The Announcement Bar
The announcement bar is the slim strip above your storefront header. It's the first thing a visitor reads, and it's where you put the things you'd otherwise have to say to every customer one by one — a promotion, a holiday closure, a delivery deadline, a new arrival. This guide covers turning it on, writing several rotating messages, linking each one, and choosing the colours.
What the announcement bar is
It's a single-line bar that sits directly above the header of your online store and your online menu. You can put up to 10 messages in it. With one message it's a plain static bar; with more, it fades from one message to the next every 5 seconds and shows a row of small dots so customers know there's more than one. The bar keeps a fixed height, so nothing on the page shifts as the messages change.
Each message can carry an optional link, and the bar as a whole can have its own background and text colour. It costs nothing to run and needs no design work — you type a sentence and it's live.
Where to set it up
The announcement bar is in two places, and they edit the same thing — use whichever you're already in:
- Settings → Features → Announcement bar — the quickest route if you just want to change the wording.
- Website Design → Header → Announcement Bar — alongside your theme, banners, and the rest of your storefront design.
Adding and ordering messages
Switch the bar on and the message editor appears. Type your message in the text field, then click Add message for each extra one — the button disappears once you reach 10. Remove a message with the × button on its row, and drag the handle on the left of any row to change the order. The order in the editor is the order visitors see, top to bottom. Nothing is saved until you click Save.
Messages can be up to 255 characters, but keep them short. The bar is one line and phones are narrow, so a long sentence gets trimmed — roughly 40 to 60 characters is the sweet spot. If you have a lot to say, split it into two messages and let the bar rotate.
Linking a message
Next to each message is a link dropdown listing the places on your own storefront a visitor can be sent: your pages (shop, collections, contact, FAQs, return policy, shipping policy — or your menu, if you run a menu), your booking page and Google Maps location when those are set up, and every public category, tag, and product. Pick one and the whole message becomes clickable. Leave it on No link for an announcement that's purely informational, like opening hours over a holiday.
An announcement about a sale should almost always link somewhere. "20% off all coffee this week" that a customer can tap to reach the coffee category converts far better than the same sentence they have to go and find themselves.
Colours
Under the messages you can set a background colour and a text colour for the bar. These apply to the whole bar, not to individual messages — one bar, one look. Leave both blank and the bar uses your store theme colour, which is how it appears by default and is the right choice for most stores. Change them when you want the bar to stand out against your header, or for a short seasonal promotion.
On phones
Most storefront visitors arrive on a phone. Customers can swipe the bar left or right to move through the announcements at their own pace, and the automatic rotation picks up again afterwards. If a visitor's device is set to reduce motion, the fade is replaced by an instant swap.
What replaced the free delivery banner
The bar used to say one thing only: your free delivery message. It now says whatever you want. If you had free delivery banner text, it was carried over automatically as your first announcement, so no storefront went blank. Free delivery itself is unchanged — the minimum order amount that zeroes the delivery fee at checkout still lives in your delivery settings, and it's now independent of the bar. You can advertise free delivery, advertise something else, or turn the bar off entirely without touching your delivery pricing.
What to actually write
The bar earns its place when it answers something a customer would otherwise have to ask. Good candidates: a live promotion and its end date, your free delivery threshold, a holiday closure or changed hours, the cut-off time for same-day delivery, a new collection, or a stock warning on something popular. Keep the list to two or three at a time — a bar cycling through eight messages is one nobody finishes reading. For more ideas and wording, see what to put in your store's announcement bar.
Frequently asked questions
How many announcements can I show at once?
Up to 10 messages in the bar. With one message the bar is static. With two or more, it fades from one to the next every 5 seconds and shows a small dot for each message, so customers can see how many there are.
Where does the announcement bar appear?
In a slim strip directly above the header on your online store and your online menu. It is not shown on the checkout page, which has its own layout, and it never appears inside your dashboard.
Can I link an announcement to a page or a product?
Yes. Each message has an optional link chosen from a dropdown of your own storefront links — your shop, collections, contact, FAQs, return and shipping policy pages, your booking page, your Google Maps location, plus every public category, tag, and product. Pick one and the whole message becomes clickable.
Can I change the announcement bar colours?
Yes. You can set a background colour and a text colour for the bar. They apply to the whole bar, not to individual messages. Leave both blank and the bar uses your store theme colour, which is how it looks by default.
What happened to the free delivery banner?
It became the announcement bar. If you had free delivery banner text, it was moved across automatically as your first announcement, so nothing disappeared from your storefront. Free delivery itself is unchanged: the minimum order amount still zeroes the delivery fee at checkout, and it is now independent of what the bar says.
Does the bar work on phones?
Yes. On a phone customers can swipe left or right to move between announcements, and the automatic rotation resumes after the swipe. The bar keeps a fixed height so the page never jumps as messages change.
How long can an announcement be?
Up to 255 characters, but short is better. The bar is one line on a phone, so a long message gets cut off. Aim for a few words — around 40 to 60 characters reads well on every screen.