Back in May, during the Shopify Editions Summer ‘25 event, we flagged something during Tobias Lütke’s Q&A that felt important, but perhaps didn’t get the spotlight it deserved: the launch of Shopify’s global product catalog.
At first glance, this might sound like just another technical improvement. But take a closer look, and it becomes clear this is a foundational shift in how products on Shopify will surface across the internet, especially in an AI-driven world.
What Is Shopify’s Global Product Catalog?
Shopify’s global product catalog will be a centralized API that contains the entire corpus of products, variants, prices, images, and other product data from across all Shopify merchants who opt in. Think of it as a single, unified dataset that represents the living inventory of the world’s largest eCommerce platform.
This is Shopify’s first truly global API, and it's a massive unlock.
Instead of AI tools having to crawl individual storefronts (or scrape data unreliably), they can now pull product data directly from a structured, maintained source. That means AI-native tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Anthropic’s Claude, and others can instantly reference products across Shopify’s ecosystem.
Why This Matters
In a world where product discovery is rapidly shifting away from traditional search engines toward AI interfaces and conversational assistants, visibility is everything. And Shopify just handed its merchants a massive visibility boost.
Previously, your Shopify store might only show up in search if you had good SEO or if a user navigated directly to your brand. Now, any AI assistant that plugs into Shopify’s global catalog can recommend your product directly—just as it would return a search result.
Imagine someone asking ChatGPT:
“Find me a minimalist leather wallet under $50 that ships to the US.”
Now your product has a fighting chance to be included in that answer—without you doing anything more than being on Shopify.
Why Merchants Should Pay Attention
This shift unlocks powerful potential:
- More discoverability in AI-native environments
- Easier access for new customers via LLMs and next-gen search
- Improved product data consistency for integrations and partners
- A new channel that doesn’t require performance ad spend
It’s also a sign of where Shopify is going next: becoming not just a platform to sell, but a network of products discoverable across the internet’s most intelligent surfaces.
Still Early, But Keep Watching
This won’t transform overnight. There are still questions around merchant opt-in, product curation, how recommendations are prioritized, and the broader implications for DTC brands trying to maintain a unique identity.
But this is one of those quiet updates that could become a major unlock in the coming months and years.
