Shopify says AI search is driving more traffic and sales, not replacing Google
Shopify reports that AI-driven search is significantly increasing traffic and sales for its merchants, positioning AI as a complement to traditional search rather than a replacement. The company attributes its strong quarterly revenue growth partly to these AI-enhanced discovery tools.
Why it matters
This highlights a shift in how e-commerce platforms leverage AI to improve product discovery, contrasting with the negative impact AI summaries have had on traditional online publishing.
E-commerce software maker Shopify seems to be benefiting handily from people using AI to search.
On the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein said AI has become a “complement to search, rather than a substitute for it,” and had particularly benefited the long tail of e-commerce, including the smaller merchants that make up the majority of its customer base. Indeed, the company credited its earnings beat and soaring revenue to AI search, at least partly.
This is quite different from how AI is impacting online publishing, where AI summaries have led to a measurable drop in click-through rates, which lowers traffic and consequently eats into advertising revenues.
Instead, Shopify believes that AI is a boon to its business. The company noted that AI-driven traffic and orders to Shopify stores had tripled year-over-year in the second quarter.
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