# Out-of-the-box ecommerce, a decade later

> In December 2015 this embed was a brand-new feature. Now it is the whole product. A short retrospective with the original 2015 snippet, the modern 2026 version, and what actually changed.

Ryan Badger - 9 December 2015 - 2 min read

## What this post used to say

Back in December 2015, "Out of the Box eCommerce" was a brand-new feature. The pitch: paste one script tag into your existing site, and a product catalogue appears. The original embed code was a forty-field JSON blob you copied from your dashboard. Configurable, but a *lot* to read.

That was the whole post. A decade ago.

## What changed

The embed isn't a feature anymore. It's the entire product. Shoprocket is still "a script you paste into any website" but the architecture underneath is unrecognisable from the 2015 snippet. Two big things moved.

### The snippet got shorter

The 2015 payload serialised every visual preference in JSON at paste time: button colour, padding, product sort order, image dimensions, whether to show the "free shipping" pill, about thirty more switches. All of that now lives server-side, configured once in your dashboard. The embed itself is just an identifier.

**Then (2015):**

```
<script type="application/json">
{"store_id":"1","publishable_key":"1","options":{
  "products_to_display":"categorized",
  "product_size":"medium",
  "image_width":"1126",
  "image_height":"1400",
  "button_style":"standard",
  "product_pagination_limit":"6"
  /* …thirty more fields… */
},"styles":{
  "button_background":"#233642",
  "button_color":"#ffffff"
  /* …and so on… */
}}
</script>
<script async src="https://cdn.shoprocket.io/loader.js"></script>
```

**Now (2026):**

```
<!-- EXAMPLE ONLY. Grab your real snippet from Sales channels → Embeds in your dashboard -->
<script src="https://cdn.shoprocket.io/loader.js" data-pk="pk_yourkey"></script>
<div data-shoprocket="catalog" data-embed-id="emb_xxx"></div>
```

One line. Same capability, better defaults, and the rendered storefront reads config from the server so you never touch those thirty switches by hand again.

### Config moved to the dashboard

Anything you wanted to customise used to live *in* the embed payload, which meant editing the embed meant editing your website. Now you edit your store once and every embed, on every site, updates instantly. If you're selling across three sites, you change the brand colour once.

> **Tip:** If you do need per-site overrides (one store, multiple visual themes), the widget supports `data-sr-theme="handle"` to pin an embed to a specific saved theme. Different snippet per site, one store behind them all.

## What the embed does today

- **Any website.** WordPress, Squarespace, Webflow, Framer, Carrd, Notion, plain HTML, static sites. If you can paste a script tag, you can have a storefront.
- **Any surface.** Single buy button, product grid, slide-out cart, or full storefront. One script, four `data-sr-type` variants.
- **Zero transaction fees.** Subscription-based ([see pricing](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pricing.md)); Stripe and PayPal still take their usual cut on the payment itself, but Shoprocket takes nothing on top.
- **Any locale.** The widget auto-detects the visitor's language across 21 locales and localises prices, payment methods, and labels.

## The one thing that didn't change

The reason we called it "out of the box" in the first place was that it worked the moment you pasted it. No developer, no theme customisation, no rebuild of your existing site. That's still true ten years later. It just takes fewer characters to prove it.

If you haven't tried the current version, [start a free trial](https://app-v3.shoprocket.io/signup). Setup is under five minutes.

---

- HTML version: https://v3.shoprocket.io/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later
- Language: English (en)
- Also in: [العربية](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ar/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later.md), [Deutsch](https://v3.shoprocket.io/de/blog/ecommerce-out-of-the-box-ein-jahrzehnt-spaeter.md), [Ελληνικά](https://v3.shoprocket.io/el/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later.md), [Español](https://v3.shoprocket.io/es/blog/ecommerce-listo-para-usar-una-decada-despues.md), [Français](https://v3.shoprocket.io/fr/blog/ecommerce-cle-en-main-dix-ans-apres.md), [עברית](https://v3.shoprocket.io/he/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later.md), [हिन्दी](https://v3.shoprocket.io/hi/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later.md), [Bahasa Indonesia](https://v3.shoprocket.io/id/blog/ecommerce-siap-pakai-satu-dekade-kemudian.md), [Italiano](https://v3.shoprocket.io/it/blog/ecommerce-pronto-all-uso-dieci-anni-dopo.md), [日本語](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ja/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later.md), [Lietuvių](https://v3.shoprocket.io/lt/tinklarastis/e-komercija-is-dezes-po-desimtmecio.md), [Norsk](https://v3.shoprocket.io/nb/blogg/nettbutikk-ut-av-boksen-ti-ar-etter.md), [Nederlands](https://v3.shoprocket.io/nl/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-tien-jaar-later.md), [Polski](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pl/blog/ecommerce-z-pudelka-dekade-pozniej.md), [Português](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pt/blog/ecommerce-pronto-para-usar-uma-decada-depois.md), [Română](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ro/blog/ecommerce-gata-de-utilizare-un-deceniu-mai-tarziu.md), [Русский](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ru/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later.md), [ไทย](https://v3.shoprocket.io/th/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later.md), [Türkçe](https://v3.shoprocket.io/tr/blog/hazir-kutudan-eticaret-on-yil-sonra.md), [中文](https://v3.shoprocket.io/zh/blog/out-of-the-box-ecommerce-a-decade-later.md)