The way we shop is changing, and it's happening faster than you might think.
We're moving beyond endlessly scrolling, clicking, and typing.
The next big thing is simply asking an AI for what you need and letting it do the everything else for you.
This is the world of "agentic commerce," the next major step in how we buy things online.
It's a future where AI assistants handle the entire shopping journey for a customer, from discovery to checkout, all on their own. And Shopify is right at the center of it.
If that sounds a little like science fiction, don't worry. This guide is here to break down exactly what Shopify agentic commerce is, how it works, and what it means for everyone running an online store.
We'll cover the core technology Shopify just announced, how it will change the customer experience, and a full strategy to get your store ready for this new era.
What exactly is Shopify agentic commerce?
Let's get straight to it. "Agentic commerce" is a term for AI-powered assistants that can understand what a person wants and then go shopping for them.
These AI agents can find products, compare options, and even complete the purchase, all within a conversation.
Shopify's role in this is huge. As Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke recently said, they are making every single store on their platform "agent-ready by default."
They’re building the foundational plumbing to connect millions of merchants with the world’s most powerful AI.
So, where does this all happen? The big AI chat platforms like Google's Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and ChatGPT are essentially becoming the new storefronts.
This is where your future customers will start their shopping trips.
Instead of a customer having to find your website, your products will come directly to them inside a chat window.
A user can just say something like, "Find me a waterproof jacket under $200 for hiking that ships to Canada," and the AI agent will pull up the best options from various Shopify merchants right in the conversation.
This isn't just a concept. In a major Shopify announcement, the company revealed deep partnerships with Google and Microsoft to make this happen for everyone, at an enormous scale.
The core components of Shopify agentic commerce
To make all of this work without merchants having to become AI experts, Shopify has built an entire infrastructure. It's centered around a few key technologies that handle the complex communication between your store and the AI agents, as this infographic shows.
The Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)
First up is the Universal Commerce Protocol, or UCP. Think of it as a universal translator for e-commerce. It's an open standard, co-developed with Google, that creates a "common language" so AI agents and online stores can talk to each other perfectly.
The problem it solves is a big one. Without UCP, merchants would have to build custom integrations for every single AI platform out there (Gemini, Copilot, you name it).
It would be a technical mess. With UCP, you connect once, and you’re ready for all of them.
This "common language" allows the AI to handle all the important stuff, like applying discount codes, letting customers use their loyalty points, selecting subscription options, and confirming your store’s selling terms, all without ever leaving the chat.
Shopify Catalog and Agentic Storefronts
Next is the Shopify Catalog. This is a massive, highly structured database of hundreds of millions of products from Shopify stores. AI agents can search this catalog almost instantly to find what your customers are looking for.
It even uses specialized AI to enrich your product data, figuring out categories and consolidating different product variants so shoppers get the most relevant results.
To control all this, Shopify introduced Agentic Storefronts. This is your new control panel right inside the Shopify admin. It’s where you manage how your brand and products show up across all the different AI channels, like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot.
The main benefit here is simplicity. You set everything up once, and your products are instantly discoverable everywhere, with your inventory and pricing always up to date.
You can even toggle individual AI channels on or off with a single click.
The Universal Cart and Checkout Kit
Finally, Shopify tied it all together with two brilliant tools. The Universal Cart lets a customer add products from multiple different Shopify stores into a single shopping cart, all within that one AI conversation.
So, they can buy a jacket from your store and a pair of boots from another, all in one seamless transaction.
When they're ready to buy, the Checkout Kit kicks in. This tool embeds Shopify's world-class, high-converting checkout directly into the AI chat. This is important because it ensures you, the merchant, remain the seller of record.
You maintain full brand control over the final purchase experience, and the transaction is just as secure and reliable as it is on your own website.
How Shopify agentic commerce is changing the customer journey
This new technology isn't just a small tweak; it completely transforms the traditional e-commerce funnel. The journey from discovery to purchase becomes more conversational, intuitive, and much more efficient for the customer.
Conversational product discovery
Customers can now find what they're looking for using everyday language. They can ask complex, detailed questions that go far beyond the simple keyword searches we’re all used to.
For example, a customer could ask their AI assistant, "I need a vegan leather tote bag that can fit a 15-inch laptop and has a zipper."
The agent will instantly understand the intent and find matching products from brands that fit the bill, like Monos.
It's already happening. Leading brands like Monos, Gymshark, and Everlane are some of the first to start selling their products directly through these new AI channels.
In-chat purchasing and reduced friction
Imagine the customer journey: a person has a thought, they ask their AI for a product, they see a few great options, and they buy one. It all happens without ever leaving the chat window.
No new tabs, no loading screens, no complicated navigation.
This completely changes the game. It drastically reduces the friction that leads to abandoned carts. By making the path from inspiration to purchase so short and direct, you're much more likely to capture the sale right in the moment.
As Sam Buckingham, the Director of Global Digital Product at KEEN, put it, "AI-driven commerce... represents the future of how people shop."
A new channel for brand control
You might be worried that this means giving up control of your brand to an AI, but that's not the case. Merchants actually keep a ton of control.
Using the Knowledge Base App inside Agentic Storefronts, you can define exactly how your brand voice, return policies, and FAQs are communicated by the AI. You get to teach the AI how to talk about your brand.
Better yet, you get full attribution and analytics. You can see exactly which AI channels are driving the most sales and what kinds of questions customers are asking.
This gives you incredibly valuable insights into what your customers are looking for.
Here’s a quick look at how a typical journey might unfold:
The Shopify Agentic Plan explained
To make this technology accessible to as many brands as possible, Shopify introduced a new, specialized plan.
The Shopify Agentic plan is designed for brands that do not use Shopify for their primary online store but still want their products to be discoverable in all these new AI channels.
Merchants on any e-commerce platform can use this plan to list their products in the Shopify Catalog and then use Agentic Storefronts to sync with AI assistants. This essentially opens up the entire Shopify-powered agentic ecosystem to any brand, regardless of where their website is hosted.
This plan is "coming soon," but interested merchants can join the official waitlist.
Preparing your store: A strategy for agentic commerce
Getting ready for this new world is more than just flipping a switch in your Shopify admin. Success in agentic commerce requires a strategy that covers both your products and your customer experience.
The foundation: High-quality product data
Your AI agents are only as good as the data you give them. If your product descriptions are incomplete, messy, or poorly structured, the AI will either fail to find them or provide bad recommendations to shoppers.
Now is the time to invest in high-quality, LLM-friendly product data. This means writing clear, detailed descriptions, using structured attributes (like material, size, color, and fit), and building out a comprehensive FAQ for each product.
Not only will this prepare you for agentic commerce, but it will also improve traditional SEO.
Unifying voice support with your agentic commerce strategy
Shopify's agentic commerce tools are incredible, but they are primarily designed for text-based chat interfaces.
This raises a critical question: what happens when a customer, after having a great shopping experience in a chat, decides to call your store with an urgent question?
Does that intelligent, automated, and instant experience suddenly stop and revert to a long hold time or a voicemail box?
Many customers still prefer picking up the phone for complex issues or immediate needs. If the experience on your phone line is clunky and slow while your chat is smart and fast, it creates an inconsistency that can erode customer trust.
This is where solutions like Ringly.io can be beneficial. It helps create a truly unified agentic experience by extending the same principles of instant, intelligent support to your phone lines.
The platform's AI phone agent, Seth, acts just like a text-based agent but over the phone. Seth can answer calls 24/7, look up order information directly from your Shopify store, and even handle returns and exchanges. It ensures your customers get instant, accurate help whether they choose to type or talk.
With support for over 40 languages, it complements the global reach of Shopify's agentic vision and autonomously resolves around 73% of all support calls, freeing up your team to focus on growing the business.
The future of commerce is conversational
Shopify agentic commerce isn't just a buzzword; it’s a real shift in retail. We're moving from a world of static websites to one of dynamic, AI-powered conversations.
This isn't some distant concept on the horizon. It's a reality being powered by concrete technologies like the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), Agentic Storefronts, and deep integrations with the world's biggest AI platforms.
For a deeper dive into how this technology works in practice, check out this overview from Shopify that explains how they are making it easier to add shopping capabilities to any AI agent.
This overview from Shopify explains how they are making it easier to add shopping capabilities to any AI agent.
A winning strategy for this new era requires two key things: first, high-quality product data to fuel the AI and give it the information it needs. And second, a holistic approach to the customer experience that unifies every channel, including voice, so your brand is consistently helpful and intelligent.
This shift represents a massive opportunity for merchants to build deeper, more personal relationships by being present and helpful wherever, and however, their customers choose to shop.
Creating a unified customer experience
As customers grow accustomed to instant, AI-driven answers in chat, they may expect a similar level of service on other channels, like phone support. Tools such as Ringly.io aim to bridge this gap.
Its AI agent, Seth, integrates with your store to manage support calls, handling tasks from order tracking to return processing.
By automating a large percentage of your phone calls, it helps maintain a consistent, responsive customer experience across both text and voice channels, ensuring the voice channel aligns with the advancements in agentic commerce. To learn more, visit Ringly.io.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Shopify agentic commerce and how does it work?
It's a new way of shopping where AI assistants (agents) buy products for customers within a chat conversation. Shopify provides the underlying tech, like the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and Agentic Storefronts, to connect your store's products with AI platforms like Google's Gemini and ChatGPT.
Do I need to be on a specific plan to use Shopify agentic commerce?
If you're already a Shopify merchant, the tools will be integrated. Shopify is also launching a new "Shopify Agentic plan" for brands on other e-commerce platforms who want their products discoverable in these new AI channels.
How do I prepare my store for Shopify agentic commerce?
The most important step is to improve your product data. Write clear, detailed descriptions and use structured attributes. This helps AI agents find and recommend your products accurately. Also, consider unifying your entire customer experience, including phone support, to match this new intelligent standard.
Will I lose brand control with Shopify agentic commerce?
No, you maintain significant control. Through Agentic Storefronts, you can use a Knowledge Base App to teach the AI your brand's voice, return policies, and FAQs. You also get full analytics to see which channels are performing best.
What are the key technologies behind Shopify agentic commerce?
The main components are the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), which acts as a universal translator between stores and AIs; the Shopify Catalog, a massive database of products; Agentic Storefronts for managing your presence; and the Universal Cart and Checkout Kit for a seamless purchase experience.
Can customers buy from multiple stores in a single Shopify agentic commerce transaction?
Yes, that's what the Universal Cart is for. A customer can add products from different Shopify stores into one cart and check out in a single, seamless transaction, all within the AI chat window.
