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Masters of Scale · September 1, 2026 · 00:29:52

When AI agents do your shopping, everything changes, with Shopify’s Jess Hertz

Jess Hertz

E-commerce's old playbook rewarded brands that could buy visibility in search results. Jess Hertz, Shopify's COO, joins Rapid Response to explain how AI agents are changing product discovery and purchasing. Hertz shares what Shopify's data shows about the agentic shopping shift and how the company is building infrastructure to make products discoverable and purchasable by AI. She also discusses why Shopify lets engineers spend freely on AI tokens while other companies scrutinize ROI. The conversation frames the moment as a win-the-future-or-die-trying bet for a company powering over 14% of online shopping.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Highlights

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AI agents are eroding the paid search advantage
Jess Hertz says the long-standing e-commerce rule that the biggest brands win by buying their way to the top of search results is being disrupted by AI-driven shopping.
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Shopify is building the infrastructure layer for AI purchasing
Hertz explains that Shopify is building an infrastructure layer to make products discoverable and purchasable by AI agents.
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Shopify spends freely on AI tokens while others agonize over ROI
Hertz notes that Shopify's engineers can spend freely on AI tokens while the rest of the business world agonizes over ROI.
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A 14% online shopping footprint makes AI a win-or-die bet
With Shopify powering over 14% of online shopping, Hertz frames the company's AI push as winning the future or dying trying.
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