I’m moving house soon (don’t ask me about how long solicitors take). Last week, I went to the new place for a final viewing and took detailed measurements: room sizes, wall space, windows, wardrobes and the gaps where furniture might eventually live.
Last night, I sat down with one of my best friends, ChatGPT, and gave it all the information. It already knows the style of my current home and, after the number of conversations we’ve had, it has a good idea of my tastes. I told it what furniture I needed and asked it to find some options.
Within about 20 minutes, it had found some great products. Some came from retailers I already knew, like Dusk. Others came from websites I’d never heard of, including The Curio Co. Because it already had my measurements, I didn’t need to check whether anything would fit.
The hard work? I then had to go to each website and buy the products myself. Can you believe the audacity of having to do some of the work? That inconvenience might not be around for much longer.
From finding products to buying them
We’ve talked before about agentic commerce and the growing role AI plays in ecommerce. Until recently, most of that conversation focused on product discovery. Instead of searching Google for “walnut bedside tables”, opening 15 tabs and checking the measurements of each one, I can tell ChatGPT exactly what I need and let it research, compare and shortlist for me.
The next stage is checkout. On 28 September, Shopify started letting AI agents complete the purchase for you on its merchants’ stores. Once you approve, the agent fills in your address and delivery choice, then pays with Shop Pay. Meta’s shopping agent, Muse, is one of the first to use this, and the rollout covers all eligible Shopify merchants.
That makes the journey much shorter. AI finds the product, you decide you want it, you approve the purchase and the order goes through.
What this means for your website
For the last 20 years, ecommerce marketing has largely been about getting somebody onto your website. SEO gets the click. Google Ads gets the click. Email gets the click. Then your website has the job of turning that visitor into a customer.
AI adds another route. A customer can find your product, compare it with several competitors and buy it without spending much time on your website at all. Your product data matters far more than it used to as a result.
If I ask AI to find me a walnut sideboard no wider than 150cm, under £500 and available for delivery next week, it needs your dimensions, price, stock and delivery times before it can decide whether your product fits. Write your product information so ChatGPT can read those details as easily as a customer can.
Why our clients are asking about Shopify
We work with Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Shopify, and Shopify isn’t the right platform for every retailer. But more established ecommerce businesses are asking us about moving to it, and developments like this are one of the reasons. One of our clients is considering a move from BigCommerce to Shopify, and this came up in our last conversation.
Shopify has opened its merchants’ checkouts to AI agents while some other big players are blocking them. If you’re choosing a platform to run your business for the next five or ten years, that’s worth weighing up.
How to check whether your store is ready
I wouldn’t rip up your ecommerce strategy because AI agents are coming. I would start looking at your products the way an AI assistant does. Check these first:
- Dimensions and specifications are complete and consistent
- Variants are set up sensibly (nobody knows the colour midnight peacock horizon)
- Keep your stock levels accurate and up to date
- Delivery times and costs are clear, the same with your returns policy
- Bonus tip: Add a 5% discount code for AI to find – everyone loves a bargain, and I always search with one in mind.
Then ask ChatGPT the sort of questions your customers ask and see what it recommends. If your products don’t appear, start by looking at your product data.
Twenty minutes with ChatGPT saved me hours of searching. The only thing it couldn’t do was buy everything for me, and I don’t think that will last long.
If you’re considering Shopify, thinking about moving from another platform or want to know what AI shopping means for your business, give the Courageous team a shout. We’ve worked with Shopify for over 15 years, and we’re always happy to talk ecommerce.
Further reading: The AI Insider: Shopify Opens Checkout to Browser-Based AI Agents
