Shopify’s president said the company’s most recent quarter was the first time it saw shoppers experimenting with AI “delegated purchasing,” as it reported stronger third-quarter results.
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Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify Inc., said the company’s most recent quarter marked the first time it saw shoppers experimenting with “delegated purchasing,” where AI-based agents do more than recommend products and instead buy them on a customer’s behalf.
“This is really the newest front door into commerce,” Finkelstein told analysts on a call Tuesday. He said the behaviour was “very new,” with volume still small but “growing.”
Finkelstein said delegated purchasing can benefit Shopify merchants by putting their products in front of a broader audience, since AI agents can use a person’s shopping preferences and history to help surface items a shopper might not discover on their own.
He added that the development fits into Shopify’s view that commerce is fragmenting, with AI creating new ways for buyers to shop and new ways for merchants to operate.
Finkelstein’s remarks came after Shopify’s share price fell nearly 10 per cent to $197.07 when the market opened.
Earlier in the day, Shopify reported third-quarter net income of US$462 million, up from US$264 million in the same quarter last year. The profit amounted to 36 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with 20 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Shopify said its profit was 49 cents US per diluted share in the latest quarter, up from 34 cents US per diluted share in the third quarter of 2025. Revenue for the quarter totalled US$3.74 billion, up from US$2.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
Shopify said its results included US$836 million in subscription solutions revenue, up from US$699 million a year ago, and merchant solutions revenue of US$2.91 billion, up from US$2.15 billion in the third quarter of 2025.
For its outlook, Shopify said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to grow at a low-thirties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
A TD Cowen analyst said Shopify’s share decline appeared to reflect elevated investor expectations heading into the quarter, writing that the company was being “punished for delivering largely in-line results.”
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