Shopify Exec: The merchants who are ready for AI will have a significant advantage over those who aren't

Shopping habits across Europe have fundamentally changed in the last decade as customer touchpoints have become fragmented across online channels, including e-commerce stores, social media, B2B wholesale portals, and physical storefronts. Now even AI models complicate the shopping experience. However, Shopify sees this as an opportunity. Deann Evans, Managing Director of EMEA, gave an exclusive interview to our sister news site, Kosárérték, discussing how unified commerce and AI-driven storefronts are reshaping regional growth strategies for European brands.

Unified Commerce: Bridging online, offline, AI, B2B, and B2C operations

“Consumers no longer follow a predictable path to purchase. They might discover a product on social media, compare prices online, visit a physical store to see it in person, ask an AI assistant for recommendations, and complete the purchase through whichever channel is most convenient,” said Deann Evans to Kosárérték. In the interview, she shared some more details:

• Dissolving Channel Boundaries: European consumers and B2B buyers no longer distinguish between online, in-store, or social channels. They simply expect a frictionless brand experience.
• Centralized Operating Infrastructure: Instead of maintaining separate systems for wholesale, retail, and localized regional shops, a unified commerce framework consolidates products, real-time inventory, customer data, and multi-currency payments into a single backend.
• AI clarity is more important than ever: When journeys are so fragmented and heavily involve AI-driven tools, merchants must focus on the clarity and quality of their databases. That’s how they can shine in AI engines, and drive more traffic than their competitors. 
• Unified commerce is the key: All of the above point to the implementation of Unified Commerce, which in Shopify’s vocabulary means that all these touchpoints and systems need to be centralized and kept in sync to achieve the best customer experience. 

Unlocking Efficiency and New Revenue with AI

Deann Evans also shared insights into AI efficiency during the interview. As she said: Artificial intelligence is shifting from simple customer-facing chatbots to a core operational engine that drives measurable ROI and speeds up strategic decision-making:

• Time-Saving Strategic Support: Proactive AI tools like Sidekick handle data analysis, SKU management, and campaign tracking. This can save design-driven brands like Danish studio OMHU up to 10 hours a month that can be redirected toward core business growth.
• High-Intent Traffic Acceleration: Direct traffic coming from AI searches to Shopify stores has surged 8x year-over-year, while orders generated from AI search interactions expanded nearly 13x.
• Superior Conversion and Order Value: Shoppers originating from conversational AI queries convert nearly 50% higher and carry a 14% higher average order value than traditional web visitors.

Cross-Border Expansion: Scaling European Operations Without the Friction

The Shopify leader also talked about how expanding into new countries historically meant managing a complex patchwork of separate stores, localized ERP environments, and duplicated financial workflows. This is a slow, and costly model that introduces friction across everything from catalog management to logistics. Deann Evans underlined how Shopify solves this architectural headache with the following solutions: 

• Frictionless Cross-Border Expansion: Shopify is present in 127 markets and has deep expertise in cross-border operations. They allow brands to sell from multiple legal entities and settle in local currencies under a single store setup. This eliminates duplicate operations, reduces compliance burdens, and drastically lowers total cost of ownership compared to fragmenting operations across rigid regional platforms.
• Unified B2B and B2C Operations: Shopify can scale wholesale portals alongside direct-to-consumer storefronts without splitting inventory pools or breaking back-office ERP integrations.
• Automated Regional Compliance: Native support for localized tax rules, multi-entity settlement, and regional checkout flows keeps cross-border commerce fully compliant across European borders.

As e-commerce shifts from static storefronts to fully integrated digital ecosystems, navigating international expansion, cross-border compliance, and AI readiness requires more than off-the-shelf templates. Modern mid-market and enterprise brands need an infrastructure that seamlessly connects their back-office ERPs, logistics networks, and multi-entity operations into a single, automated powerhouse.

At Color and Code, we specialize in solving these complex integration challenges for growing European merchants. Ready to transform your store into a future-proof ecosystem? Reach out to our expert team today, and let’s build a system that drives your next chapter of growth.