Check out screen purse/ bag icon

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Topic summary

Concern about Shopify checkout UX: the checkout page shows a small purse/bag icon (linking back to the cart) instead of a clear cart icon, unlike other pages. The icon is hard to notice and feels unintuitive for editing the cart during checkout.

Key points:

  • Inconsistency: Cart icon appears on all other pages, but checkout uses a bag icon, which the poster finds confusing.
  • Usability impact: Customers may struggle to find how to edit their cart at the crucial checkout step.
  • Requested change: Replace the bag icon with a standard cart icon on the checkout page to improve clarity.

Suggested workarounds mentioned to the poster: upgrade the theme or add explanatory text directing users to the bag icon. The poster considers these unsatisfactory band-aids.

Open question: Seeking the rationale behind Shopify’s design choice and whether there’s an official solution. No resolution or official explanation provided yet.

Summarized with AI on December 11. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Why isn’t there a cart on the checkout screen so customers can intuitively navigate to their cart to edit if needed. There is a cart on every other page. Why does the most important page have a purse/ bag that takes you to your cart. This make no sense and it is hard to see. Why would a purse represent a cart? Unless you are shoplifting. This seems like an oversight. Why would someone design this in such way? Why not make THE most important page intuitive? I can’t be the only person whose sees this as totally lame. Why would be hard for Shopify to change this to a cart?

Upgrading my theme or adding clarifying text is the suggested work around. It just does not make any sense for me to add text that says, want to edit you cart? Click on the minimalist purse like icon to make adjustments. I know I can’t fix this, but I really do want to understand the thought process behind this design choice.

2

The checkout is not based on your theme like other pages are. If you’re not on the Plus plan, the ability to customize the checkout (like adding a cart icon) is limited. Normal operation of your theme customizer ends at the cart page. So changing your theme isn’t going to affect the checkout page(s).