Shopify now shares your markdowns with AI agents: what to check before Black Friday
Since October 9, 2026 Shopify shares your compare-at price (the original, struck-through price) with AI shopping agents through Shopify Catalog, so they can finally tell that a product is marked down. Until now an agent saw only the final price: drop a product from 100 to 69 EUR and ChatGPT or Google AI Mode showed 69 EUR with no markdown context at all.
For you this comes down to one concrete action: there is a toggle in your Shopify admin that decides whether AI agents see your struck-through prices. It is worth checking where it stands in your store before Black Friday.
What changed about compare-at prices in AI channels?
Since October 9, 2026 Shopify Catalog passes the compare-at price along with the rest of your product data, so AI shopping agents can tell a discounted product from a regular one. Previously Catalog exposed only the current price, with no original price attached.
Shopify puts it this way:
"Shopify now shares your compare-at price with AI shopping agents through Shopify Catalog" - Shopify changelog, October 9, 2026
Shopify Catalog is the data layer AI channels (agentic channels) read your products from. It works independently of your theme, and that is worth remembering: your theme does not control how a markdown looks in an AI channel. The Shopify Help Center says it plainly - "your theme doesn't control how sale prices are displayed on AI channels that find products through Shopify Catalog".
This continues the line opened by Shopify Agentic Plan and UCP: the sales channel appears not on your site but inside a conversation, and your job is simply to hand over clean data.
Why does an invisible markdown cost you sales before Black Friday?
An invisible compare-at price means the agent treats your promotion as a regular price. When several stores are compared, 69 EUR with no context reads as just 69 EUR, while a competitor's 69 EUR next to a struck-through 100 EUR reads as a win.
That is exactly why this change matters more in October than it would in March. During Black Friday and Christmas most of the catalogue carries a compare-at price, and AI engines are increasingly the shopper's first stop. If the markdown signal never reaches the channel, the whole promotion mechanic stops working there.
How do you check whether your store shares compare-at prices?
Sharing compare-at prices with AI agents is controlled by a separate toggle in the Agentic sales channel settings, under Shopify Catalog Mapping, in the "Compare-at" section. Before that, check whether your store is eligible for Shopify Catalog at all.
- In your Shopify admin open Sales channels > Agentic and look at your store's status. If you see an Ineligible warning, click it - Shopify will show the reason.
- In the same channel open Shopify Catalog Mapping and find the Compare-at section. Its description - "Show compare-at prices to AI agents" - is exactly this setting.
- Check a few discounted products: the compare-at price has to be higher than the current price, otherwise no markdown is shown anywhere - not in the theme, not in an AI channel.
- If you use market-specific prices, review whether compare-at prices are filled in for the markets you actually sell in.
No action is required from you - the feature switched on by itself. The setting exists because some stores deliberately do not want to expose the original price to third parties, while others live off exactly that.
Will every AI channel show your markdown?
No. Shopify only passes the compare-at price along; the channel makes the final call. The Help Center notes that each AI channel decides for itself whether to display the compare-at price next to the current one.
In practice one agent may show the struck-through price, another only a percentage, a third nothing at all. What stays on your side is data quality: a clean compare-at price, a correct product title, a clear description. How that data looks from the AI side is something we covered when writing about Shopify Knowledge Base.
What to do before Black Friday
A short list you can realistically work through in half an hour:
- Check your Sales channels > Agentic status and the Compare-at toggle under Shopify Catalog Mapping.
- Review whether every seasonal promotion has a compare-at price filled in, rather than just a lowered base price.
- Make sure your B2B range is separated: products available only to business customers do not travel into AI channels.
- Clean up product titles and descriptions - for an agent that is the only context, because it cannot see your design.
If you would rather have someone review all of this for you, we do it as part of our Shopify advertising, SEO and AI optimisation work.
Frequently asked questions
Does the compare-at price have to be higher than the current price?
Yes. Shopify shows a markdown only when the compare-at price is higher than the value in the Price field. If they are equal or compare-at is lower, no discount is displayed in your store or in an AI channel.
Are B2B products shown to AI agents too?
No. Shopify agentic storefronts support direct-to-consumer sales only, so products sold exclusively to business customers are excluded whenever Shopify can identify them - through B2B catalogs or a private storefront mode, for example.
Do you need to install a separate app?
No. Shopify Catalog is part of the platform, not an app. You will find your store's eligibility under Sales channels > Agentic in the Shopify admin, and the field and price settings under its Shopify Catalog Mapping section.
Does Google AI Mode already show products from Lithuanian stores?
Shopify says Google AI Mode and Gemini support is rolling out gradually to eligible stores, and that direct checkout for Google users may not be available yet. Your current status is shown in the Agentic section of your admin.
Questions about agentic commerce in your store? Get in touch.
