# Shopify says AI-driven traffic and orders tripled year over year in Q2

Published: 2026-08-05T16:02:32.249Z · Source: TechCrunch AI (https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/05/shopify-says-ai-search-is-driving-more-traffic-and-sales-not-replacing-google/)
Source date: 2026-08-05
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Shopify president Harley Finkelstein told the company's Q2 earnings call that AI-driven traffic and orders to Shopify merchant stores tripled year over year, with half of AI-referred sessions landing directly on product pages — 2.5 times the rate of traditional search. Traditional search sessions remained up 1.3x over two years, per Shopify, which framed AI as a complement to search rather than a substitute, per TechCrunch.

Why it matters: It's the first large e-commerce platform to report AI referral traffic as pure growth rather than cannibalization, cutting against the traffic-decline story publishers have been telling all year.

Canonical: https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-08-05-shopify-says-ai-driven-traffic-and-orders-tripled-year-over-year-in-q2/
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