The update was announced in the Shopify Editions newsletter, containing over 150 product updates.
Shopify merchants' products can now be found on artificial intelligence (AI) platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot after the Canadian e-commerce giant announced agent storefronts in its latest update.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke says the company is making every Shopify store “agent-ready by default.”
wonr version Shopify Editions' biannual newsletter, dubbed the “RenAIssance Edition,” was released on Wednesday. It contains over 150 product updates across the platform, many of which are aimed at integrating and improving AI features for merchants. These include agent storefronts—an AI-powered, updated version of Shopify's Sidekick assistant—and automation tools, such as a program to send an email to staff when a certain inventory level is reached.
Powered by Shopify early access Partnering with ChatGPT's in-app shopping experience in September, agent storefronts allow sellers to sell their products through popular AI chatbots after customizing each product page. Traders determine their schemeor machine-readable code on a product page that is read by web crawlers and groups products by attributes and metafields that AI agents can use when presenting products in search results.
AI agents will also receive Shopify seller policies, FAQs, and brand voice to answer customer questions about brands and offers, while giving sellers insight into search trends and topics customers are asking about.
When Shopify's initial partnership with OpenAI was announced, maker ChatGPT said merchants would have to pay a small commission on every purchase, and that its chatbot would “optimize the user experience” based on accessibility, price and quality.
Shopify said more agent storefronts besides ChatGPT, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot will be coming “soon.” In a statement, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke said the company is making every Shopify store “agent-ready by default.”
“In a world where new shopping experiences are introduced every few weeks, we will make sure Shopify merchants are present and strong,” Shopify vice president of product Vanessa Lee said in a statement.
Winter release update continues the evolution of Shopify's AI features, including another iteration Designing stores based on artificial intelligence feature via Sidekick update. Shopify says merchants can now “talk” to their store theme, telling Sidekick to change elements using natural language commands like “make this button rounded.”
Other new Sidekick features include Pulse, which provides merchants with personalized tips based on their store, and a tip-based custom app builder for the Shopify admin. Merchants can also use Flow Sidekick's new feature to automate tasks by describing what needs to be completed, such as flagging customers if they place an order over $200, rather than having to do it manually.
Shopify temporarily restored its status as Canada's most valuable company in the second quarter of 2025, before returning to second place behind RBC. The e-commerce firm recently installed another Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales recordbringing total sales for the shopping-focused weekend to US$14.6 billion (C$20.2 billion), up 27 percent from 2024.
Disclosure: BetaKit's majority owner Good Future is the family office of two former Shopify leaders, Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar.
All images courtesy of Shopify.
