Why Meta's Consumer AI Agent Is Good News for Shopify Stock -- Barrons.com

By Mariapaula Gonzalez

Wall Street has long feared that new AI shopping agents are coming for Shopify. But those worries could be overblown, says one analyst.

J.P. Morgan analyst Bryan Smilek pushed back on the widespread concerns that Shopify could be replaced, pointing to its competitive moat, high conversion rates, and strong partnership with Meta Platforms.

Shares of Shopify have fallen 14% this month, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock dipped 0.3% to $126.35 on Thursday.

The pullback in the stock, though, hasn't shaken Smilek's outlook. In a note on Thursday, he reaffirmed his Overweight rating and $185 price target for December.

Smilek acknowledged that consumer AI agents like SpaceX's Grok Bot and Meta's Muse-which launched earlier this week-have weighed on Wall Street's confidence in Shopify.

He noted, however, that Muse poses less of a threat and more of an opportunity. Smilek called Meta a "critical advertising partner for Shopify merchants" as the company's new enterprise platforms link directly into Shopify store backends.

Shopify will soon become a major checkout method within Meta Muse through Shop Pay, which means the platform will process the transaction and collect its fees.

"We believe the companies will work closely together to continue advancing industry-wide agentic commerce offerings," Smilek wrote in a note on Thursday.

That partnership could also translate into a revenue boost. Online orders coming from AI agents have converted to sales at twice the rate of traditional web channels, Smilek noted.

Earlier last month, Shopify president Harley Finkelstein tried to ease investor concerns during an earnings call by pushing back at Wall Street's widespread sentiment that AI would hurt software and Shopify's tools.

In addition to Meta, OpenAI, Alphabet-owned Google, and Microsoft have all worked with Shopify over the past year.

Beyond the competitive landscape, Shopify has maintained a strong brand identity. Gross merchandise volume rose 32% to $115.6 billion in the fiscal second quarter ended Jun. 30.

Smilek added that Shopify's 20 years of proprietary merchant data, deep infrastructure, and in-house AI assistant, Sidekick, make it hard for any AI bot to replace the platform's core value to online stores.

Write to Mariapaula Gonzalez at mariapaula.gonzalez@barrons.com

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September 10, 2026 14:27 ET (18:27 GMT)