AI is becoming a much bigger part of the ecommerce buying journey. Shopify’s latest data shows how quickly this is happening, with AI-referred traffic and orders to merchant storefronts both tripling year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026. Shopify analysed commerce data from its merchant storefronts, comparing AI and organic search traffic across conversions, orders, and sessions across various product categories.
The results show that shoppers are using AI to research and purchase products more than ever. According to Shopify’s data, traditional search is still the biggest driver of traffic to merchant storefronts, but AI is having a massive impact on how buyers are shopping for products.
AI Driving More Ecommerce Traffic and Sales
AI-referred sessions to Shopify stores grew 197% year-on-year in Q2, and Shopify’s Q2 revenue climbed 34% to $3.6 billion. AI-driven traffic and orders both roughly tripled, and new buyers arriving via AI channels converted at close to double the rate of other visitors, especially in categories where shoppers compare specs, reviews, and compatibility before they buy. This growth is particularly interesting because AI is now helping shoppers discover products they might struggle to find through traditional keyword-based search.
Around 75% of AI-attributed purchases came from outside Shopify’s top 100 product categories. Shopify says this shows the structural benefit of AI search helping users find highly specific products based on detailed descriptions of what they need. Shopify’s examples of these niche product categories include harnesses specifically designed for French bulldogs, reef-safe sunscreen, and screenless phones for children. These aren’t products a shopper would discover by searching a broad term such as “dog harness” or “sunscreen” on Google.
AI can interpret a more detailed request and connect the shopper with a product that matches very specific requirements. This trend has important implications for ecommerce brands. Being visible for the right high-volume keywords is still valuable, but you also need product information that allows AI to understand exactly what you sell and who it’s suitable for.
AI Shoppers Are Converting at Higher Rates
Shopify’s data shows that in research-intensive product categories, AI-referred visitors converted at around twice the rate of organic visitors. This trend makes sense when you consider how people use AI during the buying process. Someone comparing products may use an AI assistant to explain the differences between options, check compatibility, compare specifications and reviews, or help find the right product for a specific requirement. By the time they reach a merchant’s website, they already have a detailed idea of what they want.
For ecommerce brands, this means AI visibility shouldn’t be measured purely by traffic, as the quality of the traffic you receive is just as important. A smaller number of highly relevant visitors can be more valuable than a much larger volume of low-intent sessions.
Organic Search Drives Largest Share of Traffic
Despite how much AI is growing, traditional search is still the largest source of referral traffic for Shopify merchants. Organic search traffic has increased by 12% year-on-year according to Shopify, and the channel sent more traffic to merchants than all tracked AI platforms combined. Shopify CTO Mikhail Parakhin said on X that he’d assumed AI was quietly killing off organic discovery:
“Everyone (myself included) assumes AI is swallowing Search and killing organic discovery. Surprisingly, Shopify’s numbers say otherwise: AI-referred sessions are up 3x YoY, but organic still grew 12% on a much bigger base. The pie itself got bigger.”
Many businesses feel like they’re being asked to choose a side: chase traditional SEO or chase visibility in AI answers, but Shopify’s data is a useful reality check. It shows AI search and traditional search aren’t in competition. AI search is adding to discovery channels – not replacing traditional search. The same structured, well-organised product data that helps you show up in AI search also strengthens your position in Google’s results, since AI Overviews and AI Mode run on the same underlying ranking systems as standard search.
GEO isn’t a replacement for SEO. When you make sure your product and service information is genuinely easy for machines to understand and trust, alongside the work you’re already doing to rank well organically, both channels benefit.
How Merchants Can Stay on Top of AI Visibility
For anyone selling online, particularly in specialist or niche categories, this is genuinely encouraging. The businesses whose product data is set up properly behind the scenes are the ones reaping the rewards, whichever channel the customer arrives from:
- Product information needs to be accurate and consistent across feeds and websites
- Provide the specifics about your products (like sizes, materials, and colour options) rather than leaving those details vague or missing
- Product pages should clearly explain compatibility and use cases where relevant
- Implement structured data so AI tools can read your product details
- Put the most helpful information (the answer to what the customer is looking for) right at the very top
- Build your FAQ sections around real questions that customers are asking on social media and discussion forums.
To improve your visibility in AI search results, you should also focus on getting mentions and links from reputable, well-known websites and publications. When these trusted sources talk about your brand, it builds “consensus” – telling AI systems that your site is a credible, authoritative source of information that they can confidently recommend to users.
The Final Word
Shopify’s Q2 data makes it clear that AI is becoming a strong source of ecommerce demand alongside traditional search. Organic traffic remains the largest source of referrals, while AI is creating another route for customers who may have more specific needs and stronger purchase intent. If your product data, schema, and content are still built purely with keyword rankings in mind, you could be missing out on a growing slice of higher-converting, first-time buyers who are doing their research through AI tools before they ever type a query into Google.
Audit your product and service data now: is it clear, structured, and consistent everywhere it appears? If you’d like a hand figuring out your GEO and SEO strategy to build stronger search visibility, we’re always happy to have that conversation – just reach out to our team.