Build a Shopify store → run Ads → get traffic → make sales

Thanks for all these questions I received about the Shopify platofrm. It still shows that entrepreneurs are choosing Shopify as their No.1 way to go online.

And this is very interesting how AI is changing the ecommerce market, so I'd liek to check if it still worth starting a Shopify store in 2026-2027?

I keep seeing the same question if the ecommerce getting too difficult and we should look for a better solution? My answer is simple - Shopify is probably better than it has ever been and today is the best time to go online.

But one thing has changed. And starting a Shopify store is not the best idea to do right now. You'll ask me why?

Here's what I see changing:

The technology is better, there's no questions, and payments, apps are better. AI can help you create products, write content, build pages and automate parts of the business. You can launch the store much faster than 5 years ago. The problem is that everyone else can do the same and having a Shopify store is no longer an advantage that was 10 years ago. It is just the infrastructure.

So the real question is - Why would someone buy from your store instead of the other 500 stores selling something similar?

And this is where things are getting harder. Google is changing. Social media is changing. And now people are increasingly asking ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and other AI tools what they should buy. So the old ecommerce playbook of:

Build a store → run Google Ads → get traffic → make sales is becoming less and less reliable. And honestly - I think the next generation of Shopify stores will be very very different. This by the way counts for hte Shopify apps as well. I mean if you are building (vibe-coding) shopify apps these days, probably it is not going to be successful. Sorry to say this. But this stage of life has ended.

So what should you do if you are still planning to open an online store and start ecommerce business? My recoomendations would be - to start. Do not expect to get first million in sales in the next 6 months, but this now is more liek a social media platform. And keep in mind that a bigger competition than ever before. So keep in mind these few elements:

• a strong brand 🟡

• a very clear niche 🟢

• useful content 🟢🟢🟢🟢

• real expertise 🟢🟢

• products that are actually different 🟡

• good customer experience 🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢

• strong reviews and reputation 🟢🟢🟢

• content that Google can understand 🟢🟢

• content that AI can discover and recommend 🟢🟢🟢🟢🟢

And Shopify can still be the engine behind all of this. So no, I don't think you need to find a "better Shopify". I just think you need to build a better business around Shopify. The platform is not the problem. The problem these days is building another store that looks exactly like everyone else's. :) I am activelly building 3 stores right now, and all clients sent their biggest competitor's stores as their examples. This is the worst what can happen. WHY someone should by from a new COPY they found online when the original and really trustable brand sells the same online?

If I were starting an ecommerce business today, I would still seriously consider Shopify. Re-post the same products on PUB-lish Store and other local online platforms. But I would spend much less time on nice landing page, fancy AI moving visualisations and silly animations.

And much more time asking: "How do I become the company people and AI recommend when they are looking for what I sell?"

That is a very different game. And the interesting thing is that so small amount of people are finding the right doors to this game, which is still the same, but the rules has changed. And the problem with entrepreneurs are that 99% of them are still using the same strategy, the same tactics and expect the same results.

It's jsut not going to work this way anymore.