What AI features does Shopify offer natively? Overview and assessment

Shopify offers four native AI features: Sidekick (an AI assistant for support and analytics), Magic (text creation and image editing), Section Prompting (creating a frontend via prompts), and AI-based product recommendations (via search and discovery). In our opinion, Sidekick is the strongest feature and, as an AI assistant (support and analytics), is already quite usable in production. Magic and Prompting remain more entry-level tools. External workflows (Make, n8n) and specialized apps are often the better choice for professional use.

AI has arrived in e-commerce – including at Shopify. Since 2023, the platform has been gradually rolling out AI features. This article provides an overview of Shopify's native AI features – based on our agency experience and discussions with the German-speaking Shopify community.

Shopify expert Adrian analyzes which features are usable today, where the limitations lie, and what developments can be expected in the near future.

1. Shopify Sidekick: The AI ​​assistant in the admin panel

According to Adrian, Sidekick is currently Shopify's strongest native AI feature. The AI ​​assistant is available directly in the Shopify admin as a chat interface and serves as an interactive gateway to Shopify documentation and store data.

Where can you find Sidekick: As a prominently placed chat window in the Shopify Admin – available for all Shopify plans.

Shopify Sidekick is particularly suitable for two areas of use:

1. Area of ​​application: Support requests and orientation

Sidekick answers questions about Shopify functions, settings, and features. The quality is often better than with traditional Shopify support.

• Accesses up-to-date documentation (e.g., new checkout instead of outdated Liquid)
• Provides precise answers to technical questions
• Available faster than support tickets

Practical example tante-e:
When asked about checkout configuration, Shopify support referred to the outdated Liquid checkout. Sidekick immediately recognized that only checkout extensions work in the new checkout – and provided the correct information.

2. Area of ​​application: Analytics and reporting

Sidekick reads shop data and provides benchmarks:

• Answers questions about sales, shopping cart value, performance
• Compare shop metrics with similar shops
• Provides initial classifications ("above average", "optimization potential")

Adrian's rating:
Sidekick is already usable in a productive environment and saves time on research and data analysis. This makes it the most sophisticated AI feature that Shopify delivers out of the box.

2. Shopify Magic: Text creation and image editing

Shopify Magic includes two features: automated text generation for product descriptions and image editing (cutout, background adjustment). Both are integrated directly into the Shopify editor.

What Shopify Magic can do:

Text generation:

• Creates product descriptions, meta titles, and SEO texts
• Uses existing product data as a basis
• Tonality is only partially customizable.

Image editing:

• Isolate products (remove background)
• Replace or customize backgrounds
• Simple editing without external software

Where the boundaries lie:

In our opinion, Shopify Magic works well for MVP approaches and small product ranges, but quickly reaches its limits when used professionally:

• No individual prompts or guidelines
• No batch processing for larger product quantities
• No API integration for external systems (ERP, PIM)
• Tone and brand consistency are difficult to control.
• No multi-stage review processes

Why external workflows are better:

For scalable content creation, professional brands use external workflows with Make, n8n, or specialized SEO tools. These enable:

• Structured iteration stages (design → review → refinement)
• Individual context specifications and brand guidelines
• Batch processing of large product quantities
• Integration with existing systems
• Quality assurance through review loops

Adrian's rating:
Shopify Magic is helpful for beginners and quick tests, but it's not a solution for professional content production. Anyone with more than a dozen products or specific quality requirements is better off using external tools.

3. Section prompting and Horizon Theme

With the Horizon theme and the ability to create sections via prompt, Shopify has taken a first step towards "vibe coding." The vision: to no longer build storefronts manually, but to generate them via text input.

What is possible today:

• Create sections per prompt (e.g., "Hero section with product image on the left, text on the right, call-to-action button")
• Generated sections can be edited in the Theme Editor.
• Settings and configurations are created automatically.
• Subsequent adjustments possible via prompt

Where code quality causes problems:

The feature is impressive as a first attempt, but the generated code has structural weaknesses:

• No recourse to theme styling: Sections do not use existing design templates.
• No theme consistency: Code does not integrate cleanly into the existing structure
• Patchwork danger: Multiple uses lead to inconsistent code
• Maintainability questionable: Long-term maintenance will be difficult

When does it make sense today:

• For rapid prototyping and MVP testing
• As a briefing basis for developers
• If external freelancers were to be hired anyway (similar code quality)

When not:

• With professional shop setup and long-term maintenance
• When theme consistency and code quality are important
• For complex functionalities or individual requirements

Outlook:

This feature points in the right direction, but it's not yet production-ready. As code quality and theme integration improve, frontend design will increasingly be possible via the prompt. Agencies like tante-e will then focus more on complex functionalities, strategic consulting, and brand development.

Adrian's rating:
An exciting glimpse into the future, but currently still an MVP tool without professional aspirations.

4. AI-based product recommendations

Shopify has been using AI for product recommendations for some time now – a functionality that is often overlooked, but is already working in the background.

How Shopify analyzes product recommendations:

Shopify analyzes purchasing behavior, product relationships, and user interactions across millions of stores. This data is then used to generate recommendations that can be delivered through the native Search & Discovery app .

Typical areas of application:

• "Similar Products" sections on product pages
• "Customers also bought" recommendations
• Dynamic product suggestions on category pages

Advantages:

• Available out-of-the-box
• No configuration required
• Solid basic functionality for standardized product ranges

Limitations:

• Limited customization options for individual logics
• No rule-based filters (e.g., "prefer high-margin products")
• No advanced personalization or multi-channel integration

When is the native solution sufficient?

At tante-e, we use Shopify's recommendations for several clients – primarily shops with standardized product ranges and no complex requirements. The native solution works reliably and delivers relevant results.

When are external tools needed?

As soon as manual maintenance of important product recommendations (via meta fields), complex rule logics or advanced personalization are desired, brands resort to specialized apps such as Nosto , LimeSpot or Rebuy .

Adrian's rating:
Sufficient for most shops and offering solid basic functionality. External tools add value for specific requirements, but are not absolutely necessary.

5. Outlook: How will Shopify's AI features develop further?

Shopify enjoys a structural advantage: a standardized platform, millions of active shops worldwide, and therefore access to an unparalleled database. This combination gives Shopify a clear competitive edge in the further development of AI features.

Four developments Adrian expects regarding Shopify & AI:

1. Proactive recommendations and consulting

Shopify will no longer just react to requests, but will proactively identify optimization potential:

• Automated performance alerts for unusual developments
• Benchmarking notes ("Your conversion rate is 15% lower than comparable shops")
• Specific optimization suggestions based on millions of shop data points

2. Sidekick becomes an execution tool

Sidekick is currently providing answers. The next step: Sidekick will perform tasks directly.

• "Sidekick, create a discount code for existing customers with a 10% discount"
• "Sidekick, change the button color on the product page"
• "Sidekick, export all orders from the last 30 days with a shopping cart value over €100"

This makes Shopify even more accessible for non-technical users and saves time on manual admin tasks.

3. Improving code quality in prompting

The code quality of AI-generated frontends will increase:

• Sections utilize theme styling
• Theme consistency is automatically maintained.
• Maintainable, clean code will become the standard.

For agencies like tante-e, this means: The focus is shifting from simple frontend tasks to complex functionalities and strategic consulting.

4. Shopify's structural data advantage

Shopify has an advantage that hardly any other e-commerce platform offers: standardized data from millions of shops in real time. This enables:

• More precise AI models through larger training datasets
• Faster integration of new AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT)
• Better benchmarks and recommendations

Merchants automatically benefit from this database – without any additional effort.

6. Conclusion: Native AI features in Shopify – What's worth it today?

What works today:

• Shopify Sidekick is the only feature that, according to Adrian's analysis, is already professionally usable. It saves time on support requests and data analysis and is often more precise than traditional Shopify support.
• AI-based product recommendations provide a solid basic functionality for most online stores. External tools are only needed for specific requirements.

What else is MVP:

• Shopify Magic (text creation, image editing) is suitable for beginners and quick tests, but not for professional content production. External workflows with Make or n8n are a better choice here.
• Section prompting shows the future, but is not yet ready for production. Code quality and theme consistency leave much to be desired.

For merchants, this means:

Those who choose Shopify automatically benefit from new AI features – without any migration or integration effort. The platform is constantly evolving, and its database of millions of shops makes AI features more precise than those of competing platforms.

AI at Shopify is no longer a hype, but is already usable today – with clear growth potential.