An AI Renaissance: What Shopify Winter 2026 Really Brings

Sidekick levels up: from a reactive tool to an action-driven engine

Sidekick continues to be one of Shopify’s core pillars, but in the Winter 2026 Edition, it takes on a much more active role. The standout update is Sidekick Pulse, a mechanism that analyzes store data and proactively surfaces recommendations for improvement, along with a clear, actionable task list that teams can actually implement.

The goal is to reduce the need to dive endlessly into reports and turn insights into concrete actions. Instead of searching for where the problem might be, the system highlights areas that need attention and suggests what to do next. The feature requires activating Shopify’s advanced AI infrastructure and is rolling out gradually, so not every store will see it yet. It’s one of the more intriguing announcements in this edition, even if it’s not relevant to everyone just yet.

Design and creative workflows, accelerated by AI

One of the areas where this AI renaissance feels most tangible is design. Sidekick can suggest and apply changes to themes, including colors, typography, spacing, and overall look and feel, while keeping full control in the hands of the team.

Alongside this, Shopify is investing heavily in high-quality image editing tools. These include background changes, adding or removing elements, and a mobile image editor built directly into the app. The result is less reliance on external tools and greater ability to move quickly without compromising quality.

Testing before going live with Rollouts and SimGym

Shopify is clearly pushing toward a more controlled approach to changes before they reach production. Rollouts allow merchants to schedule theme changes and run A/B tests directly from the Admin, without relying on third-party tools. This feature is also rolling out gradually, but the direction is clear: testing and measurement as a built-in part of the platform.

The more experimental tool is SimGym. The app uses human-like AI personas to simulate shopper behavior on a storefront, including navigation patterns, add-to-cart actions, and cart value, before changes go live.

SimGym is currently in AI Research Preview and looks particularly promising for brands with high traffic volumes or that are sensitive to even small changes.

Commerce inside AI conversations, not just on the website

One of the more significant signals in this edition relates to how Shopify views the customer touchpoint. Increasingly, customer journeys begin outside the website, within AI conversations where people ask questions, receive recommendations, and make decisions.

Shopify is outlining a direction for syndicating products to AI platforms, enabling a more direct and seamless transition from recommendation to purchase without requiring additional searches or unclear navigation. While this capability is not yet available, it clearly illustrates where Shopify is heading. The store is no longer just a destination, but an infrastructure that feeds shopping experiences beyond the website itself.

Finally, clarity for weighted products with unit pricing

A particularly practical update is the ability to display unit pricing, such as price per gram, kilogram, or liter. Unit prices are automatically displayed on product pages, collection pages, the cart, and checkout, helping customers understand and compare prices more easily.

This feature is especially relevant in markets where unit pricing is also a regulatory requirement. While it’s not available uniformly across all regions, it marks a long-awaited step toward a more structured solution for this need.

Shopify as a business operating system: POS, inventory, and organization analytics

On the operational side, Shopify continues to strengthen its position as a complete business management platform. With Shopify POS, staff can perform inventory counts directly at the register using Quick Count, including barcode scanning, real-time syncing, and reports.

For organizations on Shopify Plus with multiple stores, a robust layer of organization-level analytics has been added. This includes a unified dashboard, cross-store reporting, analysis by Store or Organization, and the use of ShopifyQL. It’s another step that reinforces Shopify as a platform for managing an entire business, not just an online store.

What’s next?

Shopify isn’t slowing down and is actively exploring additional AI tools, including generating custom store apps using prompts. We’re testing and experimenting with these capabilities, and once they feel mature enough for real-world use, we’ll share updates.

Summary

Winter 2026 is an edition focused on progression rather than a single standout feature. Shopify is building an AI layer designed to sit at the heart of how brands work, from planning and creative workflows to decision-making and operations. Not everything is available yet, and not every update will be relevant to every store, but the direction is clear. For those who choose carefully, this represents a real opportunity to work smarter, more accurately, and more efficiently.

If you’d like help understanding which of these updates are genuinely relevant to your business and how to implement them practically, we at BOA Ideas are here to help.