Shopify Pilots AI Assistant for Merchants

Shopify is offering merchants early access to a commerce-focused artificial intelligence assistant.

The AI assistant, dubbed Sidekick, is one of more than 150 updates Shopify has added to its integrated platform for merchants, the company said in a Monday (June 24) press release.

“Sidekick offers all the context and guidance you need to make good decisions, resolve tasks and make the most of all the features in Shopify,” the company said in the release. “Because it understands your specific products, orders and customers, it can also help generate customer segments and guide you to insights in analytics.”

The assistant is one of several AI-powered updates Shopify has made to its platform, according to the release.

The company also expanded the AI image generation capabilities in its platform beyond those introduced six months ago, the release said. Merchants can now use AI to edit images in their online stores and emails, and they can do so via the Shopify mobile app.

Shopify has also made it easier for merchants to add new products to their store with a tool called Magic, per the release. This AI-powered product creation tool suggests personalized recommendations for all product categories, assigns the right attributes to new products and minimizes listing errors.

Another AI-powered tool included among Shopify’s latest upgrades provides a suggested AI-generated response to incoming customer chat, according to the release. The merchant can approve or edit the response and then hit send.

“Time is the most valuable asset for any entrepreneur,” the company said in the press release. “That’s why we’ve embedded AI across Shopify to save you precious hours and keep your business on the cutting edge.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “What Generative AI Has in Store for the Retail Industry” found that 92% of companies use AI-driven personalization to drive growth. In addition, 77% of business leaders rank generative AI as the most impactful emerging technology.

In another move announced Monday, Shopify and Target partnered to include select Shopify merchants on the retail giant’s third-party digital marketplace called Target Plus.

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