AI-Powered Shopping Tools Enhance Holiday Experience

Major retail chains and technology organisations are rolling out new or updated artificial intelligence (AI) tools. These innovations aim to provide consumers with an easier gift-buying experience and secure a larger share of online spending for companies. AI-powered purchases are still in early stages.

However, shopping assistants and agents from Walmart, Amazon, and Google now offer more than past chatbots. The latest versions provide personalised product recommendations, track prices, and place orders through unscripted conversations with customers. These features add to updates from AI platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

Google recently introduced an AI agent that can call local stores to check if a desired product is in stock. Salesforce estimated that AI would influence USD 73 billion, or 22%, of all global sales from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through the following Monday. This figure rose from USD 60 billion a year ago, encompassing everything from ChatGPT queries to AI-supplied gift suggestions on retailer websites.

Despite these advancements, AI’s impact on shopping this year will be "relatively limited," according to Brad Jashinsky, a senior retail industry analyst at Gartner. Jashinsky noted that not every shopping site has useful tools, and not every shopper is willing to try them. He stated, "The more retailers that launch these tools, the better they get, and the more that consumers get comfortable and start to seek them out," adding that "customer behaviour takes a long time to change."

Bypassing the Search Bar

Credit: OpenAI

Here are three ways the technology is poised to influence holiday shopping habits in 2025, starting with AI’s potential to simplify the search for presents, which is evident in tools offering faster, more detailed results with fewer clicks. OpenAI upgraded ChatGPT with a shopping research feature, providing personalised buyers’ guides. This information comes from product pages, reviews, prices, and user interactions. OpenAI noted the tool works best for complicated items like electronics, appliances, or "detail-heavy" products such as beauty or sporting goods.

Amazon's Rufus shopping assistant now remembers customer information, for instance, having four children who enjoy board games. User browsing and purchase history, along with reviews, are used to personalise recommendations. Google upgraded its AI Mode search tool to answer detailed questions posed in natural language. Users can ask for a casual sweater to wear with a skirt or jeans in New York in January.

Responses are drawn from Google’s 50 billion product listings. The tool can also produce charts with side-by-side comparisons of prices, features, and reviews. Previously, shoppers used keywords, filters, and product links to find needed information. Lilian Rincon, vice president of product, consumer shopping at Google, called this an "expansionary moment" for technology and commerce. Walmart’s AI shopping assistant, Sparky, offers occasion-based recommendations and synthesises reviews. Target’s app features an AI-powered gift finder that responds to prompts about recipient age and hobbies.

New Pricing Tools and Alerts

Tools for tracking online prices, such as CamelCamelCamel for Amazon and Paypal’s Honey browser extension, have existed for years. This holiday season, shoppers have additional options. Amazon recently launched a 90-day pricing history tracker for virtually everything it sells. Shoppers can also set up alerts to receive notifications when specific item prices fall within their budgets.

Google, which previously had a basic price tracker, launched a more advanced version. This allows users to refine requests with details like a garment’s size and colour. Microsoft’s Copilot also launched a price tracker recently. Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Groupe, believes these new pricing tools will pressure retailers to ensure competitive prices. Goldberg predicted, "A lot of consumers that weren’t even looking for price alerts are going to discover price alerts for the first time."

New Ways to Buy

Amazon, OpenAI, and Google are developing tools for seamless AI-powered shopping, allowing consumers to browse and buy within the same programme. OpenAI launched a new instant checkout feature, letting users buy products suggested by ChatGPT without leaving the app. Users can order merchandise from Etsy sellers and some Shopify brands, including Glossier, Skims, and Spanx. OpenAI and Walmart previously announced a similar deal, allowing ChatGPT members to use instant checkout for nearly all Walmart website items, excluding fresh food.

For now, however, this feature supports buying only one item at a time. A different deal Target struck with OpenAI lets shoppers put multiple items, including fresh food, into a ChatGPT cart. When customers are ready to pay, they are directed away from the chatbot to the Target app. New tools from Amazon and Google will offer "agentic AI" assistants for buying. Experts say agentic AI aims to be more independent and advanced than generative AI chatbots that excel at research and writing.

Amazon now lets Rufus automatically purchase items for customers who activate an "auto buy" button while setting price alerts. Once a product’s price drops to the desired level, customers receive notice of their completed orders and have a limited window to cancel. The e-commerce giant also allows Rufus searches for brand-name products on the Amazon app to act as a gateway to other retailers. If Amazon does not carry a desired item, a "Shop Direct" button will take users to the website of a place that does.

Google’s AI Mode price tracker includes a "buy for me" option that automatically makes a customer’s purchase through Google Pay when the price is right. This feature is available for products sold by Wayfair, Chewy, Quince, and some Shopify merchants. Google expects to keep adding more stores. Google also expanded its web browser with an automated AI call feature that phones local businesses on behalf of customers looking for information or specific products. Google’s programme discloses to the store that it is an AI caller, and stores can choose not to participate. Google is applying this feature initially to specific product categories: toys, health and beauty, and electronics.

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• Major retailers and tech organisations are launching new AI tools to enhance the shopping experience and boost online sales.

• These AI tools offer personalised product recommendations, price tracking, and simplified purchasing options.

• Salesforce estimated AI would influence USD 73 billion in global sales during a key shopping period.

Source: AP NEWS