Shopify News: The latest features to scale sales at the end of the year.

What if, this Black Friday , a large portion of your customers decided what to buy by talking to artificial intelligence before any store even opened?

According to Shopify 's Global Holiday Retail Report 2026 , 65% of consumers worldwide plan to use AI in at least one step of their shopping this holiday season . And about a third already trust an AI agent to complete the purchase for them.

It is in this context that the new Shopify features launched throughout 2026 stand out. The platform has placed artificial intelligence at the center of operations (from store creation to checkout) and has introduced features that can be implemented by the end of this year. Below, see what has changed and how to apply it before Black Friday, Cyber ​​Monday, and Christmas.

Shopify news: what you can already use before the end of the year

A straightforward summary of the most important releases for the peak season:

• Canvas builds and adjusts the store through conversation.Launched by Shopify on October 1, 2026, it creates and edits pages based on natural language instructions, displaying the result in real time.
• Shopify's catalog has been opened to AI agents.Products can now be found and purchased by assistants such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity, with checkout via Shop Pay and customer approval for each purchase.
• The sidekick became a task executor.The AI ​​assistant creates automations from a description, acts through various steps, and suggests actions based on store and market performance.
• SimGym tests the store with AI-simulated shoppers.The tool identifies navigation and conversion bottlenecks before actual traffic reaches its peak.
• Marketing has gained channels and direct messaging.Campaigns that charge per conversion across new networks, native SMS via Shopify Messaging, and campaigns that combine acquisition and reactivation.
• Checkout and data analysis have evolved to a peak.Adjustable checkout by market, heat maps, and multi-store view in a single panel.

Canvas: the store built in conversation with AI.

The most visible change in 2026 will alter how you interact with your store . Until now, Shopify 's no-code builder allowed you to rearrange sections and blocks within a theme; more profound changes required code or a developer. With Canvas, the store owner describes what they want, and Sidekick executes it.

The feature renders the actual store code, not a static preview. You can see the entire page or zoom in on a detail, test interactivity and animations, and see how it looks on different screen sizes. Sidekick itself takes screenshots of what it's done to check the result, and the store owner can still click and edit any element manually.

For the end of the year, the main gain is in speed . Creating a Black Friday campaign page , adjusting a Christmas gift collection , or testing variations of a landing page no longer depends on the technical team's queue. In peak weeks, shortening the path between the idea and the live page is worth conversions.

It's worth noting honestly: at launch, Canvas only works on desktop and doesn't yet cover everything ; third-party themes, translations, and gradual releases, for example, were left out initially, and Shopify has stated that they will add them gradually. However, for most seasonal adjustments, it's already usable now.

Agency commerce: appearing where the customer searches with AI.

If some of the holiday shopping is going to start inside an AI, the store needs to be there. In October 2026, Shopify expanded access for artificial intelligence agents to its catalog (more than 1 billion items, both inside and outside Shopify stores), without each assistant needing to negotiate an individual integration. Checkout is done through Shop Pay , and the customer approves each purchase.

In practice, products can be discovered and purchased through assistants like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Perplexity . It's a new acquisition channel that didn't exist before and directly reflects current trends: in addition to the 65% who intend to use AI for shopping, Shopify's report indicates that 71% of frequent AI users are more likely to choose an independent brand this year than last year. For retailers outside of major marketplaces, this opens up opportunities.

What really matters here is the quality of the catalog data . When discovery happens within an AI system, well-organized titles, attributes, descriptions, and images become as valuable as the store layout. Organizing this database takes time, so it's an advantage that's built before the channel matures.

A word of caution: having a ready catalog doesn't guarantee that every product will appear in every store, and sales volume through this channel is still growing slowly. The point is not to abandon the website, but to prepare the catalog now for the customer who decides on the purchase by talking to an AI.

Sidekick and SimGym: an AI boost for the high season.

Sidekick already existed as an assistant, but in 2026 it transitioned to execution. It generates Shopify Flow automations from a simple description, plans and executes tasks in multiple stages, and suggests actions based on store performance and market trends. For lean operations, which are the majority in Brazil, this type of support saves hours precisely during the weeks with the highest volume.

SimGym targets a classic peak traffic problem: discovering the error too late. The tool uses AI-powered simulated shoppers to navigate the store and pinpoint navigation bottlenecks, checkout friction, and conversion opportunities before the real customer encounters them. Running this test in the weeks leading up to Black Friday costs significantly less than finding a bottleneck in the payment flow in the middle of the busiest day.

The combination of the two changes the routine of those who operate the store: less time on manual adjustments and bug hunting, more time on strategy and offers.

Marketing and messaging: greater reach and direct contact

Shopify's new features also impacted the outreach layer. Shop Campaigns now cover networks like X, Snapchat, and Bing , with billing based on conversion (the store pays according to the result, not just the impression). Unified Campaigns combine, in a single campaign, the acquisition of new customers and the reactivation of those who have already purchased.

In direct contact, Shopify Messaging has gained native SMS marketing capabilities: it allows you to create, schedule, and measure messaging campaigns without relying solely on external tools. Forms with automatic translation into multiple languages ​​help those who capture leads for audiences outside the country.

For the end of the year, the analysis is simple: traffic increases, media costs tighten, and direct channels help to extract more from each visit. It's worth checking the availability of each channel in Brazil before putting together your plan, as the launch of some features varies by region.

Checkout, payments, and data to make decisions at peak times.

Conversion is decided in the final steps, and Shopify has continued to refine the checkout process. Now it's possible to adjust the experience by market or segment, adapting the flow to different audiences, as well as expanding payment options through Shop Pay.

From an analytics standpoint, the end of the year calls for quick decisions. The platform offers a view of multiple stores in a single dashboard for Plus accounts, heatmaps filtered by minute, and inventory history beyond the previous 180-day window. This allows you to see when a key product runs out of stock or a sales stage starts losing customers, and act on that same day, instead of finding out in the following week's report.

Shopify news and the end of the year: where to start?

It's impossible to implement everything on the eve of peak season, and it's not necessary. Here's a priority order that yields results with the time available:

First, organize the catalog and product data ; this foundation serves both the website and AI channels simultaneously. Then, run SimGym and fix navigation and checkout friction points before heavy traffic. Next, activate direct channels, such as SMS and conversion-based campaigns, to take advantage of peak visits. And finally, use Canvas to publish and adjust seasonal pages without getting stuck in the technical queue.

The common thread that ties everything together is the same: technology is the "easy" part. The return comes from a well-structured operation, with a clean catalog, integrations in place, and tests guiding every decision. Without this foundation, AI operates on fragile ground and delivers less than it promises, and the end of the year is the worst time to discover this.

Enter the season with your operation ready.

Having the resources available is different from getting results from them. Shopify's new features only translate into sales when they find a well-structured store: an organized catalog, structured data for AI channels, working integrations, and tests running before peak demand.

e-Plus specializes in the implementation, migration, and evolution of Shopify stores , helping brands and retailers leverage these resources with a structure designed for scalability. If your company wants to join Shopify, migrate platforms, or evolve an existing store in time for the end of the year, talk to the e-Plus team of experts . To delve deeper beforehand, it's worth exploring other blog content about Shopify and e-commerce.

Frequently asked questions about Shopify's new features.