E-commerce giant Shopify has made its strongest statement yet during its third-quarter earnings call: artificial intelligence is "the biggest technological shift since the internet"! The company is fully betting on AI shopping agents and revealed astonishing data: traffic from AI tools has surged 7 times since this January, and purchases attributed to AI search have skyrocketed 11 times.

Shopify's president, Harley Finkelstein, clearly stated during the call that Shopify's unique advantage in the AI era stems from two "moats": first, the massive data it possesses from millions of merchants and billions of transactions; second, its agile mindset of "founder mode," which enables rapid product delivery.

This mindset is also reflected in its internal tools. For example, an AI tool called Scout helps Shopify employees search through hundreds of millions of merchant feedback to make more informed product decisions. "Scout is just one of the many tools we've developed," Finkelstein emphasized. "We are turning our signals—whether support tickets, usage data, reviews, social interactions, or prompts from Sidekick—into fast and wise decisions. If you remember only one thing from this call, it's this: AI at Shopify is not just a feature. It's the core engine driving everything we build."

To achieve this goal, Shopify is actively building a vast network of partnerships. After collaborating with OpenAI, the manufacturer of ChatGPT, in September, Shopify is also working with Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot to create a chat-based shopping experience. Finkelstein revealed, "We have been building and investing in this infrastructure to easily bring shopping into every AI conversation." He pointed out that Shopify wants to "lay the tracks for AI agent commerce."

This move comes at the right time. A recent survey by Shopify found that as many as 64% of shoppers said they "may" use AI to some extent while shopping. Finkelstein also noted that the company is prepared for multiple evolutionary paths of AI agent commerce, ensuring it is ready regardless of which path ultimately wins. He added, "It's like when social commerce first started gaining attention. People realized it wasn't about e-commerce versus physical retail, but 'commerce everywhere.'"

Despite its ambitious AI strategy, Shopify's financial performance for the third quarter was mixed. The report showed revenue increased 32% year-over-year to $2.84 billion, exceeding market expectations; profits reached $264 million (or 20 cents per share). However, due to an operating income of $434 million falling short of the analyst forecast of $437 million, the company's stock faced pressure and dropped after the news was released.