OpenAI & Perplexity Launch AI Shopping Assistants — Startups Focused on Niches Stay Calm
OpenAI and Perplexity AI have launched a new AI-powered shopping assistant feature within their chatbot platforms right before the holiday season. The assistants are designed to integrate with existing chatbots so that users can research purchases, refine their preferences by answering the assistant’s questions and compare products.
Meanwhile, a significant number of specialists startups that focus only on AI shopping (for example, those specialising in fashion or interior design) declare that they are not scared. Their point is: general-purpose AI tools may have the advantage of scale, but domain-specific datasets and curated experiences still provide the niche players with a competitive advantage.
Keypoints:
The shopping assistants are designed to make the interaction with the chatbot a way of finding the right product and making the purchase decision.
One of the examples mentions highly stylised scenarios, such as a person who has bought a jacket before and now is being asked for boots, which suggests that the assistant remembers previous conversations.
For startups: having a narrowly specialized field (e.g., interior design items, vintage clothing) means you have better data, better recommendations and less competition from the generalists.
Reasons to care:
The arrival of main AI platforms in the shopping field could speed up the process of “conversational commerce,” which is a way that users tell the AI what they want, get suggestions, and buy, all in one seamless interaction.
The holiday season is very important: buyers are already in a mood to purchase and are more willing to try out new tools.
For retailers: the discover-to-purchase funnel could change if shopping assistants become more capable.
Things to watch:
- The extent to which the assistants actually give good suggestions and carry out the orders (not just look at products).
- How far the smaller startups can keep a lead in their niches over the big platforms.
- The way privacy, data sources, and transparency affect user trust in these assistants.
This means forward: If you are a retailer or digital commerce professional, this change is a sign that the manner in which people shop online might be very different in the coming few years. For consumers, it implies that you might soon tell an AI, “what should I buy for my mother who loves hiking,” and instead of multiple product pages, get a short list of options.