Executive summary
- What: Shopify Catalog now sends your compare-at price to AI shopping agents, so agents can see when a product is marked down and may show strikethrough pricing.
- Why: Agents previously saw only the current price, which meant genuine promotions looked like ordinary low prices on agentic surfaces.
- Who: Every store whose products reach Shop or Shopify agentic storefronts. A toggle in admin controls it, and Shopify has already chosen a default for you.
What changed
The control lives in the Compare-at section of the Shopify Catalog Mapping tool, reached from Sales channels, then Agentic, then Review product data mapping under the Shopify Catalog source. With the switch on, Catalog sends a compare-at price only when it is higher than the current price. With it off, Catalog sends the current price alone.
Two details matter more than the toggle itself. First, your store already has a default selection, assigned by Shopify based on your product data. Second, that selection does not change automatically when your use of compare-at changes. If your team repurposes the field at some point, the toggle keeps whatever it was set to.
The Preview tab in the mapping tool lets you select a product whose compare-at price exceeds its current price and see the result. With the switch on, the preview shows the compare-at price struck through next to the current price along with a percentage discount badge. Shopify notes the preview is indicative only.
Why it matters
This is a pricing governance decision dressed as a feature flag. Compare-at is one of the most inconsistently used fields in Shopify. Plenty of enterprise catalogues carry MSRP, list price, or a distributor reference price in it rather than a genuine prior selling price. Where that is true, sharing the field invites agents to advertise a discount your pricing team never approved.
Where compare-at genuinely records a prior price, the opposite reasoning applies. Suppressing it means a well run promotion is invisible on exactly the surfaces where comparison happens fastest, so your clearance competes on absolute price against someone else's full price. That is a quiet margin cost.
The default was assigned by analysis of your data, not by a conversation with your commercial team, so it is worth verifying. Agentic channels change how price is read and compared, which is the same shift we discussed in our piece on AI-driven customer experiences on Shopify Plus.
Role-specific impact
- Marketers: Decide whether markdown visibility in agentic channels helps the brand, and confirm compare-at values are defensible prior prices rather than aspirational anchors.
- Developers: No code change is required. If you consume Catalog data yourself, read the compare-at field as conditional, since it is absent whenever the toggle is off or the price is not actually reduced.
- Store admins: Check the Compare-at switch in Catalog Mapping, use the Preview tab on a discounted product to see the effect, and recheck the setting whenever pricing policy changes.
Use-case example
Real-world scenario
A home goods brand uses compare-at to hold manufacturer list price on about 1,200 SKUs that have never actually sold at that figure. The toggle defaults on. Agents begin presenting those products as roughly 20 percent off.
The brand looks competitive for a fortnight, then has to answer questions from two retail partners whose own margins are built on that list price. Switching the toggle off takes under a minute. Noticing that it needed switching took a fortnight, which is the actual cost of not reviewing the default.
Implementation checklist
- Open Sales channels, then Agentic, then Review product data mapping under the Shopify Catalog source.
- Note the current state of the Compare-at switch, since Shopify set it for you rather than leaving it off.
- Confirm with your commercial team whether compare-at holds a genuine prior price or a reference price.
- Use the Preview tab on a product whose compare-at exceeds its current price to see how the strikethrough and discount badge appear.
- Set the switch to match policy, then save.
- Add a recheck of this setting to your pricing change process, because the toggle does not follow changes in how you use the field.
FAQ
Q: Does turning this on change prices on our own storefront?
A: No. The setting governs only what Shopify Catalog sends to AI agents. Your online store and other sales channels continue to display compare-at prices by their own settings.
Q: Will a compare-at price ever be sent when the product is not discounted?
A: No. Shopify sends the compare-at price only when it is higher than the product's current price for that buyer, so an equal or lower value is simply not shared.
Resources
Customizing your product data for Shopify Catalog
Need guidance? Talk to Makro.