Shopify introduces Agentic Storefronts, putting merchant products directly into ChatGPT and Perplexity conversations.
What’s happening: Shopify has released its Winter ’26 Edition, introducing more than 150 product updates centred on practical AI applications for merchants, developers and partners.
Why this matters: These updates aim to streamline backend operations, from merchandising to day to day workflows, allowing businesses to focus resources on creativity and customer service rather than administrative tasks.
Australian retailers navigating rising costs and shifting consumer behaviour have new tools to help level operational demands. Shopify has unveiled its Winter ’26 Edition, titled RenAIssance, featuring more than 150 product updates designed to remove friction from commerce operations.
The release centres on practical AI applications that work behind the scenes rather than flashy automation. From generating custom admin apps through simple prompts to editing product photos directly in the file editor, the updates target specific pain points merchants face daily.
“Australian retailers are operating in one of the most competitive and dynamic markets in the world,” says Shaun Broughton, Managing Director APAC and Japan at Shopify. “Consumer expectations are rising quickly, and merchants need tools that help them act on signals in real time whilst removing as much operational friction as possible.”
The update positions Sidekick, Shopify’s AI assistant, as a proactive rather than reactive tool. Rather than waiting for merchants to ask questions, Sidekick now surfaces personalised, high impact tasks on the home dashboard to help merchants focus on what matters most.
Dan Small, Chief Customer Officer at Boody, says the tool has changed how the business operates.
“We use Sidekick to quickly uncover actionable insights about shopper behaviour,” says Small. “With a number of proven hero products that are day in and day out best sellers, sometimes we can overlook small changes in consumer behaviour. Sidekick helps us identify these subtle shifts by showing how different customer segments engage with bundles and promotions in real time.”
This enables Boody to optimise offers and marketing strategies responsively, sharpening decision making without extensive manual data analysis.
Sidekick goes proactive
Sidekick now handles tasks that previously required technical knowledge or significant time investment. Merchants can generate working Flow automations from natural language descriptions, eliminating the need for programming skills to set up basic workflows. Theme settings can be customised through conversational commands rather than navigating complex menus.
The assistant can also build custom admin apps from a prompt, no coding required. Merchants can save and reuse their most effective Sidekick prompts as skills, creating shortcuts for repeat tasks that can be launched from a skills tray or slash command.
For product imagery, Sidekick brings image editing capabilities directly into the file editor, allowing merchants to produce better product photos faster without switching between multiple tools.
“This Edition, we’re giving Australian businesses AI capabilities that streamline the work behind the scenes, refining storefronts, simplifying merchandising and making day to day operations more efficient,” says Broughton. “This allows retailers to focus on creativity, innovation and serving customers, whether they’re just starting out or scaling across markets.”
Commerce meets conversation
One of the more significant additions is Shopify Agentic Storefronts, which addresses where commerce is increasingly happening: inside AI conversations.
The feature puts merchant products directly into conversations on platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. One setup in the admin makes products immediately discoverable across multiple AI agents, with no complex integrations or separate apps required for each platform.
Customers can complete purchases without leaving their conversations, whilst merchants maintain control over where and how their brand appears. Attribution data flows directly into the merchant’s admin, and businesses can toggle which platforms display their products.
“Commerce is happening in conversations, Shopify Agentic Storefronts ensures you’re part of them,” says Vanessa Lee, VP Leading Product at Shopify.
For physical retail, Shopify has introduced POS Hub, which strengthens in person selling by connecting checkout hardware including card readers, printers, keyboards and scanners to POS tablets through fast, reliable wired connections. The device works on both iOS and Android and can be mounted under counters or displayed on countertops.
The hardware is Apple MFi certified for multi device wired connections and includes built in monitoring with automatic updates for POS hardware. It’s designed to keep data flowing between merchant hardware and Shopify Point of Sale throughout trading hours.
Testing without traffic
SimGym represents a different approach to optimisation. The app, released as a research preview, uses AI shopper agents with human like profiles to model how different customers might experience a storefront.
Drawing on insights from billions of purchases each year, SimGym can model shopper behaviour at both broad and store specific levels, from casual browsers to high intent buyers. This allows merchants to run storefront changes through simulated evaluations without needing high traffic volumes.
Larger brands can gather early signals before testing with real shoppers, whilst smaller businesses gain access to the kind of testing capabilities typically available only to larger operations.
“We chose the Renaissance theme for this Edition because it symbolises progress, momentum, courage, new beginnings and redefining what’s possible,” says Lee. “Many of these features weren’t possible a year ago and they redefine how we achieve our mission of making commerce better for everyone.”
The update also introduces native experimentation capabilities through Rollouts, giving merchants the ability to schedule changes, run experiments and make data informed decisions within their core workflow. A new Cross Border Profitability Insights Report helps merchants understand where duties, taxes and shipping adjustments impact margins, supporting more informed international pricing decisions.
For developers, the platform now offers end to end AI support for development workflows. AI agents can create dev stores, scaffold apps, run GraphQL operations and generate validated code, allowing developers to focus on architecture whilst AI handles setup and repetitive tasks.
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