Shopify says artificial intelligence is adding to traditional search rather than replacing it, with AI-driven traffic and orders to stores on its platform tripling year over year during the second quarter. President Harley Finkelstein said the effect has been particularly useful for smaller merchants, which make up much of Shopify’s customer base.
The company reported second-quarter revenue of about $3.58 billion, up 34% from a year earlier and ahead of analyst expectations. Gross merchandise volume increased 32% to $115.57 billion, while adjusted earnings also exceeded forecasts.
AI Search Sends Buyers Directly to Products
Finkelstein said traditional search remains one of Shopify merchants’ largest sources of buyer traffic and continues to grow. Search sessions have increased about 1.3 times over the past two years and still account for roughly one-third of storefront sessions.
AI shopping tools behave differently because they can interpret several parts of a buyer’s request simultaneously. Rather than matching a few keywords, an AI agent can consider product dimensions, intended use and other specifications before searching Shopify’s structured catalogue.
Finkelstein used the example of someone searching for a car seat that allows three seats to fit across a sedan. An AI system can consider the vehicle, dimensions and requirement for three seats at once instead of primarily ranking pages around the words “car seat.”
Half of AI-referred sessions now land directly on a product description page, according to Shopify. That rate is 2.5 times higher than traffic arriving through traditional search, shortening the path between product discovery and a potential purchase.
About 75% of purchases attributed to AI during the quarter also occurred outside Shopify’s 100 largest product categories. The company said this is benefiting smaller and more specialised merchants whose products may be harder to surface through conventional rankings.
Shopify Connects Merchants With Major AI Platforms
Shopify has been building infrastructure that lets products appear inside AI assistants and shopping agents. Its agentic commerce programme supports product discovery and transactions through services including ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.
The company also provides tools that let merchants connect their stores to ChatGPT and Claude. Developers can use platforms including Vercel, Lovable, Replit and Manus to build storefronts while Shopify provides commerce functions such as checkout and payments.
Shopify argues that retaining its checkout infrastructure could become more valuable as AI agents take a larger role in finding and recommending products. Buyers can discover merchandise through an AI service while completing purchases through Shopify’s existing commerce systems.
The company’s second-quarter investor materials also showed continued adoption of its own AI tools for merchants. Reuters reported that daily active use of Shopify’s Sidekick assistant increased 3.6 times from a year earlier as businesses used AI to manage store operations.
Featured image credits: Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine
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