Shopify is preparing to expand its platform around agentic shopping systems that could function as AI-powered personal shoppers. The initiative aims to help consumers discover products while providing merchants with new ways to reach buyers, according to comments from Shopify president Harley Finkelstein at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles.
Finkelstein said the company views AI agents as a potential entry point for online shopping that could guide users through discovery, comparison, and purchasing decisions.
Agentic Shopping As A New Retail Interface
Shopify currently ranks as the second-largest e-commerce provider in the United States behind Amazon.
Despite the growth of online commerce, Finkelstein said the majority of retail transactions still occur offline. Approximately 18% of retail purchases in the U.S. currently take place online.
According to Finkelstein, agentic systems could expand that share by acting as personalized shopping assistants.
“We’re going to begin to use these agentic applications as these kinds of personal shoppers,” he said during the event.
The rollout of these tools is expected to occur gradually.
Agentic shopping systems are designed to analyze user preferences and context to recommend products, compare options, and complete purchases on behalf of the consumer.
Context-Based Product Discovery
Finkelstein said AI agents could introduce more contextual understanding into product discovery.
He used athletic shoes as an example. Finkelstein said he prefers running shoes from the brand On.
Under an agentic system, once the AI assistant learns a shopper’s preferences, it could prioritize options aligned with those preferences when the user searches for similar products again.
Finkelstein contrasted this with traditional search results, where large retailers such as Foot Locker often appear prominently.
“Agentic is fundamentally merit-based as opposed to, if you go to a search engine, you type sneakers, you’re going to see Footlocker,” he said.
He added that conversational interfaces may function as a personal shopping assistant because they are not necessarily driven by commission structures tied to product placement.
Potential Benefits For Smaller Merchants
Shopify hosts a large number of independent merchants selling products through its platform.
According to Finkelstein, many of those merchants face challenges when trying to gain visibility among consumers.
Agentic systems could help surface products from smaller brands by matching recommendations more closely to consumer interests.
Finkelstein said this could help improve discovery for merchants that might otherwise struggle to compete with larger retail brands.
Development Of AI Tools For Merchants
Shopify is already developing several AI systems to support this strategy.
One of those tools is Sidekick, which is designed to help merchants manage their businesses and access platform insights.
The company is also building an AI agent designed to handle customer support interactions.
In addition, Shopify is developing a protocol intended to allow AI agents to interpret merchant data such as product catalogs and inventory information.
Finkelstein said the company views agentic systems as another component in the broader digital retail infrastructure.
Featured image credits: Flickr
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