Claim your store in ChatGPT, and 3 other Shopify changes to act on

Two of this week's Shopify changes are about the same thing: where shoppers find your products. ChatGPT and Shop are both opening up, and most merchants haven't noticed yet.

The Breakdown is my weekly round-up of Shopify releases: what changed, who it affects, and what to do next.

The big picture: discovery is moving off your storefront

Look at three releases together:

• ChatGPT now lets merchants claim their business and see how shoppers discover them there.
• Shop now lists stores that don't use Shopify Payments.
• Shopify's new search and recommendation model lifted orders on the Shop home feed by 7.95%.

Each one alone is a feature update. Together, they show that more and more product discovery happens before a shopper reaches your store: in an AI assistant, in the Shop app, in a recommendation feed.

My take: the merchants who win the next year won't only have the best storefront. They'll make sure their products and business information are correct and eligible everywhere shoppers now search. This week's actions below are the first steps.

1. Claim your business in ChatGPT

What changed: OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT (beta). Shopify merchants can claim and verify their business by connecting their store, keep their business information current, and see aggregated insights into mentions, website clicks and discovery topics. Eligible US businesses can also publish a Business Agent that answers shoppers' questions using their store information and guidelines.

Worth knowing: Eligible Shopify products were already integrated through Shopify Catalog. This update adds business management, insights and a dedicated conversation experience on top.

Who it affects: Every merchant who wants control over how they appear in ChatGPT. Business Agents start with eligible ecommerce and online-service businesses in the US.

What to do: Review your eligibility, claim your business, and check the information it shows.

My take: Even if you sell outside the US and can't launch an agent yet, claim your business now. The discovery-topic insights show what shoppers ask ChatGPT about you, which is useful input for your product pages and FAQs today.

OpenAI announcement · ChatGPT app for Shopify

2. Your store can now appear on Shop without Shopify Payments

What changed: Stores can now be displayed on the Shop app and Shop.com even if they don't use Shopify Payments, as long as they meet the updated eligibility requirements.

The distinction that matters:

• Display on Shop: shoppers discover your products, then complete the purchase on your online store.
• Sell directly on Shop: shoppers buy without leaving Shop. This still requires Shopify Payments and extra eligibility requirements.
• Shop Campaigns: still require Shopify Payments.

Who it affects: Merchants on a third-party payment provider who were previously excluded from Shop. The updated requirements apply to all stores, though. If yours doesn't meet them, it won't appear until it does.

What to do: Open the Shop channel in your Shopify admin and check your eligibility. Partners: this is a good moment to revisit clients you ruled out because of their payment provider.

My take: This matters most in markets where merchants often use a local payment provider. It's free extra visibility, with no change to how you take payments.

Shopify changelog · Full eligibility requirements

3. Shopify Flow now follows staff permissions

What changed: Access to Flow alone no longer lets a staff member activate every workflow or see all the data behind it. Flow now checks their existing admin permissions and app access. For example, someone without permission to edit customers can't activate a workflow that adds customer tags.

Who it affects: Merchants with teams or partners managing automations. Existing workflows keep running; only what individual staff can see and do has changed.

What to do: Review permissions with whoever manages your automations. If an action is restricted, check Flow's missing-permissions message and grant only the access needed. A restricted button doesn't necessarily mean a broken workflow.

Flow staff permissions documentation

4. What Sidekick means for app developers

What changed: In a video on how Sidekick changes the way merchants find and use apps, Eytan Seidman set out three priorities for app developers:

• Solve complex problems. Deep expertise, strong support and great merchant experiences stay valuable.
• Go beyond basic functionality. Some simple tools could be created directly through Sidekick.
• Integrate with Sidekick. App extensions bring your app's capabilities into the merchant's workflow.

No changes to App Store rankings or Built for Shopify criteria were announced.

My take: Build apps that solve substantial merchant problems, and make that value reachable through Sidekick.

Watch the video · Sidekick app extensions

5. Quick hits

• Kickstarter → Shopify. Kickstarter's official Shopify app sends finalised Pledge Manager orders into Shopify. You can map rewards to products and variants, sync orders or export them in batches, and sync tracking back to Kickstarter. The app is listed as free. Kickstarter app
• Cartes Bancaires on Shopify POS in France. Retailers in France can now accept CB debit in person through Shopify Payments, on Shopify POS Terminal and the BBPOS WisePad 3. Add it to your go-live payment tests. Supported card brands
• Better product discovery on Shop. Shopify deployed a shared generative model for search and recommendations. On the Shop home feed it drove +7.95% orders and +9.85% conversion rate (relative lifts). Engineering breakdown
• Security testing with AI agents. Shopify's Cyber Chaos Monkey probes production infrastructure using test shops, with an independent "judge" agent that can stop any run. Shopify reports tens of thousands of engagements and no outages caused so far. Engineering breakdown

The one thing to do this week

Claim your business in ChatGPT. The insights show you how shoppers already find you there.

Your turn: Have you claimed your business in ChatGPT yet? Tell me in the comments what the insights showed you.

If this saved you time, forward it to one merchant or partner who'd find it useful.

Views are my own.