AI is the Biggest Shift in Commerce Since the Internet

“I think AI is the biggest shift in commerce probably since the internet,” declared Shopify President Harley Finkelstein, setting a profound benchmark for the generative artificial intelligence era. This statement, delivered during an interview on CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street,’ immediately reframed the current technological transition from an incremental upgrade to a foundational, generational change. Finkelstein’s commentary was not just bullish; it was a clear articulation of Shopify’s strategic positioning as the infrastructure provider prepared to capitalize on a hyper-accelerated market.

Finkelstein spoke with CNBC’s Sara Eisen at the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference, primarily to detail Shopify’s major announcement: a co-development partnership with Google centered on building an open standard for AI commerce. This collaboration, along with other moves, signals a critical shift away from traditional search and discovery models toward a future driven by autonomous, conversational AI agents that facilitate complex transactions. For industry insiders, the message was clear: the speed of commerce is about to go supersonic.

The core insight Finkelstein offered was encapsulated in a vivid metaphor: “It feels like 2026 is the year that commerce breaks through the sound barrier.” He explained that when you break the sound barrier, the drag disappears, and speed accelerates dramatically. This metaphor captures the belief that AI will dissolve the friction points that currently plague online retail—poor discovery, cumbersome checkouts, and lack of personalized service—leading to an unprecedented velocity of brand formation and consumer transaction. The resulting prediction is staggering for venture capitalists and brand founders: "There’s probably going to be more billion-dollar brands born in the next decade than in the last century," Finkelstein claimed. This forecast suggests that the efficiency gains provided by agentic AI will lower the barrier to entry and scale so dramatically that the rate of entrepreneurial success will fundamentally redefine the market cap landscape.

The mechanism driving this acceleration is the interoperability of commerce data. Historically, merchants have been forced to push their product information into various walled gardens (marketplaces, social media platforms), often resulting in fragmented data and siloed customer experiences. The Google partnership aims to solve this by creating what Shopify calls the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard that allows AI agents to access rich, real-time product data directly from the merchant. Finkelstein stressed that this is not about directing consumers to a specific AI application, but enabling seamless transactions wherever the consumer is engaging. “Wherever they go, if they’re having a conversation with that agent, UCP, which is the Universal Commerce Protocol, which is that open standard we developed with Google, allows agents to connect and transact with merchants,” he noted. This establishes Shopify as the essential backbone, the data source, and the transactional layer that powers the AI ecosystem, rather than competing directly as an agent itself.

From the consumer perspective, the shift is one of context and agency. Instead of searching broadly for "ski boots" and sifting through thousands of results, the consumer can interact with an AI agent conversationally, asking for something like: "Help me find a carry-on for a trip to Miami that’s hard shell, lightweight, and has spinner wheels." The agent, leveraging UCP, can then pull specific, verified product data, factoring in real-time inventory, applicable loyalty discounts, delivery options, and even weather predictions for the destination. This moves commerce from algorithmic guessing to AI understanding and remembering consumer needs. This level of hyper-personalization, driven by the merchant’s full suite of data, promises to radically improve conversion rates and customer satisfaction. The critical component, Finkelstein emphasized, is that the system operates on merit. The agent shows the best product available that fits the complex prompt, regardless of which platform the consumer started on.

Shopify’s strategy is overtly platform-agnostic, positioning it as the indispensable enabler for all major generative AI players. Finkelstein confirmed that the UCP is being integrated across the board, noting that Shopify has already announced collaborations with OpenAI and is now working with Google’s AI Mode/Gemini, as well as Microsoft’s Copilot. This widespread integration is the strategic masterstroke. By ensuring that its merchants’ products are syndicated across every major AI platform, Shopify guarantees relevance in the new agent-driven landscape, sidestepping the risk of being marginalized by any single dominant AI entity. This move secures Shopify’s position at the heart of future e-commerce infrastructure, making the Universal Commerce Protocol the essential translation layer between merchant inventory and the rapidly diversifying world of conversational shopping agents.