continually rolls out updates to improve the platform. The recently released Saleor 3.0 is already receiving positive reviews for introducing unique new features. And those features have been enhanced in the latest update, Saleor 3.1. For a few minutes, let's review all the new features in Saleor 3.0 and 3.1.

What's New in Saleor 3.0?

Multi-channel

The most touted feature of this update is the multi-channel functionality. It allows you to create multiple sales channels operated from a single dashboard. So, you can have two online shops selling different products to two different audiences (in different countries or on various platforms, for instance). Then, manage pricing, catalog, discounts, currency, shipping rates, and payment method for each channel from your Saleor dashboard.

Added Extensibility

Saleor's headless architecture allows for continuous expansion of its extensibility. Features introduced since the earlier versions have been significantly improved upon to present the present extensibilities available to Saleor. For example, you can now add more custom apps to the dashboard to manage things like loyalty programs or discount logic without forking the code. What's more? Write those apps in any language of your choice, and they still integrate seamlessly with the Saleor dashboard.

The Saleor team added the following features to increase Saleor's extensibility:

• Webhooks

Webhooks allow users to integrate Saleor with external services to expand its capabilities. Synchronous webhooks extend Saleor without deploying plugins on the API server. Instead, they delegate the handling of specific tasks to Saleor apps. In contrast, Asynchronous webhooks receive data from Saleor when particular events are fired. Thus, app operations are not sent back to Saleor.

Saleor 3.0 introduces synchronous payment webhooks that delegate payment handling to Saleor apps. So, you can implement a new payment gateway without forking the code. In addition, asynchronous webhooks for filtering shipping methods in checkout and order have also been included.

Using webhooks, you can also build your integrations. For example, the asynchronous webhook handling this task with an email notification service can inform the email service when there is a new order and automatically notify the customer via email.

• Metadata

The metadata functionality allows users to add information to objects that do not necessarily need to be attributes, e.g., the ID of an external warehouse or other integrations.

Robust Content Editor

• New Rich Text Editor

For version 3.0, Saleor migrated from Draft.js as its rich text editor of choice to Editor.js. Use Editor.js in read-only mode to render rich text on your storefront, or use one of the libraries recommended by its authors. In addition, the JSON format allows developers to format text using their own logic or any of the packages available.

• Media Gallery

You can now upload videos to your product pages using URL links.

• Page Types

You can now define the type of content pages used in your products pages. For instance, specify the ingredient page, nutritional value page, etc.

Upgraded Attribute System

The attribute system in Saleor 3.0 is made more robust by adding new attribute types and a content attribute class. The new attribute types in Saleor 3.0 include;

• Text

A text attribute allows admins to provide value for an attribute using a rich-text editor. It can be applied for adding alphabetical, numerical, and alphanumeric values, such as additional content sections for more content descriptions or providing ISBNs for your books.

• Numeric

A numeric attribute allows admins to provide numbers as values or units of an attribute. It can be used to specify package sizes, describe tech specs, or ascribe internal catalog numbers.

• Boolean

A Boolean attribute allows admins to define whether a value is true or false. It can be used to label products as "bestsellers," "editor's choice," etc. It can also be used to specify products containing hazardous material so that you can provide specific shipping methods for them.

• Date/Date Time

A date/date-time attribute allows admins to define a date or date and time as a value for an attribute. For example, this attribute will enable you to set release dates for products, delivery times, promo start and end dates, etc.

Improved Refund and Discount Features

Saleor improves on its existing features to make handling refunds and discounts smoother. You can choose whether to refund a full or partial order, add shipping costs, or enter an amount manually.

The discount feature allows you to create different discount offers for your separate channels. Create a sale with a fixed price or percentage and assign it to a particular channel. You can also use the Vouchers option to create vouchers with the same discount types as sales or with the free shipping type.

React Storefront

Soon, the Saleor-storefront repository will be phased out by Saleor's new react-storefront project. The project is in development, but Saleor has announced it will no longer maintain the Saleor-storefront. The new react-storefront will focus on best practices for eCommerce like server-side rendering (SSR) and incremental static regeneration (ISR), and image optimization. Another advantage the new storefront will bring to your eCommerce website is easy customization of your storefront.

MacawUI

New components (icons, buttons, etc.) have been added to MacawUI. MacawUI is a UI library with similar aesthetics and properties to the Saleor dashboard that you can use to create Saleor apps with the same interface as the rest of the dashboard.

New Stripe Plugin

The Saleor team developed a new Stripe plugin from scratch. Stripe handles payment tasks in conformation with the new SCA requirements. The plugin sends asynchronous information regarding payment confirmation to Saleor.

Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

To round up, Saleor 3.0 has multiple bug fixes, a refreshed dashboard, and outstanding speed and performance improvements. The improvements especially stand out when working with large databases. So, even if your page has thousands of attributes, it will still load fast and run smoothly.

What's New in Saleor 3.1?

Saleor 3.1 improves some of the features introduced in version 3.0 while introducing two preview stage features - Gift Cards and Click & Collect. Saleor rolled them out with the update to collect user feedback, so these features may not be permanent or may change in the future. Let's see what these new features do and other ways Saleor 3.1 improves on the ambitious 3.0.

Gift Cards

You can now create single or multiple gift cards and issue them to customers or sell them as standard products. First, you need to create the gift card product type to sell them. You can create gift cards in the customer details view or the Gift Cards section of the Saleor dashboard's catalog. For security, only staff members with MANAGE_GIFT_CARD permission can create gift cards.

Click & Collect

This is the second preview stage feature Saleor rolled out in version 3.1. Click & Collect serves as a hybrid eCommerce model where customers can order an item on your website or PWA and pick it up at a physical store. In addition, you can decide if an order can be sent from your warehouse to a specific store or if buyers can only pick it up at one location.

Swatch Attribute

Swatches are new Saleor attributes that allow admins to define color values or images for an attribute. A sample use case is a color swatch on the product page or a color filter on listing pages.

App Extensions

App extensions expand different dashboard views by mounting the extension app inside a popup or redirecting customers to the main app's page. To add an app extension, specify that extension in the app's manifest.

New Shipping Webhook

A new synchronous webhook has been introduced for shipping methods used by checkouts. This is especially significant because Saleor 3.1 allows integration with external shipping providers.

This is just a summary of all the changes implemented in Saleor 3.0 and 3.1. For more information about each feature or a full breakdown of all changes implemented in these updates, you may check the changelogs for the 3.0 and 3.1 versions.

Saleor promises additional improvements to current features, and the Saleor team will unveil new exciting features as they continue to expand the platform.

Final Thoughts

Today, modern eCommerce platform development is not just limited to creating beautiful designs. Upgrades and migrations are essential as well. Either you are looking to upgrade or migrate to Saleor, or you want to create a unique online shopping experience with the latest technologies from scratch, we've got you covered at Bravelab. By reaching out to us, you will have over ten years of eCommerce development experience at your fingertips. Contact us today!

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