E-commerce company Shopify has rolled out a major upgrade to its AI-powered assistant, Sidekick, promising to give Aussie merchants a smarter edge when it comes to e-commerce operations.

The new features include advanced multi-step reasoning capabilities and built-in image generation, allowing Sidekick to tackle more complex business challenges and automate creative tasks.

Shopify says the update is designed to cut down time spent on repetitive admin and help merchants stay focused on growth and customer engagement.

“While entrepreneurial momentum continues to thrive in the ANZ market, many retailers are still weighed down by repetitive tasks that hinder growth,” said Shaun Broughton, Managing Director APAC at Shopify. “We want to make advanced technology feel simple and accessible – so every entrepreneur, no matter their technical expertise or economic situation, can move forward with confidence.”

With the update, Sidekick moves beyond basic question answering to deliver contextual business insights. It can now analyse data from multiple sources, including sales, inventory, and customer behaviour, to identify the root causes of problems such as declining sales, then recommend and execute tailored solutions.

Shopify (Image: Sourced from Unsplash)

Improvements to its segmentation capabilities also mean merchants can now more precisely target specific customer groups. Sidekick’s responses are now self-improving too, learning from past interactions to offer increasingly refined guidance.

Sidekick also now includes integrated AI image generation. Merchants can create polished visuals directly within the platform, making it easier for anyone to quickly produce high-quality content.

The move supports Shopify’s broader push toward “declarative commerce,” a vision where merchants simply express their goals and the system maps out the best way to achieve them.

Sidekick’s enhanced capabilities are available now to all Shopify users. The update follows its recent expansion to support all 20 languages available in Shopify’s admin panel.