Release Notes January 2026
The NextChapter eCommerce platform is constantly being improved and innovated. In the January 2026 release notes, we have again listed a number of important improvements & optimizations for you.
We are also continuously working on product development. Keep an eye on our blog, LinkedIn page and newsletter so that you don't miss any of our new developments. Want to know more about the release notes or their implementation in your webshop(s) and channels? Feel free to contact us.
We have done a lot of innovations in the past few months in various areas, such as:
1. Search
2. OMS features
3. Marketing features
4.PIM
Search
A strong onsite search is essential for every webshop. It helps visitors find the right product quickly and reduces the risk of early drop-off. A smart search function also significantly increases conversion rates.
NextChapter’s search technology is known for its power and stability, and we continue to invest in it.
From a technical perspective, the search functionality has recently been completely renewed. This ensures the same robustness as before, while enabling more possibilities for onsite search now and in the future.
The first visible improvement is Autosuggest. While typing, a dropdown immediately appears with relevant suggestions based on relevance and product availability.
For example, when searching for “Happy Socks,” suggestions such as “happy socks men” or “happy socks 41–46” appear instantly. By selecting a suggestion, visitors reach the desired products much faster than by navigating through multiple result pages.
You can try Autosuggest yourself at:
https://iconic.nextchapter.shop
Would you like Autosuggest in your webshop as well? Contact your account manager and NextChapter will enable it for you at no additional cost.
Pagespeed
Pagespeed remains a highly relevant topic in e-commerce. NextChapter continuously focuses on maintaining strong pagespeed performance.
Recent releases include improvements such as fetch priority to improve LCP, JavaScript and viewport optimizations, and enhancements to the order of elements in the header.
These improvements are invisible to visitors but make a significant difference in loading speed.
Single Sign-On (SSO)
With Single Sign-On, users can log into multiple systems using the same credentials. This means you can access all modules of the NextChapter multiˣ suite with one set of login details. Once logged in, you can easily switch between modules.
This feature is available immediately. Contact your account manager to activate it. We will review your account structure and configure it where necessary.
Marketing Features
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI plays a key role within the NextChapter multiˣ suite. Our customers use AI for tasks such as product data enrichment, significantly reducing the time between product creation and complete, high-quality product data with minimal effort.
At the same time, NextChapter uses AI internally to continuously improve the multiˣ suite, making it smarter, more scalable, and future proof. End customers also use AI, through tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, to quickly find products and solutions.
Here, NextChapter plays an important role. Our technology ensures that AI tools can correctly interpret your webshop, increasing the likelihood that your content appears as a relevant answer to search queries.
For example, while a user simply sees a product page with information, AI tools read this page through structured data, which NextChapter provides under the hood. This allows AI tools to better understand the context of your pages and provide more accurate recommendations.
This approach is similar to structured data for search engines like Google, with the difference that AI tools rely on even more structured data to derive context.
NextChapter continues to innovate continuously in the field of AI.
User ID in Data Layer
The NextChapter data layer has been expanded with a User ID. This allows you or your marketing agency to analyze multiple actions from a single user ID via Google Analytics or similar tools. This data cannot be traced back to individuals.
The User ID can also be used to determine whether a visitor is logged in or not.
Virtual Try-On (Digital Fitting Room)
The Virtual Try-On solution from our partner Faslet allows customers to try on clothing online. Using AI, garments are virtually placed over a photo, video, or avatar.
Customers immediately see how an item looks on them, leading to a better experience, higher conversion rates, and fewer returns.
Meta Conversion API Updates
The Meta Conversion API for Facebook and Instagram has been expanded with additional anonymous data, enabling even more accurate measurement of advertising performance.
Server-Side Tracking (SST) AdPage
Server-side tracking registers behavior via your own server instead of the browser, reducing the impact of ad blockers and privacy settings.
NextChapter has supported generic SST for some time. New is support for the specific implementation method used by AdPage.
Configurator Update
Visitors can now start configuring products directly from the overview page, in addition to the existing option on the product detail page.
OMS Features
More Insight into App Purchases
Multiˣ suite users with the app now gain better insight into app-driven results. This insight was already available in the NextChapter OMS and is now also clearly reflected in the order reporting of your webshop.
Frontend Features
Show Password During Login
Users can now toggle password visibility while typing to prevent errors. This applies wherever a password is entered, including login, registration, and password changes.
Return Notification per Location
Within the NextChapter return portal, webshops can view the number of upcoming returns. Customers are therefore often required to register their return online in advance.
In some cases, returns may not be allowed or processed for certain locations. You can now define, per location, whether return registration is permitted or not.
CRM
The NextChapter CRM provides a complete overview of customer data.
The interface has been redesigned and is now more intuitive. Data opens in a modern slide-in panel on the side, keeping information visible while navigating. All changes are applied immediately.
Security
NextChapter maintains a continuous focus on security. Ongoing updates ensure the platform remains secure, stable, and well protected against known vulnerabilities.
Multiple independent parties regularly conduct penetration tests on the NextChapter platform, with excellent results.
PIM
Product API Image Extensions
Including GetImages, GetImage and DeleteImage endpoints
The Product API has been extended with the following endpoints:
Get Product Images to retrieve all images of a product
Get Product Image to retrieve a specific image by code per product
Delete Product Image to remove one or more images
Database Architecture
NextChapter has renewed the database architecture that allows customers to run on a dedicated database.
Platform Maintenance and Health
NextChapter continuously focuses on platform maintenance in every release, in the broadest sense. This ensures technical stability and quality, updates or removes outdated components, improves existing code, upgrades underlying technology to the latest versions, and maintains the highest security and privacy standards.
In addition, continuous updates, both large and small, are made to the multiˣ suite. Many of these updates are too detailed to list in release notes. Behind the scenes, NextChapter continuously improves existing features, interfaces, data, and processes. These smaller updates also contribute to a stable and well-performing platform.
Bug-Free
Issues and bugs within the platform are always resolved immediately. As a result, the NextChapter platform is fully bug-free.