AI-Powered Shopping Is Here. And It’s Changing How We Think About eCommerce

For years, the promise of conversational commerce hovered just out of reach — something between a hype phrase and a long-term vision. But now, in the span of a few quiet product updates, that future is arriving faster than expected.

OpenAI’s recent announcement, followed by Perplexity’s “Shop like a Pro” launch, indicates a shift in how customers will find and buy products.

Together, they offer a glimpse into a future where conversations are not just for discovery — they’re also where transactions happen.

OpenAI’s Big Move: Chat, Discover, and Buy — All in One Place

In a recent update (TechCrunch article here), OpenAI announced a major leap in what ChatGPT can do. Users can now search for products, browse reviews, compare options, and even purchase directly inside the chat interface — no need to visit a website or jump between tabs.

The system is designed to be frictionless. You tell ChatGPT what you’re looking for — maybe a pair of noise-canceling headphones for under $200 — and it returns curated options from across the web. You get images, specs, reviews.

What’s particularly interesting is that these recommendations aren’t driven by affiliate fees or ad clicks. According to the release, they’re not influenced by commission-based incentives. That’s a notable shift — signaling a focus on utility over monetization.

For users, it mimics the experience of asking a knowledgeable store associate, only this one happens to live inside your browser or phone and responds instantly, 24/7. For businesses, it presents a new kind of sales channel: not just traffic driven by SEO or social media, but qualified interest arising in real time, inside a conversation.

Perplexity’s Approach: Empowering Users to “Shop Like a Pro”

Meanwhile, Perplexity has launched its own version of AI-powered shopping, aimed at a slightly different use case. Their “Shop Like a Pro” feature integrates commerce directly into its AI search platform, enabling users to research and purchase without leaving the site.

What’s different here is how the flow works. If the product is available from a participating merchant, Perplexity enables a one-click checkout experience, using saved billing and shipping details. If not, the user is redirected to the merchant’s site.

There’s also a visual shopping layer: “Snap to Shop” lets users upload a photo and find matches across retailers — turning a picture into a purchase in just a few steps.

Together, these capabilities reflect a broader ambition: not just to help people find information, but to help them act on it — quickly, confidently, and contextually.

What This Means for Commerce Teams

Both OpenAI and Perplexity are giving us a preview of something larger: a commerce model that begins and ends inside the conversation itself. For brands and retailers, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

A New Channel, Not a Replacement

Let’s be clear: this doesn’t make websites obsolete — far from it. Your storefront still matters. Product pages, brand storytelling, and checkout flows are still crucial.

But AI-powered shopping introduces a new layer of interaction — one that’s complementary, not competitive. It brings your brand into a space where users already are: the tools they use to ask questions, solve problems, and make decisions.

Think of it this way: your ecommerce website is your digital showroom. ChatGPT (or Perplexity) becomes your sales assistant, ready to meet the user where they are and guide them to the right product based on their context and intent.

From Static to Conversational Commerce

Historically, most ecommerce journeys are static: users navigate menus, filters, and pages. The burden is on them to translate what they want into the structure of your site.

Conversational commerce flips that: the customer speaks naturally, and the AI adapts. It understands nuance. It asks follow-ups. It learns.

What makes this powerful is not just the convenience, but the intimacy. Customers feel heard — not in the metaphorical sense, but literally. The AI responds to their needs in their language. And if that AI is connected to your brand’s catalog, inventory, and support system, it can deliver answers in your voice, based on your data, in real time.

That’s not a minor feature. That’s a paradigm shift.

Real-Time Interaction. Real-Time Inventory

Imagine a user asks, “Do you have this shirt in medium, and will it arrive before Saturday?”

With traditional web-based commerce, they’d have to browse product pages, check size availability, calculate delivery timelines — often across multiple pages. But in a conversational interface connected to your inventory and logistics systems, the answer is instant:

“Yes, the medium is in stock, and if you order in the next 4 hours, it’ll arrive by Friday.”

That level of immediacy doesn’t just improve the customer experience — it builds trust, drives conversion, and reduces drop-offs. It’s the digital equivalent of having a helpful human assistant beside you as you shop.

Looking Ahead

The launch of these AI shopping features by OpenAI and Perplexity is a turning point. Not because they’re replacing existing systems — but because they’re showing us what comes next.

Customers will still visit websites. They’ll still browse social media. But increasingly, the most valuable interactions will happen in real time, through conversation — where decisions get made, and purchases get completed.

We are witnessing a new kind of user journey: one where discovery, validation, and checkout happen in a single flow. And that journey starts with a simple question.

The future of commerce is not just about getting users to the product. It’s about bringing the product to the conversation.

References

Joaquin Varela

CEO and Co-Founder of UnlockCommerce, with over a decade of experience in ecommerce and enterprise software. Former Senior Developer and Consultant at Oracle | NetSuite and Software Engineer at Amazon Europe.

AI-Powered Shopping Is Here. And It’s Changing How We Think About eCommerce

OpenAI’s Big Move: Chat, Discover, and Buy — All in One Place

Perplexity’s Approach: Empowering Users to “Shop Like a Pro”

What This Means for Commerce Teams

Real-Time Interaction. Real-Time Inventory

Looking Ahead

Joaquin Varela

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