How to Sell in AI Chats with Shopify Agentic Commerce in 2026?

In 2026, shopping is shifting from websites to conversations. With Shopify Agentic Commerce, launched in the Winter ’26 Edition, your products can now appear and sell directly inside AI chats on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and more. 

The timing is critical: 71% of consumers want generative AI integrated into their shopping experiences, making AI chats the new storefront. Early adopters using Shopify development services gain instant visibility, while competitors risk fading into the background. 

This guide walks you through the quick setup to make your Shopify store agent‑ready — simple, seamless, and built for the future of commerce.

What is Shopify Agentic Commerce, and how does it differ from Chatbots?

Shopify Agentic Commerce takes online shopping to a whole new level. Unlike traditional chatbots, which can only answer questions or provide basic guidance, agentic commerce uses AI agents that can take real actions on behalf of your customers. These agents don’t just respond—they search, recommend, and even complete purchases, all while maintaining your brand voice.

Here’s how it differs from older models:

• Traditional chatbots: Scripted, limited to FAQs, and unable to complete real transactions.
• Conversational commerce: AI‑driven chats that recommend products, but often redirect customers back to websites.
• Agentic commerce: AI agents that take direct action — surfacing real‑time product data, answering questions in your brand voice, and enabling checkout inside the conversation. For example, AI agents for customer support can proactively resolve queries, drive 10x engagement, and guide customers seamlessly toward purchase.

How Shopify Agentic Commerce Works?

Shopify agentic commerce turns your store into a fully functional AI-powered sales channel. Unlike traditional e-commerce, where customers browse and checkout manually, agentic commerce lets AI agents do most of the work—searching your catalog, recommending products, and even completing purchases directly inside chat platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. This is the practical core of Shopify conversational commerce.

Here’s how it works step by step:

• Catalog syndication:  Your Shopify catalog provides structured product data—titles, descriptions, prices, images, inventory, and variants—so AI agents can accurately display products during conversations.
• Knowledge Base App: Upload FAQs, policies, and brand voice to keep AI responses consistent, helpful, and on-brand across platforms.
• AI-powered discovery & recommendation:  When a shopper asks a question, the AI interprets intent, finds relevant products from your catalog, and presents them using your brand messaging.
• Checkout integration:  Customers can buy directly in chat using Shopify Checkout or choose to be redirected to your store—either way, orders flow into Admin.
• Channel control & insights:  You control which platforms your store appears on (ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity) and track performance with full attribution. You remain the merchant of record and keep customer data.

Example flow: A shopper asks, “Show me a cozy winter jacket under $200.” The AI agent pulls your catalog, recommends options, displays your brand voice, and enables checkout—all without leaving the chat.

This setup turns casual chats into sales opportunities and ensures your store is ready for the AI-driven commerce landscape. Technologies such as LangChain v1 let you build faster AI agents, powering smarter recommendations and seamless customer experiences.

Is Your Store Ready for Shopify Agentic Commerce?

Before you flip the switch on Shopify agentic commerce, it’s critical to ensure your store is properly prepared. AI agents thrive on structured, accurate data — and the quality of your inputs directly determines how well your products appear in conversations. Think of this step as laying the foundation for success in Shopify conversational commerce.

Optimize Product Data

AI agents don’t “guess” well. If your product catalog is incomplete or inconsistent, you risk hallucinations or mismatched recommendations. To avoid this:

• Standardize attributes: Use Shopify’s built-in fields and metafields for size, color, material, and variants.
• Keep inventory and pricing current: Out-of-date data leads to frustrated customers and lost trust.
• Write rich, descriptive copy: AI agents pull from your product descriptions to answer customer queries.

Install & Configure the Knowledge Base App

The Knowledge Base App is a required step for Shopify agentic storefronts. This app lets you upload brand guidelines, FAQs, return policies, and tone of voice instructions. Why it matters:

• Ensures AI agents answer questions in your brand’s voice.
• Prevents misinformation by grounding responses in your official policies.
• Creates consistency across multiple AI platforms.

Best Practices for Product Presentation

• High-quality images: AI agents often surface visuals alongside recommendations. Crisp, professional photos increase click-through and trust.
• Group similar products: Bundling or categorizing related items helps AI agents recommend alternatives or upsells. Solutions like Shopify product bundles make this easier, ensuring your catalog is optimized for AI‑driven recommendations.
• Schema alignment: Shopify’s Catalog automatically leverages network effects from millions of merchants to structure product data. Your effort ensures your products shine in agentic AI commerce news feeds and conversations.

By preparing your store now, you’re not just enabling Shopify agentic commerce — you’re future-proofing your business. Structured data, brand-aligned responses, and polished product assets ensure your storefront is represented accurately in AI chats. When customers ask Copilot or ChatGPT for recommendations, your products will appear with confidence, clarity, and conversion-ready detail.

How to Enable Agentic Commerce in Your Shopify Admin?

Enabling Shopify agentic commerce is designed to be simple — a one‑time setup that instantly makes your products discoverable in AI chats. At The Brihaspati Infotech, we help merchants implement this setup correctly inside Shopify Admin, ensuring products, brand voice, and AI channels are configured for maximum visibility. Here’s the exact process to follow inside Shopify Admin:

1: Log in to Shopify Admin

• Make sure your store is running the Winter ’26 Edition (available as of January 2026).
• This update includes the Agentic Storefronts feature and AI channel integration.

2: Install the Knowledge Base App

• If you haven’t already, install Shopify’s Knowledge Base App.
• Populate it with brand guidelines, FAQs, return policies, and tone of voice instructions.
• This ensures AI agents present your products with consistent, on‑brand messaging.

3: Navigate to Agentic Storefronts / AI Channels

• In Shopify Admin, look under Online Store > Preferences or the dedicated Agentic section.
• Shopify describes this as “one quick setup” — all your catalog data is already structured for syndication.

4: Toggle On Desired Platforms

• Choose where your products should appear: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot (with more platforms coming soon).
• Each toggle gives you control over visibility in that AI channel.

5: Review & Customize Controls

• Decide whether checkout happens in chat or redirects to your store.
• Adjust brand presentation rules to ensure product recommendations match your desired tone.

6: Save and Go Live

• Once saved, your products begin surfacing in AI chats.
• Indexing may take some time, depending on rollout schedules.

Troubleshooting Tips

• If your products aren’t visible yet, check eligibility requirements or contact Shopify Support.
• Some merchants reported phased rollouts in late 2025/early 2026, so visibility may vary.

Pro Tip

• Test your setup by querying an AI yourself with your product keywords (e.g., “cozy winter jacket under $200”).
• This helps confirm your catalog is surfacing correctly and lets you experience the customer journey firsthand.

This step‑by‑step process ensures your store is agent‑ready and positioned to capture sales directly inside AI conversations. By following these steps, you’ll be part of the early wave of merchants shaping the future of Shopify agentic commerce and Shopify conversational commerce in 2026.

How Do You Track and Optimize AI Chat Sales?

Once your Shopify agentic commerce storefront is live, the next step is tracking how it performs inside AI conversations. Shopify makes this straightforward by surfacing attribution and insights directly in Admin.

Orders & Attribution

Every AI‑driven order in Shopify Admin is tagged with channel attribution (ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity). You’ll know exactly which platform drove the sale.

Insights Dashboard

The Agentic Insights dashboard shows:

• Search trends: what customers are asking AI agents.
• Common questions: FAQs surfaced in conversations.
• Product visibility: how your catalog appears in chats.

Iterate & Improve

• Use these insights to refine your Knowledge Base App and product data.
• Update descriptions, images, or FAQs to match real customer queries. 
• This keeps your Shopify conversational commerce presence sharp and competitive.

By continuously iterating, you ensure your store stays competitive in the fast‑moving world of Shopify conversational commerce. Monitoring performance isn’t just about tracking sales — it’s about learning how customers shop through AI and adapting to meet them there.

Why AI Chats Will Become the New Sales Channel?

The rise of Shopify agentic commerce signals a fundamental shift in how customers shop. Instead of browsing static product pages, shoppers are increasingly turning to AI chats for instant, personalized recommendations. Here’s why this channel is quickly outpacing traditional e‑commerce experiences:

Feature	Description
Instant Intent Understanding	AI agents instantly interpret shopper requests like “Find me a cozy jacket under $200”
Personalized Recommendations	AI chats personalize recommendations using context, preferences, and brand voice — making Shopify conversational commerce feel like a one‑to‑one shopping assistant that guides customers to the right choice.
Fewer Clicks to Purchase	In Shopify agentic storefronts, the entire shopping journey — from discovery to checkout — happens in chat, eliminating steps and boosting conversio
Behavior Trends	SShoppers now expect commerce in messaging apps, voice assistants, and AI platforms — making 2026 the tipping point as AI chats deliver speed, personalization, and simplicity.

Businesses adopting agentic AI tools gain a competitive edge by leveraging automation, personalization, and smarter customer engagement.

Why Should Merchants Use Shopify Agentic Commerce?

Adopting Shopify agentic commerce isn’t just about keeping up with trends — it’s about unlocking measurable outcomes that traditional e‑commerce channels struggle to deliver. Here’s what merchants gain when they enable Shopify agentic storefronts in 2026:

• Higher Conversion Rates: AI chats reduce friction by meeting customers at the exact moment of intent. With fewer clicks and personalized recommendations, shoppers are more likely to complete purchases.
• Reduced Cart Abandonment: Because checkout can happen directly inside the chat, customers don’t drop off mid‑journey. This streamlined flow keeps carts from being abandoned.
• Lower Support Costs: The Knowledge Base App ensures AI agents answer FAQs, return policies, and product questions consistently. This reduces repetitive support requests and frees up your team.
• Faster Purchase Decisions: AI agents interpret queries instantly and present tailored options, helping customers move from discovery to checkout in seconds.
• Always‑On Personalized Sales: Unlike human sales reps, AI agents never sleep. Your store is represented 24/7 across platforms like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity — always ready to recommend and sell.

Don’t just read about the benefits of Shopify conversational commerce — make it happen for your store. Our expert Shopify developers can help you set up agentic storefronts, optimize your catalog for AI discovery, and ensure your brand shines in every conversation.

Hire Shopify developers today and get your store agent‑ready for 2026.

What’s Next for Shopify Agentic Commerce?

The launch of Shopify agentic commerce in 2026 is only the beginning. As AI continues to evolve, the way customers shop — and the way merchants sell — will expand far beyond today’s conversational storefronts. Here’s what lies ahead:

• Autonomous Shopping Agents: AI agents won’t just respond to queries; they’ll proactively anticipate customer needs. Imagine an agent that knows when a shopper’s winter jacket is wearing out and recommends a replacement before they even ask.
• Voice‑Based Commerce: With the rise of voice assistants, Shopify conversational commerce will extend into natural, spoken interactions. Customers will shop by simply saying, “Order my usual coffee beans,” and the AI will handle the rest.
• AI‑Managed Reorders & Subscriptions: Recurring purchases will become fully automated. AI agents will manage subscriptions, reorders, and even upsell opportunities — ensuring customers never run out of essentials.
• Multi‑Platform AI Selling: Commerce won’t be confined to one chat. Your Shopify agentic storefronts will operate across multiple AI platforms simultaneously, from ChatGPT to Copilot to emerging players, giving you omnipresence in the digital conversation space.
• Predictive Discounts & Bundles: Future AI systems will analyze buying behavior to suggest predictive discounts and dynamic bundles. This ties directly into innovations like Shopify Bundle Apps, where AI can recommend personalized product bundles and optimize discounts in real time.
• Expansion into New AI Platforms: As new AI ecosystems emerge, Shopify will continue to syndicate merchant catalogs into them. Staying connected to agentic AI commerce news will be essential for merchants to keep pace.
• Evolution of Customer Relationships: Agentic commerce will redefine customer relationships. Instead of one‑off transactions, AI agents will nurture ongoing, personalized interactions — building loyalty through proactive support, tailored offers, and seamless reorders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Lead the Shift to Agentic Shopping

Shopify agentic commerce is the future of online selling — faster, smarter, and more personalized. By preparing your store now, you’ll be ready to capture sales directly inside AI chats and stay ahead in the new era of Shopify conversational commerce. 

With Agentic Storefronts, your store can sell directly in AI chats like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot—seamlessly and effortlessly. Want to explore more ways agentic AI is reshaping business? Check out our blog on the 10 Best Agentic AI Tools for Businesses.

Our Shopify development agency offers end-to-end services to set up Shopify Agentic Storefronts, optimize your store, and help you maximize AI-driven sales opportunities.

Ready to start selling in AI chats? Contact us