FYIShopify · CRO & testing · Wed, Oct 28, 2026

Sidekick now drafts storefront changes and tests them on AI-simulated shoppers; SimGym adds journey, discovery and add-to-cart tests

What changed

Two Shopify CRO updates on Oct 28. Sidekick can now find storefront improvements, build a draft version of the theme change and compare it with your current storefront using AI-simulated shoppers. It picks changes that can be tested as theme changes and are expected to affect add-to-cart behavior. Shopify says these "are not tested on real shoppers and are not live A/B tests", and you review each change before applying it. Separately, SimGym (Shopify's AI-shopper simulation app) can now run simulations with a shopping goal: whole shopping journeys to find the biggest friction points, product discovery, and add-to-cart confidence (whether product details give enough to buy). Recommendations now have numbered markers on the page, and each links to a summary and playback video of the AI shopper's visit.

What to do

Use these to generate test ideas, not as proof. Run SimGym's add-to-cart confidence test on the product pages your ads send traffic to, then confirm any change Sidekick or SimGym suggests with a real A/B test or a before/after read on live conversion rate before you roll it out.