Shopify is reporting a dramatic surge in AI-driven traffic and sales, with AI-generated traffic to its online stores up seven times since January and AI-powered orders increasing 11 times over the same period. During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, President Harley Finkelstein described AI as an “incredible tool” for empowering entrepreneurs and called it the “biggest shift in technology since the internet.” The growth comes as Shopify continues to deepen its integration with leading AI platforms. In September, the company partnered with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, to enable AI-powered shopping experiences. Shopify is also collaborating with Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot to develop in-chat shopping features, aiming to bring commerce into every AI conversation. Finkelstein highlighted Shopify’s unique advantage in the AI era: access to vast amounts of data from millions of merchants and billions of transactions, combined with a “founder mode” culture that enables rapid product development. He pointed to internal tools like Scout, an AI system that helps employees analyze hundreds of millions of pieces of merchant feedback to inform product decisions. “Scout is just one of many tools we’re developing to turn our own signals—support tickets, usage data, reviews, social interactions, or even Sidekick prompts—into fast, informed decisions,” he said. He emphasized that AI is not just a feature at Shopify, but a core component of its entire product engine. “If you take away one thing from this call, let it be this: AI is not just a feature at Shopify. It is central to our engine that powers everything we build.” A recent Shopify survey found that 64% of shoppers say they are “likely” to use AI in some way when making purchases, underscoring the growing consumer appetite for intelligent shopping assistants. The company is investing heavily in infrastructure to make it seamless for merchants to integrate AI into their sales channels. Finkelstein also acknowledged that the future of agentic commerce—where AI agents autonomously assist with shopping—is still in its early stages. “We’re not sure which path will win,” he said. “But we’re building the rails so that Shopify merchants are ready, no matter how agentic commerce evolves.” He drew parallels to past shifts like social commerce and the blending of e-commerce with physical retail, noting that the future of commerce is not one format, but many. On the financial front, Shopify reported Q3 revenue of $2.84 billion, a 32% increase year-over-year and above analyst expectations. Net profit reached $264 million, or 20 cents per share. However, the stock dipped after the company reported operating income of $434 million, slightly below the $437 million analysts had forecasted.