The firm’s new “agentic storefronts” will let chatbots like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity show products from Shopify sellers in conversations with users. The company is also adding new features to its Sidekick assistant, including the ability for clients to generate custom tools and plug-ins for their stores, and to make design changes using text prompts. (The Logic)

Talking point: As consumers start to use chatbots for more of their web browsing, online retailers face the same threat as search engines and news publishers—what if no one goes to websites anymore? Brands are already rewriting their code to catch the attention of web crawlers. Shopify’s latest update is designed to get its merchants into the AI conversation, just as it did previously with social platforms. OpenAI has already announced plans to let ChatGPT users buy from Shopify-powered stores; the San Francisco-based firm may seek a cut of the transaction from any such sales, its CFO Sarah Friar said last month.