AI Traffic to Shopify Stores Is Up 7x, So Make Sure Your Products Show Up
On its third quarter earnings call, Shopify said traffic from AI tools to its merchants' stores is up 7x since January, and orders attributed to AI search are up 11x. Then, on November 24, OpenAI launched shopping research in ChatGPT. The numbers start from a small base, but they're moving one way. This is how to make sure your products show up.
Published Nov 26, 2025. Author: Ecomm Guys. 4 min read.
Key Points
- Shopify says AI traffic to its stores is up 7x since January and AI-attributed orders are up 11x.
- Shopify is working with OpenAI, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot on shopping inside AI chats.
- ChatGPT shopping research builds buyer's guides from public retail sites, reading product pages directly.
- OpenAI says the results are organic, and merchants can follow an allowlisting process to appear.
- Clear, complete product pages are what these tools read, so product data is where to start.
What Shopify Reported
Shopify reported its third quarter results on November 4. Revenue grew 32% to $2.84 billion, and gross merchandise volume also grew 32%, to about $92 billion. On the earnings call, as TechCrunch reported, Shopify said traffic from AI tools to its merchants' stores is up 7x since January, and purchases attributed to AI search are up 11x.
Shopify president Harley Finkelstein called it very early, but said the company is laying the rails for agentic commerce. Shopify partnered with OpenAI in September, and it's also working with Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot on shopping inside AI chats. TechCrunch also cited a Shopify survey in which 64% of shoppers said they're likely to use AI to some extent when making purchases.
On November 24, OpenAI launched shopping research in ChatGPT for logged-in users on mobile and web, with nearly unlimited use through the holidays. A shopper describes what they need, ChatGPT asks clarifying questions, researches across the web, and builds a buyer's guide in a few minutes.
OpenAI says it looks at price, availability, reviews, specs, and images. It also says the results are organic, based on publicly available retail sites. It reads product pages directly, and merchants can follow an allowlisting process to be included. OpenAI also says it can make mistakes on price and availability, which is one more reason to keep that information clear and current on your own pages.
These tools aren't reading your ads or your homepage hero. They're reading product pages and the data behind them.
An assistant can work with a page that clearly states what the product is, who it's for, and what it's made of. The page should also list the sizes and variants, the price, and whether it's in stock. A page with a short tagline and a lifestyle photo does not.
Reviews matter for the same reason. OpenAI lists them among the things shopping research looks for, and a product with a body of honest reviews gives the assistant more to say about it.
Where to Start on Your Store
Start with the products that make most of your revenue, then work outward.
- Write product titles that say exactly what the item is.
- Add specs, materials, dimensions, and care details in plain text, even when images also show them.
- Make sure every variant has its own clear name, price, and stock status.
- Use descriptive image alt text and keep product images current.
- Collect and display reviews on product pages.
- Check that your robots settings don't block the crawlers you want to read your store.
Why Product Data Pays Off Either Way
A 7x increase from a small base is still a small channel for most stores, and search and email will drive far more sales this holiday season. But the work that helps AI tools understand your products is the same work that improves search rankings and conversion. Clear product data pays off whether AI shopping grows or not.
Measure it, too. Check your analytics for referral traffic from AI tools so you have a baseline before 2026.
Start With 25 Products
Pick your top 25 products and read each page as if you could only see the text. Fill the gaps in specs, variants, and reviews, then set up a simple report for AI referral traffic so you can track it month by month.
If you'd like help getting your product data ready for AI shopping, book a call with our team.
Sources
- Shopify says AI traffic is up 7x since January, AI-driven orders are up 11x TechCrunch, November 2025
- Shopify Q3 2025 financial results Shopify Investors, November 2025
- Introducing shopping research in ChatGPT OpenAI, November 2025