Shopify reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $3.742 billion on Tuesday, up 32% from $2.844 billion a year earlier, as gross merchandise volume grew 29% to $119.1 billion.
The e-commerce platform earned $0.49 per share on a non-GAAP basis, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.45 per share and up from $0.34 a year earlier. Gross profit grew 28% to $1.781 billion, operating income rose 66% to $568 million, and free cash flow reached $816 million, a 22% margin, up from 18% a year earlier.
Despite the strong growth, gross merchandise volume and subscription revenue fell short of some analyst expectations. GMV of $119.1 billion was below a market consensus of approximately $119.9 billion cited by RBC Capital Markets, and subscription revenue of $836 million, up 20%, was below the $850.2 million forecast. Shares dropped sharply in premarket trading before closing down 8.74%.
Management pointed to artificial intelligence as a growing sales channel. AI channel traffic grew 2.6 times year over year in the third quarter, and AI-referred orders grew 3.3 times, though the company acknowledged the overall volume remains small. Shopify also reached $200 billion in lifetime offline sales volume through its point-of-sale systems.
For the fourth quarter, Shopify expects revenue growth in the low 30% range, gross profit growth in the high 20% range, and a free cash flow margin consistent with the fourth quarter of 2025 at 19%. The company described its approach to agentic commerce as channel-neutral, saying it serves as the commercial infrastructure behind all agents rather than betting on any single agent.
