Shopify Bets on Agentic Commerce Amid First Revenue Miss in Four Years

Shopify's stock fell roughly nine percent Tuesday morning after the company reported third-quarter revenue of $3.74 billion USD ($5.23 billion CAD), as BetaKit first reported. While this represented 32 percent year-over-year growth, it fell short of analyst expectations ranging from $3.75 billion to $3.77 billion. Bloomberg reports this marks Shopify's first revenue miss in four years.

Gross merchandise volume (GMV) for the quarter reached $119 billion USD, a 29 percent increase from the previous year, though Barron's notes this was slightly below analyst projections. Despite the miss, Shopify reported net income of $462 million and earnings per share of $0.49 USD, exceeding projections. CFO Jeff Hoffmeister attributed a 22 percent free cash flow margin to an expanding addressable market and various growth drivers.

Central to Shopify's current strategy is a pivot toward "agentic commerce," where AI agents and chatbots serve as storefronts. President Harley Finkelstein noted that this quarter saw the first instances of shoppers using personal agents for delegated purchasing. Shopify has integrated its infrastructure with AI agents, including Meta's Muse, allowing them to connect to Shop Pay or manage Shopify stores.

According to Finkelstein, AI traffic more than doubled year-over-year, and AI-driven orders tripled. He added that shoppers were sent to product pages via AI channels at three times the rate of typical searches. Thanos Moschopoulos, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, told BetaKit that agentic commerce is showing early signs of driving incremental, high-conversion traffic, while the AI assistant Sidekick is aiding merchant success.

The shift comes amid internal transitions; BetaKit reported that CTO Mikhail Parakhin is stepping down to serve as an advisor. Additionally, while Shopify did not confirm specific layoffs, a spokesperson told BetaKit the company continuously evaluates the "size and shape" of its team.