In this article, we share our vision for the future of analytics on FastStore and invite you to share your thoughts.

Before we start, it's important to highlight that this is not a commitment to any of the following topics, and we have not yet planned when they will be implemented or even if they'll come to be. That being said, we envision an ever-evolving analytics solution for FastStore, and we count on you to build it together with us.

Universal Analytics​

We want to make it easy to migrate to FastStore, regardless of where you are coming from. To address that, we intend to support Universal Analytics on our official starters. We still plan to recommend and enforce Google Analytics 4 whenever possible. Still, we want to give our users and developers the time they need to fully understand and migrate to the new version of Google Analytics.

dataLayer completeness​

To create rich reports about ecommerce operations, collecting rich data is necessary. In Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, this is done by pushing data to the dataLayer.

Currently, our official starters support only GA4 Enhanced Ecommerce capabilities. This is not enough for most stores, which need more data powering their reports. We want to address this issue.

There's no definitive answer for which properties we should include in our official starters' dataLayer by default, and that's why we want to hear from you.

Analytics libraries for store segments​

Grocery, fashion, and appliances are all store segments with specific needs regarding design, functionality, and, of course, analytics.

We believe it makes sense to have custom-built events targeted to specific store segments so these stores can fully understand the shoppers' behavior. For grocery, for example, we believe it would be helpful to know how many users try to enter their address, but there's no store near them or the most popular stores in a given area.

These libraries would be accompanied by extensive documentation explaining the meaning behind each event, when to fire them, which information is required, autocomplete, how to integrate it with Google Analytics, etc. Also, using these libraries would be optional.

Zooming out​

The Analytics SDK module, Partytown, and the built-in integration offered by our official starters make us really excited about our analytics solutions and what's to come. We have a great opportunity to offer our clients a delightful experience while still allowing them to explore options other than the ones we've established by default. The future can also look bright, and we want to hear from you: what would you like to see from the FastStore team regarding analytics?

Continue learning​

To continue learning, check our advanced guide about Analytics on FastStore.

The search query has been enhanced to allow cross-selling and upselling of products. Also, the new subscribeToNewsletter mutation is now available in the FastStore API. In the FastStore UI, the Slider and PriceRange components now allow ref forwarding.

To go live, FastStore projects developed with Gatsby 4 and Next.js require a new environment variable. This new setting relates to improving and automating the hosting flow in WebOps.

What has changed?​

Setting up the SITE_HOST environment variable is now necessary in order to deploy new FastStore websites, developed with Gatsby 4 and Next.js, to production.

Why did we make these changes?​

To improve the hosting flow in WebOps, the WebOps team built a new automation related to this new environment variable.

What needs to be done?​

Open the vtex.env file and add the SITE_HOST key with the main domain specified in VTEX Account Management as the value. For more information, please refer to Configuring external DNS for a custom domain.

+ SITE_HOST= {hostDomain}

PLPs now support price range filtering, and nonexistent PDPs can now handle 404 errors. Also, more components have been updated to conform to the new Base Store Theming architecture.

The FastStore UI now includes the Hero and Dropdown components. Also, the FastStore API was enhanced to better support page error handling. Global changes were also implemented to enable price range filtering on PLPs.

New cart-related events are now being tracked, and enhancements in the LCP score have been implemented. Also, more components have been updated to use the Base Store theming structure.

New OutOfStock and ProductCard components added to the FastStore UI. Also, improvements in the FastStore API now allow fetching additional properties of a product.

Users will now need to authenticate to VTEX in order to access WebOps previews generated for pushed commits in a FastStore repository.

To access the deploy previews, users will need to have access to the myvtex.com domain of the VTEX account indicated either in the GATSBY_STORE_ID from the vtex.env file or the api.storeId entry exported by the store.config.js file.

What has changed?​

Previously, WebOps previews were published to public URLs by default. Now, they require VTEX authentication and are private by default.

Why did we make these changes?​

Deploy previews may include changes to your storefront and new features that are not yet available to the general public. They may also trigger false phishing alerts since they are the same website hosted on a development domain. This change aims to prevent unauthorized access to such content while making the platform more secure.

What needs to be done?​

Every new deploy preview will be private by default. However, to be able to log in and access the private previews, you must install the vtex.faststore-auth app in your account. To do this, run the following command:

vtex install vtex.faststore-auth

If, for any reason, you need your FastStore previews to be accessed by the public or third-party solutions, you may disable authentication by adding USE_DEPLOY_PREVIEW_AUTH=false to your project's vtex.env file.

We've recently changed the configurations needed for the secure subdomain. Hence, if you come across the "This connection is not private" error while trying to complete an order at your store website, check if your website's secure subdomain is pointing to secure.{hostname}.cdn.vtex.com, where {hostname} is the complete address of your store.

What has changed?​

The secure subdomain must now point to secure.{hostname}.cdn.vtex.com, where {hostname} is the complete address of your store. Before, the secure subdomain was being pointed to {account}.vtexcommercestable.com.br.

What needs to be done?​

If you come across the "This connection is not private" error in your store website, repeat the Hosting a FastStore + VTEX website guide, making sure that the secure subdomain is pointing to secure.{hostname}.cdn.vtex.com.

We’ve recently launched VTEX Headless CMS 1.x. For this new version to properly work, the Releases app must be installed and configured on the VTEX account.

What has changed?​

Besides notable new features, such as the non-blocking Publishing Flow, this update makes the VTEX Headless CMS strictly dependent on the Releases app.

Why did we make these changes?​

Gradually, Releases should become the single place in the VTEX platform to look into any changes that might affect published stores. VTEX Headless CMS moves in sync with this roadmap by requiring Releases integration in its latest version. This both reduces the complexity of our Publishing Flow implementation, facilitating debugging and improving stability, and also makes sure we’re future-ready with how the VTEX platform is moving.

What needs to be done?​

Developers must upgrade to VTEX Headless CMS 1.x and configure the Releases app as described in this guide.