Perplexity Launches AI Shopping Tool After Google and OpenAI as Holiday Season Shopping War Intensifies

Perplexity has released a personalised shopping experience on its platform. The San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) company will now let users discover relevant products based on natural language conversations and allow them to quickly transact via PayPal. Interestingly, with the holiday season approaching, AI companies have now started bringing out AI-led shopping tools, focused on personalised discovery. Last month, Google released shopping tools in Gemini and AI Mode. On Monday, OpenAI also released its own Shopping Research in ChatGPT.

Perplexity Introduces New AI Shopping Tool

In a blog post, the AI firm announced and detailed the new shopping feature. The tool uses a conversational, context-aware assistant that remembers users' past preferences and simplifies the shopping experience from discovery to checkout. Currently, it is available in the US on the desktop and web. Perplexity said it will soon be rolled out on Android and iOS as well.

With this feature, users can type or speak natural language questions like “Find a winter jacket suitable for ferry commutes” or “Suggest minimalist running shoes under Rs. 5,000.” Instead of returning long grids of products, the AI returns a curated set of product cards based on the user's listed requirements and past conversations. The user can also refine results with follow-up messages.

The feature uses both past conversations with the user and long context to recommend products to users. For instance, if a user has previously browsed minimalistic design items, the system may tilt future suggestions toward similar styles. Perplexity states that it does not prioritise results based on sponsored listings and does not re-rank items based on advertising.

Perplexity also offers payment support within the interface via a partnership with PayPal. The startup claims that despite offering product discovery and instant checkout on its platform, the feature is beneficial for third-party merchants for two reasons. First, it claims that merchants still have control over fulfilment, customers' purchasing data, and post-purchase experience to turn them into a returning user.

Second, it claims that the individuals using the shopping experience on Perplexity have a higher intent to purchase compared to those who visit the website and scroll through listings.

Notably, Perplexity's comments on how its shopping tool is beneficial for merchants comes, as earlier this month, Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter to the AI firm, demanding that it stop its bot crawlers from scraping its website. The e-commerce giant had alleged that Comet browser's AI agents were using unauthorised means to access website content.