Shop Now: On-Store Setup (Manual)

This article pertains to merchants with the original version of On-Store that requires manual code entry to activate. If setting up On-Store for the first time, Loop recommends following setup steps from the On-Store setup (embedded) article.

For those with the original On-Store setup who want to switch to the embedded On-Store setup, please review Loop's On-Store switching instructions.

OVERVIEW

Loop's Shop Now: On-Store feature uses a store's product collections in Shopify to encourage shoppers to make exchanges instead of returns. The resulting exchanges help merchants retain and increase revenue.

In this article:

• How it works
• Shop Now: the On-Store shopper experience
• Set up Shop Now: On-Store
  • Get On-Store into Shopify's theme editor
    • Set up a development theme in Shopify
    • Add a snippet to the development theme
  • Fill in the blanks
    • Add the API key
    • Add the attach identifier
• Test your work
  • Test the setup
  • Test the checkout button(s)
  • Troubleshoot if needed
• Optional setup details
• Publish Shop Now: On-Store
• FAQ

How it works

The Shop Now: On-Store experience has two parts:

• The Shop Now feature lets a shopper exchange an item they bought with any other item from the store's catalog while they're still in the Loop portal.
• The On-Store version of Shop Now brings the shopper directly to the store's website to make this new purchase before returning to Loop.

Shop Now: the On-Store shopper experience

Check out the video below to understand what this shopper experience looks like!

Set up Shop Now: On-Store

Follow the instructions below to set up the On-Store feature. After doing these steps, merchants can choose to set up more details based on their store’s specific needs.

Get On-Store into Shopify's theme editor

Because the current theme is likely not set up for On-Store, merchants must create a new theme to connect to the On-Store feature. Play the video below or review the written instructions beneath it to learn how to set up a new theme. The video covers instructions before the "Fill in the blanks" header.

Set up a development theme in Shopify

First, set up a space in the store's Shopify account to enable the On-Store experience:

1. Open the Shopify admin page in a separate tab or window in the browser.

2. On the left sidebar, click Sales channels.

   
   

   

3. Click Online Store when the pop-up window appears.

   

4. After the page loads, the store's current live theme should appear in the middle of the screen. Click the ellipsis button (a set of three periods) on the right side of the current live theme.

   

5. From the ellipsis menu, click Duplicate. A copy of the current theme will appear in the "Theme library" section of the page with a “Just Added” tag next to the “Copy of [theme]” title.

   

   Important: Do NOT click Publish on the new theme yet, as doing this will activate the new theme before setup is done.

6. Rename the new theme as needed. 

   1. On the new theme, click the ellipsis button > Rename. A pop-up window will appear with a text field.

      

   2. Enter the new name. Loop recommends naming the theme in a memorable way, such as "Theme + Loop On-Store Integration."

   3. Click Save in the pop-up window.

      

Add a snippet to the development theme

A snippet is a reusable block of code, similar to a paragraph in a textbook. Saving these can help merchants reuse good pieces of code in the future.

Loop has already written the snippet for its On-Store merchants! Just insert it into the theme code by following the instructions below:

1. On the new theme, click the ellipsis button > Edit code. This will load Shopify’s theme editor.

   

2. Under the Layout folder on the left, click the file titled “theme.liquid”.

   

3. Locate the closing body tag (" </body> "), as the snippet will go above this line. Find </body> using one of the ways below:
   1. Scroll to the bottom of the code window and look for the tag there.
   2. Press Control F (Command F on a Mac) at the same time on the keyboard to activate the finder tool. In the finder’s text field (probably in the top right of the screen), type “ </body> ”. Then, press Enter on the keyboard. The finder will highlight </body> in the code.
4. Return to this instruction page. Highlight and Copy the On-Store script below:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@loophq/onstore-sdk@latest/dist/loop-onstore-sdk.min.js"></script>
<script> 
   LoopOnstore.init({ 
   key: "example api key", 
   attach: "example attach value", 
   });
</script>

5. Go back to the Shopify theme editor. Click in front of </body> in the code, then Paste the highlighted script. This should place the script directly above the </body> tag so that it looks like the screenshot below:

   

6. Click Save in the upper right corner of the theme editor window.

   

   
   

Fill in the blanks

Next, plug in the remaining values for the On-Store snippet. To learn how to set up the new theme, play the video below or review the written instructions beneath it. The video covers instructions before the "Test your work" header.

Add the API key

To add the API key to the On-Store snippet:

1. Open a new browser tab or window and go to Loop admin.

2. On the left, click Settings > Developers.

   
   

   

3. Scroll down to the “API keys” section.

4. Ensure that the Scopes column shows the chosen API key as “Cart” only. (Including more scopes could expose returns data. Create a Cart-only API key if one doesn't exist yet.)

   

5. Copy the API key from the “Key” column.
6. Go back to the theme editor and find the previously copied-and-pasted On-Store snippet.

7. Replace “example api key” with the API key. Be sure to keep the quotes around it!

   

8. Click Save in the upper right corner of the theme editor window.

   

Add the attach identifier

To add the attach value to the On-Store snippet:

1. Open the Shopify store in a new tab.

2. Right-click the checkout button and select Inspect to open the Inspector Tool.

   

3. In the highlighted part of the Inspector Tool, find the ID or Class (this will look like “id=‘[id]’” or “class=‘[class]’”). These are unique identifiers for the checkout button.

   

4. Copy the part in quotes for ID or Class; either one will do.

   Tip: If a unique ID does not exist for the checkout button, add one. One also may be available in Snippet > “cart-template.liquid” in the theme editor. However, the placement depends on the particular theme. For help, please reach out to support@loopreturns.com.

5. In the Shopify theme editor, find the previously copied-and-pasted On-Store snippet.

6. Replace “example attach value” with the identifier, keeping the quotes around it.

   

7. Click Save in the upper right corner to make sure all of the changes keep!

attach="#checkout, .checkout-btn"

Great job! Later, when publishing the new theme, this code will activate the Shop Now: On-Store experience automatically for shoppers coming from Loop. Adding the API key to the On-Store snippet also lets the store code talk to Loop’s API.

Test your work

Now, test the work that was done to make sure On-Store is functioning as expected.

Test the setup

To test:

1. Click Save in the theme editor to make sure all of the changes stick.
2. Click the back arrow on the theme editor page to return to the Shopify themes.

3. On the theme being edited, click the ellipsis button > Preview.

   

4. Right-click anywhere on the new Preview tab and select Inspect.

5. Click the Console tab at the top of the Inspector Tool. If struggling to find the Console tab, try clicking the carrot symbol to show more options.

   

6. Scroll to the bottom of the code in the Console tab.
7. Type “LoopOnstore.testMode()” at the very end of the code. (Or, copy and paste it from here.)

8. Press Enter on the keyboard. A credit banner should appear at the bottom of the Preview page:

   

   If a credit banner doesn't appear, return to the snippet section to make sure the script was installed correctly. If this doesn't help, please contact support@loopreturns.com.

Test the checkout button(s)

Merchants must also test the checkout button to confirm that the Loop.submit function works. Below the GIF (graphics interchange format) visual are written instructions to follow.

To test the checkout button(s):

1. In the theme’s Preview tab, add any product to the cart.
2. Right-click anywhere to open the Inspector Tool again and click the Network tab.

3. Underneath the tab names, make sure the "Preserve log" checkbox is selected. If it isn’t, click the “Preserve log” square to select it.

   

4. Click the checkout button in the cart within Shopify. Again, click each separate checkout button on the website. Doing so should display a screen pop-up saying “Test Mode Successful”:

   

5. Developers can also check that no unexpected responses or errors appear under the Network tab.

Troubleshoot if needed

Clicking the checkout button should display a pop-up on the screen saying “Test Mode Successful”:

If the pop-up does not appear, double-check the following:

• A call to “api.loopreturns.com/api/v1/cart/” should appear under Inspector Tool > Network > Names.

  

• When clicking on the API call above, a few sub-tab options will appear. Clicking the Payload sub-tab should show the array of variant IDs.

• When clicking on the Response sub-tab, a token should appear.

  

For more troubleshooting, please refer to Loop's On-Store troubleshooting article.

Optional setup details

Once tests are successful, merchants can visualize this integration on their site. However, Loop recommends also reviewing the optional setup steps before publishing the new theme, in case the store has additional needs Loop can help resolve. Please consider the article above with a developer before continuing. After setting up anything else needed, continue below.

Publish Shop Now: On-Store

After setup and testing, publish the theme! Below the GIF are written instructions to follow.

To publish the On-Store theme in Shopify:

1. Go to Shopify admin > Sales channels > Online Store.

2. Click the Publish button next to the theme being published. This will display the new theme on the storefront immediately.

   

3. Notify your Onboarding Specialist or email us at support@loopreturns.com!

A developer can also make a call directly in their browser to “LoopOnstore.isActive()” to confirm that a shopper will have the On-Store experience.

FAQ

What plan do I need to be on to utilize this feature? To check to see if this feature is included in your plan, please review the Pricing page on the Loop Returns website. If you're interested in this adding this feature, please contact your Merchant Success Manager or support@loopreturns.com.

Now that I’ve integrated the Shop Now: On-Store experience, can I still safely edit my theme? Absolutely! Loop recommends you save a backup of your previous theme and test the On-Store experience thoroughly after making any changes. Refer to the “Test the setup” section of this article for testing instructions.

I made a theme change and now my checkout button isn’t working correctly through the Shop Now: On-Store experience. What should I do? Review the steps for “Set up a development theme in Shopify“ and “Add a snippet to the development theme“ above. If the problem continues, please contact your Merchant Onboarding Manager or support@loopreturns.com.

Where can I find my Shop Now: On-Store API key? You can locate your API key under Loop admin > Settings > Developers.

For further questions, please contact your Merchant Onboarding Manager or support@loopreturns.com.