Shopify positions AI as the engine for merchants' sales growth.

Shopify positions "smart commerce" as an expansion channel rather than a product feature. President Harley Finkelstein stated during an analyst call that orders from AI-driven searches were about "15 times" higher compared to the same period last year. He pointed out that while the growth base is small, it is enough for Shopify to view 2025 as the year of "laying the foundation" and 2026 as the year of scaling. This effort of the company is centered around the general commerce protocol developed in collaboration with Google, which aims to define how AI smart agents conduct transactions; in addition, their Agentic Storefronts now sync merchant catalogs to Google's Gemini, ChatGPT, and Microsoft's Copilot. Through their "smart agent program," this coverage also extends to non-Shopify sellers. Finkelstein stated that if AI brings more transactions, Shopify can gain more revenue tied to GMV.