Shopify bets on AI agents to reshape how people shop online
Shopify is building infrastructure for AI-powered personal shoppers that will handle product discovery and purchases directly within chat interfaces. At the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein described this shift-called "agentic shopping"-as a fundamental change in how retail works.
The company sees this as a long-term opportunity. Only 18% of US retail sales happen online today, and Shopify believes AI agents could unlock growth for both consumers and the merchants on its platform.
How agentic shopping works
Rather than searching Google or browsing ads, consumers will interact with AI agents that learn their preferences and complete transactions on their behalf. These agents will prioritize products based on user behavior and brand affinity, not just keyword matches.
Finkelstein gave a personal example: instead of a search engine defaulting to mass retailers when he looks for sneakers, his AI agent would recommend On running shoes-a brand he actually wears. The agent would match context to intent.
Shopify is already rolling out the tools to make this work. Merchants can now connect with agentic interfaces like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. The company offers three core capabilities:
- Personal shopping agents: AI that finds products, compares prices, and completes purchases within chat.
- Agentic Storefronts: A tool that lets merchants list and sell products directly through AI platforms, with transactions handled in conversation.
- Shopify Knowledge Base: Allows merchants to define how agents respond to customer questions about returns, shipping, and other policies.
Shopify's developer Alex Pilon describes agents as "purpose-specific configurations of AI"-each tuned for a particular task. A support agent handles sizing questions. A marketing agent writes and deploys campaigns. A backend agent forecasts inventory needs.
Retail brands like Naadam and Ridge are already using AI agents to handle up to 60% of support tickets or generate marketing content at scale.
What marketers need to do now
This shift moves product discovery outside traditional channels. Marketers should take five concrete steps:
- Prepare your product catalog: Make sure product metadata, customer reviews, and brand content are structured and accessible to AI agents through platforms like Shopify's UCP.
- Write agent-ready content: Update return policies, sizing guides, and FAQs so they're clear and easy for AI to interpret.
- Build trust with agents: Agentic recommendations depend on data quality and brand trust. Consistency in customer experience, ratings, and fulfillment increases visibility in agent-driven results.
- Deploy agents internally first: Start with support or campaign generation. This builds familiarity with agentic workflows before going customer-facing.
- Track agent-led performance: Monitor what queries and intents drive agentic traffic to your products.
What changes for e-commerce teams
Discovery is moving out of Google and social. AI agents may become the first touchpoint, bypassing traditional search entirely.
Commerce is getting embedded in conversation. Checkout experiences will happen inside AI interfaces, not just on your website.
Merchant visibility matters. Without optimizing for agent discovery, your brand risks being excluded from high-intent queries.
Long-tail sellers could gain ground. As agents prioritize merit over marketing spend, smaller brands with relevant products may gain visibility they couldn't afford through ads.
Shopify's infrastructure is forming now. Brands that adapt early-by structuring product data, writing clear content, and tracking agent-led traffic-will have an advantage as conversational commerce becomes standard.
Learn more about AI Agents & Automation and how to prepare your team, or explore AI for Marketing strategies that align with these shifts in customer discovery.
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