Shopify GraphQL APIs allow businesses to create more intelligent and flexible commerce experiences by providing merchants with greater control over their data. eCommerce today is not just about selling products; it is about providing an enhanced level of service by providing speed, accuracy, and personalization in a scalable way. Traditional REST APIs often fail to keep pace as merchants expand their online stores and require real-time information, personalized storefronts, and intelligent search capabilities.

The Shopify GraphQL API enables merchants to gain access to these advanced capabilities and take their stores into the future. At Expectrec, we provide our clients with the knowledge needed to take advantage of all that Shopify GraphQL has to offer, whether you’re an existing merchant, just starting out, or anywhere in between.

What Is Shopify GraphQL API?

The Shopify GraphQL API is a query language for APIs that lets developers request exactly the data they need (nothing else).

Unlike many REST APIs that have multiple endpoints returning the same data structure and have restrictions on how much information can be sent from them, the Shopify GraphQL API allows:

• Fetching exact data needed
• Reduce the number of API requests
• Provides faster response times
• Increased flexibility in creating custom apps and stores for merchants.

GraphQL is heavily used throughout Shopify’s Admin API and Storefront API, making it the backbone of all Shopify development.

Why Shopify Chose GraphQL Over REST

Traditional REST APIs can limit the functionality of merchants with rapid growing businesses. If a merchant tries to retrieve products, variants, inventories, collections, or metafields from a traditional REST API they may be required to make anywhere from three to ten separate API calls to receive those items, which ultimately impacts performance.

The Shopify GraphQL API fixes all of those problems for merchants and developers by allowing them to do the following:

• Get multiple resources in one call
• Reduce over and under-fetching of data
• Build high-performance scalable storefronts
• Handle complex catalogs of products efficiently

The difference is particularly pronounced for Shopify Plus stores/brands with high volume inventory.

Key Benefits of Shopify GraphQL API

Improved Store Speed

Because GraphQL only requests the information that is necessary, it will load products far faster than if they were being pulled through the traditional API. This is especially true in search and collections, where the customer has to discover new products.

More Effective Search and Finding Products

GraphQL allows you to deeply query the attributes, tags, metafields, and variants of a product, as well as whether it is available for sale. While this is ideal for more sophisticated searching and filtering, it is also how applications such as Expectrec excel.

More Customisation Options

The flexibility of GraphQL allows developers to create more flexible custom experiences for users with headless commerce or through custom apps on Shopify.

Reduced Processing Requirements for Developers

By utilizing one query for user requests compared to multiple REST API calls, GraphQL can reduce the load on the server, providing a more reliable experience for end users.

Shopify GraphQL API and Intelligent Search

Today’s search goes beyond just a search box— it is now considered one of the most important resources to help shoppers navigate to their purchases.

The Shopify GraphQL API allows for creating advanced search solutions that can:

• Retrieve product information quickly based on shopper intent
• Provide real-time filtering by price, availability, variant, and tags
• Rank product results on-the-fly
• Implement autocorrect and predictive search

Expectrec is able to provide extremely quick results that also provide useful context and information for the user due to the advanced capabilities of Shopify’s GraphQL API.

How Expectrec Uses Shopify GraphQL API

At Expectrec.com, the Shopify GraphQL API is an important factor in building high-performance search and discovery within Shopify for merchants.

Through our deep integration with Shopify’s GraphQL layer, we provide:

• Real-Time Product Sync
• Intelligent Ranking of Search Results
• Accurate Filtering of Results Based on Attributes
• Faster Response Times for Search Queries (even with large catalogs)

Instead of retrieving irrelevant data, we only retrieve the necessary data, ensuring we provide you with speed, accuracy, and scalability.

GraphQL Storefront API vs Admin API (Quick Overview)

Expectrec will mainly utilize Storefront APIs to provide customers with accurate and immediate results without sacrificing performance.

Is Shopify GraphQL API Beginner Friendly?

Although GraphQL has a very steep learning curve, Shopify provides users with fantastic documentation given that nearly all of the solutions available for merchants running on Shopify will eventually utilize the power of GraphQL—without having to learn about or deal with its complexity themselves.

Expectrec is just that solution!

Final Thoughts

The Shopify GraphQL API provides merchants with more than just a better way to build their business; it provides them with tools to create faster storefronts and much smarter search functionality, along with infinitely scalable commerce experiences.

At Expectrec.com, we utilize the Shopify GraphQL API to take the raw data from a merchant’s store and turn it into an intelligent and meaningful search outcome—allowing merchants to move from basic search to intelligent product discovery.

Because when customers can find what they are looking for faster, businesses grow faster!