Shopify just changed their rules of engagement. With the never ending outpouring of Agentic Storefronts, the “search and click” era is officially dying. We are now in the “ask and buy” era. Accoring to some. Me, we are not there yet. But I digress.
But here is the brutal reality from the partner briefing:
The 6k Rule: AI agents are scanning the first ~6,000 characters of your product descriptions for context.
The SEO Ghost Town: Traditional meta descriptions and presentation logic are being bypassed by AI discovery layers.
The Invisible Merchant: If your product data isn’t structured for “Inference Advantage,” you aren’t just ranked lower, you aren’t shown at all.
Our friends over at Sumo Blue said to me “We’ve seen this coming. While the “hipster” agencies were busy building wellness programs and friction-free offices, we were getting our hands dirty in the data.” To meet CEO, Stephen Frazer You will know immediately, he is not a hipster. He is not sorry for this nor are hispters wrong. Many of his friends start a night out with a cheeky cocktail.
His Sumo Blue Rule for 2026:
If your agency partner shows up in a T-shirt, they aren’t ready for the “Sleeves Up” era of commerce.
AI won’t save a broken data foundation. Human maturity, seasonal agility, and relentless perspiration will. According to Frazer, We don’t just “manage” accounts; we dance with the seasonality and roll up our sleeves when the snowstorm hits.” Timely weather related pun from Stephen.
Stop hiring “influencer” agencies for an “operator” problem. The job is much simpler than that. Don’t believe us? Check out our PSA - recorded in the land before video emerged.