AI-powered shopping assistants unearth cost-effective deals for customers
New York: major tech companies are expanding their e-commerce presence by integrating AI technologies to create personalized shopping assistants that tailor online shopping experiences to individual customers.
This evolution in digital commerce is driven by AI-powered agents specializing in particular tasks, including recommending products, suggesting deals, and even placing orders autonomously.
According to CFRA Research analyst, Angelo Zino, these AI-integrated shopping experiences mark the next step in online retail evolution.
Recently, Google introduced AI-enhanced shopping features within its new "AI Mode". This technology can superimpose a person's photo onto an online image of a garment, showing how it would look on them in real life. The AI adjusts clothing size to fit and scours the internet for deals while waiting for the customer's approval.
"Google is aiming to compete with Amazon a bit more," said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart, who also noted the tool could be integral to generating revenue from AI-boosted online traffic and ad impressions.
Similarly, the chatbot ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI earlier this year, can provide product suggestions, consumer reviews, and links to merchant websites. Perplexity AI has enabled subscribers to buy products through its app, while the e-commerce giant Amazon introduced a "Buy for Me" mode on its Rufus digital assistant, allowing it to shop at non-Amazon retail sites.
Walmart is exploring the addition of an AI agent to its online shopping portal, aiming to maintain visibility of its products within various digital ecosystems. Global payment networks Visa and Mastercard have modernized their technical systems to enable payments by digital agents, indicating a future where AI shoppers may become the norm.
Balancing sophisticated AI-powered personalization with strong privacy protections is critical to maintaining consumer trust in the digital shopping environment, according to Elise Watson of Clarkston Consulting. Despite concerns about data collection and privacy, the "agent economy" is seen as an inevitable next phase of e-commerce. As AI agents assume a greater role in product discovery and decision-making, retailers must adapt to optimize for this new layer of AI shoppers.
While the adoption of AI shoppers may not cause significant disruption within the e-commerce industry, analysts view it as advantageous for tech companies with vast amounts of user data and strong positions in the AI race, such as Google and Meta.
however, relinquishing control over buying decisions to AI raises online privacy concerns and requires the development of a legal and ethical framework for its application. Google plans to refine consumer profiles based on users' search history while respecting their privacy by obtaining their explicit consent before accessing additional data, like email or app usage.
In summary, the integration of AI technologies in e-commerce is transforming shopping experiences by offering personalized, adaptive storefronts, sophisticated chatbots for customer support, and automated inventory management. At the same time, the proliferation of AI shoppers necessitates a privacy-focused approach to balance data collection, analysis, and protection to maintain consumer trust in the digital marketplace.
- As technology advances, AI-powered AI shoppers like ChatGPT and Rufus digital assistant are being introduced, offering personalized product suggestions, consumer reviews, and linking to merchant websites.
- With the rise of AI shoppers, major tech companies like Google and Walmart are seeking to integrate AI agents within their respective e-commerce platforms to create tailored shopping experiences, aiming to optimize their online retail offerings and generate revenue from the growing AI-boosted online traffic.
