Shopify credits AI-enhanced search for surge in traffic and sales

Shopify reported that AI-based search functions are augmenting, not replacing, standard search, a trend that has lifted the platform’s smaller sellers. President Harley Finkelstein noted AI-referenced sessions now often land directly on product pages, a conversion rate 2.5 times higher than with traditional search. In the second quarter, AI-driven traffic and orders tripled compared with the prior year, while overall search sessions rose 1.3 times over two years, still accounting for about a third of storefront visits.

Revenue climbed 36% to $3.6 billion and gross operating profit rose 31% to $1.71 billion, surpassing Wall Street estimates. The firm highlighted that 75% of AI-linked purchases came from categories outside its top-100 “sweet spot,” and it is integrating with AI agents such as Claude, ChatGPT, and others to broaden merchant capabilities.