Shopify has reported that AI-powered search tools are boosting traffic and sales for merchants on its platform rather than eating into traditional search, contrasting with the impact AI summaries have had on online publishers, where click-through rates and advertising revenue have suffered. President Harley Finkelstein told analysts on the company's second-quarter earnings call that AI acts as a "complement to search, rather than a substitute for it," with smaller, long-tail merchants benefiting particularly, and the company credited AI search with helping drive an earnings beat and strong revenue growth.

Shopify said AI-driven traffic and orders to its stores tripled year-on-year in the second quarter, while traditional search sessions still grew 1.3 times over two years and continued to account for roughly a third of storefront visits. Quarterly revenue rose 36% to $3.6 billion, ahead of Wall Street's $3.4 billion forecast, and gross operating profit climbed 31% to $1.71 billion. Finkelstein explained that AI agents search across multiple product attributes rather than keywords alone, meaning half of AI-referred sessions land directly on product pages—2.5 times the rate for traditional search—and 75% of AI-attributed purchases fell outside Shopify's top 100 "sweet spot" categories; the firm has also built connectors to tools including Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Replit.