According to TechCrunch, Shopify reported during its third-quarter earnings call that traffic from AI tools to its online stores has increased seven times since January 2024, while purchases attributed to AI-powered search have jumped eleven times. President Harley Finkelstein called AI the “biggest shift in technology since the internet” and emphasized that AI is central to Shopify’s engine rather than just being a feature. The company, which partnered with OpenAI in September, is also working with Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot on in-chat shopping experiences. Shopify’s Q3 financial results showed revenue up 32% to $2.84 billion, beating estimates, though the stock dipped slightly due to operating income of $434 million missing expectations by $3 million. A recent Shopify survey found that 64% of shoppers are likely to use AI when making purchases.
Sponsored content — provided for informational and promotional purposes.
What’s driving the AI boom
Here’s the thing about Shopify‘s AI advantage – they’re sitting on a goldmine of data that most companies would kill for. They’ve got millions of merchants and billions of transactions feeding their AI models. That’s not something you can just replicate overnight. And they’re moving fast with what Finkelstein calls “founder mode” mentality, which basically means they’re shipping AI products quickly rather than getting bogged down in endless planning.
Their internal tools like Scout are already showing how powerful this approach can be. Scout helps employees search through hundreds of millions of pieces of merchant feedback to make better product decisions. But that’s just the beginning. They’re building infrastructure to turn everything – support tickets, usage data, reviews, social interactions – into what they call “fast, informed decisions.” It’s like they’re creating an AI nervous system for the entire e-commerce ecosystem.
The agentic commerce vision
Shopify isn’t just building AI features – they’re trying to lay what Finkelstein calls “the rails for agentic commerce.” What does that even mean? Basically, they want to make shopping seamlessly integrated into every AI conversation, whether you’re chatting with ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Microsoft Copilot. They’re betting that the future of commerce isn’t about people actively searching for products but about AI agents helping them discover and buy things naturally.
And they’re smart about not putting all their eggs in one basket. Finkelstein acknowledged there will be “different permutations” of how agentic commerce evolves, so they need to be ready for “whichever path wins.” That’s the same approach they took with social commerce and the shift to omnichannel retail. They’re not trying to predict the future – they’re building infrastructure flexible enough to adapt to whatever comes next.
What this means for everyone else
For Shopify merchants, this could be huge. If you’re on Shopify, you’re automatically plugged into this growing AI ecosystem without having to build anything yourself. Your products become discoverable through all these AI channels that Shopify is integrating with. That’s a massive advantage over smaller platforms or custom-built stores.
But here’s the real question – is this the beginning of the end for traditional search-based e-commerce? When 64% of shoppers say they’re likely to use AI for purchases, we’re looking at a fundamental shift in how people shop online. We’re moving from typing keywords into search bars to having conversations with AI assistants that understand context and preferences. Shopify’s betting big that this shift is real, and their 7x traffic and 11x order growth suggest they might be right.
The stock market’s reaction to their earnings – dipping slightly on a small operating income miss – feels like it’s missing the bigger picture. They’re building for the next decade of commerce, not just the next quarter. And with revenue still growing at 32% annually, they’ve got the financial firepower to keep investing heavily in their AI future. This isn’t just another tech trend for Shopify – it’s becoming their core identity.
