NEW YORK – Internet giants are diving deeper into e-commerce with digital aides that know shoppers' preferences, let them virtually try on clothes, hunt for deals, and even place orders.
The rise of virtual personal shoppers stems from generative artificial intelligence (AI) being deployed in "agents" that specialise in specific tasks and are granted autonomy to complete them independently.
“This is basically the next evolution of shopping experiences,” said CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino.
Google last week unveiled shopping features built into a new “AI Mode”.
It can take a person’s own photo and blend it with that of a skirt, shirt, or other piece of clothing spotted online, showing how it would look on them.
The AI adjusts the clothing size to fit, accounting for how fabrics drape, according to Google’s Head of Advertising and Commerce, Vidhya Srinivasan.
Shoppers can then set the price they are willing to pay and leave the AI to tirelessly browse the internet for a deal — alerting the shopper when one is found, and asking whether it should proceed with the purchase using Google’s payment platform.
“They’re taking on Amazon a little bit,” said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart of Google.
The tool is also a way to monetise AI by increasing online traffic and opportunities to display ads, Greengart added.
The Silicon Valley tech titan did not respond to a query regarding whether it is sharing revenue from shopping transactions.
Bartering bots? OpenAI added a shopping feature to ChatGPT earlier this year, enabling the chatbot to respond to requests with product suggestions, consumer reviews, and links to merchant websites.
Perplexity AI began allowing subscribers to pay for online purchases without leaving its app late last year.
In April, Amazon introduced a “Buy for Me” mode to its Rufus digital assistant, enabling users to command it to make purchases on retailer websites outside Amazon’s own platform.
Walmart’s Head of Technology, Hari Vasudev, recently spoke about adding an AI agent to the retail behemoth’s online shopping portal, while also working with partners to ensure their digital agents prioritise Walmart products.
Global payment networks Visa and Mastercard both announced in April that their systems had been modernised to enable payment transactions by digital agents.
“As AI agents start to take over the bulk of product discovery and the decision-making process, retailers must consider how to optimise for this new layer of AI shoppers,” said Elise Watson of Clarkston Consulting.
Retailers are likely to be left in the dark when it comes to what makes a product attractive to AI agents, according to Watson.
Knowing the customer Zino does not expect AI shoppers to trigger an upheaval in the e-commerce industry, but he does see the technology benefiting Google and Meta.
Not only do the internet rivals possess vast amounts of data about their users, but they are also among the frontrunners in the AI race.
“They probably have more information on the consumer than anyone else out there,” Zino said of Google and Meta.
Technology firms' access to user data touches on the hot-button issue of online privacy and who should control personal information.
Google plans to refine consumer profiles based on search activity and promises that shoppers will need to authorise access to additional information, such as emails or app usage.
Trusting a chatbot with purchasing decisions may alarm some users, and while the technology may be in place, the legal and ethical framework is not yet fully developed.
“The agent economy is here,” said PSE Consulting Managing Director Chris Jones.
“The next phase of e-commerce will depend on whether we can trust machines to buy on our behalf.” - AFP