Shopify Exec Sees AI Shopping Agents Transforming Ecommerce

Shopify president Harley Finklestein says AI-powered shopping agents will act as a new front door for online sellers.

Mar. 16, 2026 at 3:56pm by Ben Kaplan

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Shopify is preparing for a major ecommerce transformation driven by the rise of AI shopping agents, according to the company's president Harley Finklestein. Finklestein says these AI agents will act as personal shoppers, able to better understand consumer preferences and discover new brands for customers. Shopify is building its own AI assistant called Sidekick to help merchants, as well as protocols to allow agents to better understand merchant data.

Why it matters

As the second-largest ecommerce platform in the U.S. after Amazon, Shopify's embrace of AI shopping agents signals a major shift in how consumers will discover and purchase products online. This could help smaller merchants gain more visibility and open up new opportunities in the ecommerce space.

The details

Finklestein says Shopify is going "all in" on agentic shopping, which he believes will act as a new front door for ecommerce. These AI-powered shopping agents will be able to better understand consumer preferences and shopping history to surface more personalized product recommendations, compared to traditional search engines. Shopify is building its own AI assistant called Sidekick to help merchants, as well as developing protocols to allow agents to better understand merchant data like product details.

  • Shopify president Harley Finklestein spoke about the company's AI shopping agent plans at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles in March 2026.

The players

Harley Finklestein

The president of Shopify, the second-largest ecommerce platform in the U.S.

Shopify

The second-largest ecommerce provider in the U.S. behind Amazon, preparing to embrace AI-powered shopping agents.

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What they’re saying

“We're going to begin to use these agentic applications as these kinds of personal shoppers”

— Harley Finklestein, President (TechCrunch)

“We're probably more excited about this particular new era of commerce than we have ever been because we think it's just going to create so much opportunity, not just for the large merchants, but for the long tail of merchants.”

— Harley Finklestein, President (TechCrunch)

What’s next

Shopify is currently building an AI assistant called Sidekick to help merchants, as well as developing protocols to allow shopping agents to better understand merchant data like product details.

The takeaway

Shopify's embrace of AI-powered shopping agents signals a major shift in how consumers will discover and purchase products online, potentially opening up new opportunities for smaller merchants to gain visibility and reach customers.