Shopify's Fall '26 Edition: what to set up before Black Friday

Shopify released its Fall '26 Edition, called Exponential, on 28 October 2026. The list runs to more than 150 updates. Black Friday falls on 27 November this year, so the useful question for a store owner is simple: which of these are live today, and which are worth touching before the sales weekend?

We read through Shopify's announcement and the Help Center pages behind it on 14 November 2026. This is what we would switch on now, and what we would leave until January.

What changed in the Fall '26 Edition?

For a store selling in Australia or Singapore, the updates that matter fall into four groups:

• Payments: Shopify Protect (fraud and chargeback tools) and seven new local payment methods in Shopify Payments, including GrabPay.
• AI shopping: a view in the admin that shows whether your store is eligible for Shopify Catalog, and a knowledge base where you approve what AI agents are told about your store.
• The admin: a new look on every page, a rebuilt Sidekick, and Canvas, a visual editor for the whole store that is still in early access.
• The Shop app: one checkout for carts with products from several stores.

Most of the rest is for developers, US stores or retail POS.

Is Shopify Protect worth checking before Black Friday?

Yes, mostly to know what it already does. Shopify says Protect blocks risky payments at checkout and fights chargebacks for you, at no extra cost for stores on Shopify Payments. By Shopify's own count, Shopify Payments blocks more than 12,000 high-risk payments every minute across its network. Protect is built on Shopify Payments, so a store using another gateway doesn't get these defences.

The new part is the Rule Builder, a separate app called Shopify Protect: Rule Builder. You choose the signals that matter to you, then block the payment, ask for 3D Secure, or hold the order for review. Before a rule goes live, you can preview what it would have done to your last 90 days of orders. The app is free to install with pay-as-you-go pricing, and Shopify marks some Protect features as still rolling out.

Our advice for the next two weeks: leave the default protection on and don't write new blocking rules in sale week. A rule that is too strict turns away real buyers at exactly the moment traffic peaks. If you want to try the Rule Builder, run the 90-day preview and start with "hold for review" rather than "block".

Can Singapore stores offer GrabPay now?

Some can. GrabPay is in early access, so it isn't available to every store yet. According to the Help Center, you need:

• an active Shopify Payments account located in Singapore,
• SGD turned on at checkout,
• a customer in Singapore paying in SGD. Shoppers in other countries or currencies won't see it.

GrabPay works at online checkout on desktop and mobile web. It doesn't show inside Shop Pay or the Shop app, it can't be used for subscriptions, and payments are captured automatically.

To check, go to Settings > Payments, click Manage under Shopify Payments, then More actions > Manage payment methods. If GrabPay is listed under Local payment methods, turn it on and check checkout on your phone with a Singapore address in SGD. If it isn't listed, your store isn't in the early access group yet.

For Australian stores, check the same screen. Shopify says availability of the new methods depends on your market and payment setup, so the settings page is a better guide than the announcement.

What do the AI shopping changes mean for a store outside the US?

AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Meta's tools get product information from Shopify Catalog. The new eligibility view, under Sales channels > Agentic, tells you whether your store is in the catalog, and links to a fix when something is in the way.

On the same page is the new knowledge base. Shopify drafts facts about your store from your storefront, such as return windows, shipping destinations and gift services. You review them, and agents only receive what you publish.

Even if your store can't sell inside these assistants yet, opening that page takes ten minutes, and the facts in it should match your policy pages. Which assistant accepts which country is a longer story, so we wrote it up separately: selling in ChatGPT, Copilot and Meta AI from Australia or Singapore.

Should you try Canvas or the new Sidekick before the sale?

Not on your live theme in the next two weeks. Canvas shows the whole store on one screen and lets you change it with Sidekick, from small tweaks to full redesigns. Sidekick itself can now write code, run calculations and search the web, and you approve each change before it applies.

Both are useful, and both make it easy to change a lot at once. A layout change made in sale week can't be tested against real traffic before the traffic arrives. If you want to try them, duplicate your theme and play there in December. Our notes on how sections and blocks work help if you haven't edited a theme before, and any big change is worth a speed check afterwards.

What isn't ready yet?

A few things in the release are announced but not live everywhere. Canvas is in early access. Shopify's Editions page marks some Protect features as rolling out soon. Several write-ups of the release also note that custom fields at checkout won't arrive before Black Friday. If a feature you want isn't in your admin today, plan without it for this sale.

The new admin look is rolling out to every page. It moves search, notifications and the store picker into a side panel that can be collapsed. Tell your team before the sale so nobody hunts for a button on the busiest day.

Our short list for the next two weeks

1. On Shopify Payments: keep Protect's defaults and don't add new blocking rules in sale week.
2. In Singapore: see whether GrabPay shows in your payment settings. If it does, turn it on and check checkout on a phone.
3. Open Sales channels > Agentic, fix anything the eligibility view flags, and check the knowledge base against your return and shipping policies.
4. Leave Canvas and theme redesigns until January, on a duplicate theme.
5. Show your staff the new admin layout.

If you'd like a second pair of eyes on speed, apps and tracking before the sale, that is what our Shopify store audit covers. We work with stores in Australia and Singapore.

Sources (checked 14 November 2026)

• Exponential: Shopify's Fall '26 Edition, Shopify, 28 October 2026
• GrabPay, Shopify Help Center
• Shopify Protect: Rule Builder, Shopify App Store