Shopify’s forthcoming Agentic Storefronts will feed structured product data to generative AI platforms and enable shoppers to complete purchases in the chats.
The direct connection means that even the smallest merchants on Shopify can sell via ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and similar AI solutions.
Introduced as part of Shopify’s Winter ’26 Edition — which included about 150 new features and concepts — Agentic Storefronts is a natural response to agent-driven commerce. It also signals that familiar shopper discovery channels such as search engines and product feeds will have AI equivalents.
Agentic Storefronts
Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts aims to be simple for merchants and scalable for AI platforms.
At a high level, the process looks like this.
- Merchants enable Agentic Storefronts inside Shopify.
- Shopify structures product, pricing, inventory, and brand data.
- That data passes to partner AI platforms.
- Shoppers discover, evaluate, and purchase products inside AI chats.
- Order details flow back to the merchants’ Shopify backend.
Shopify describes the workflow as a “configure once, distribute everywhere” model. It’s similar to how merchants already use product feeds for search engines and marketplaces.
Agentic Commerce
Agentic commerce refers to AI-driven software agents that perform common shopping tasks on behalf of consumers.
Rather than manually searching, clicking, filtering, and comparing items, a shopper can ask, say, ChatGPT to find the best option. A virtual agent can then compare alternatives, apply preferences, recommend a product, and facilitate the transaction. Effectively, the platform becomes the ecommerce catalog and checkout.
This model is already visible in early forms. AI chats recommend products, summarize reviews, and answer follow-up questions. Some can initiate checkout flows.
Thousands of holiday shoppers have likely used generative AI to find gift ideas. Agentic commerce goes further, enabling shoppers to buy goods from the AI chat window.
AI commerce requires structured, reliable product data; no one wants hallucinated products or features. Agentic Storefronts provides that data and ensures Shopify merchants remain visible and relevant.
Discovery Shift
Agentic commerce and storefronts are leading-edge technology, yet the way merchants interact with them feels oddly familiar.
For three decades, ecommerce product discovery has involved organic search optimization, advertising, and product feeds.
With AI, discovery begins with answers, not links. Shoppers ask product questions. AI recommends. The experience is conversational, contextual, and even personal.
Depending on the context, answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) each aim to raise visibility in AI answers and recommendations.
Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts include tools for both. As agentic commerce becomes widespread, sellers will find that SEO skills and procedures will carry over to AEO and GEO.
| Function | Now | AI Era Equivalent | What Changes or is Added |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic discovery | SEO | AEO and GEO | Visibility moves from ranking pages to being included in AI-generated answers and recommendations. |
| User interface | Search results pages | AI chat | Discovery starts with prompts and responses, not keyword queries and links. |
| Optimization | Keywords, links, page structure | Structured data, context, clarity, answers | Machines need clean, machine-readable product and pre-formatted answers. |
| Paid visibility | Search and social ads | Ads in AI chat conversations and recommendations | Sponsored placements appear inside AI responses and recommendations. |
| Advertising process | Bid on keywords and audiences | Bid on intent and conversational context | Ad buying remains predictable, but surfaces change. |
| Product data distribution | Product feeds (e.g., Google Merchant Center) | Agentic Storefronts and AI commerce feeds | Feeds supply AI systems instead of (as well as) search engines. |
| Commerce surface | Websites, marketplaces, and social media | Conversational AI | The AI becomes the storefront, catalog, and checkout. |
| Merchant influence or control | Platform-specific integrations | Centralized with a department or dependent on internal prowess | Depends on AI expertise |
Advertising
Not surprisingly, advertising remains the most reliable and predictable way to generate ecommerce traffic and sales.
Most merchants can fine-tune customer acquisition costs and drive profitable sales through Google, Meta, and other advertising channels.
Even ads on marketplaces such as Amazon provide predictable revenue. Advertising is essential for most ecommerce businesses, and agentic commerce probably won’t change that.
Ads are coming to genAI platforms. Ecommerce marketers will soon buy AI chat ads in a similar manner to search ads.
Product Feeds
Finally, Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts will generate product data feeds for genAI platforms, much like feeds to Google Merchant Center, marketplaces, and other sales channels.
Don’t be surprised when more and similar AI-focused product feed tools become available. Shopify is leading the way, but it will most certainly have many excellent competitors.