Storefront Agent: The AI Sales Rep on Your Product Pages

On July 1, Shopify announced Sidekick.

I have been digging into what this means for merchants.

The Technical Details

I spent days debugging what was happening. I spent a weekend fixing what was happening.

1. Smart Email Delivery updated without warning.
2. Here is the thing: AI search has changed how your checkout works.
3. Here is the thing: AI block generation will affect how your checkout works.
4. The issue is that the documentation assumes you are a developer.

What Happened

Smart Email Delivery shipped in the latest update. According to Shopify changelog, the migration is not going smoothly. I spent days migrating what was happening. According to support tickets, the migration is not going smoothly.

I switched over the weekend and found several issues. According to Shopify changelog, this is a widespread issue.

• I spent hours migrating what was happening.
• Campaign Autopilot changed quietly.
• Here is the thing: Horizon themes is changing how your checkout works.
• Here is the thing: AI merchandising is already affecting your store performance.
⚠️ Note: I switched on a test store and discovered some undocumented behavior.

The Impact on Stores

• From what I am seeing in the developer forums, many stores are affected.
• The key point: Horizon themes has changed your store performance.
• I migrated last week and it worked surprisingly well.
• I tested this last week and discovered some undocumented behavior.
• The issue is that the documentation assumes you are a developer.

What Happened

✅ Key takeaway: Based on merchant communities, the migration is not going smoothly.

Bottom line: From what I am seeing in support tickets, this is a widespread issue.