Shopify is introducing Product Network, a new feature that enables merchants to display products from across participating stores. The update means a shopper can land on a store, search for something the merchant does not sell, and still see a relevant product that another Shopify merchant carries. The update is part of its Winter '26 Edition features and updates it announced today.

How the Product Network works across storefronts

Shopify’s system pulls items from participating merchants and places them inside other Shopify storefronts. This happens even when the store a shopper is visiting does not carry those items. For example, if a shopper searches for an item a store does not carry, the Product Network can show similar items from other merchants instead of ending the session. Shoppers can buy items from multiple merchants in a single cart without leaving the site.

Recommendations can appear across multiple surfaces

Shopify says merchants can turn on the Product Network to display recommendations from other sellers. These recommendations can appear across multiple surfaces, including search results, collection pages, homepages, and post-checkout pages. This creates multiple points where a shopper can encounter products not stocked by the store they are visiting.

The company also claims that merchants have full control over the placement. This means they can decide where the listings appear and exclude categories or specific competitors. In practice, a shopper searching for a niche item in a store that does not carry it may see a similar product from another merchant instead of getting a dead-end result.

According to the e-commerce platform, these external products can appear in a way that blends into the existing catalog. Shopify says items can be displayed natively on a homepage or within a store’s collections. This makes them appear as part of the merchant’s own inventory, allowing the shopper to complete the purchase without realizing multiple merchants are involved.

Commissions and incentives for merchants

Merchants who join the network earn commissions on third-party products sold through their storefront. Payments can come as cash or as Shopify ad credits. This mirrors the broader incentive trend Shopify has been building around Shop Campaigns, where credits help merchants reinvest into off-site and on-site advertising. Sources familiar with early testing say the initial placements focus on contextual relevance rather than revenue. 

This structure reflects Shopify’s shift into performance advertising. Those campaigns were originally limited to the Shop app and website. With this rollout, Shopify is now bringing campaign placements directly onto merchants’ storefronts, which expands where performance ads can appear inside its ecosystem.

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