According to The Verge, Perplexity is launching a free AI-powered shopping feature available immediately to US users, positioning itself against OpenAI and Google in the holiday shopping season. Users can type what they’re looking for and refine results with follow-up questions, with products appearing as cards showing specs and reviews. The feature includes “Instant Buy” through PayPal partnerships, allowing direct purchases while keeping merchants in the retail loop. Perplexity’s assistant remembers past interactions, like recalling your ferry commute when recommending boots after previously suggesting jackets. It’s available on desktop and web now, with mobile access via iOS and Android coming in “the coming weeks.”
The AI shopping wars are heating up
Here’s the thing: everyone’s jumping into AI-powered shopping right before the holidays, and it’s starting to feel like an arms race. Perplexity, OpenAI, Google – they’re all betting that conversational AI can beat traditional search and affiliate-heavy editorial sites. But honestly, how different can these shopping assistants really be? They all basically do the same thing: you ask for something, they show you options, you refine with follow-up questions.
The real interesting part is Perplexity’s positioning. They’re taking direct shots at traditional search bars that “fail at exploration” and editorial sites that “prioritize affiliate revenue.” That’s some fighting words right there. And they’re claiming their approach focuses on “the joy” of shopping rather than just speedy checkouts. But let’s be real – everyone says they’re putting users first until the revenue pressures kick in.
The PayPal partnership is smart
Now, the Instant Buy feature with PayPal is actually pretty clever. It addresses what The Verge’s Nilay Patel calls “the DoorDash problem” – where platforms completely own the customer relationship and cut out the original merchant. By letting merchants “build relationships with customers just as they would on their own sites,” Perplexity might actually have a sustainable model here.
But here’s my question: will users actually trust an AI assistant enough to make purchases through it? I mean, we’re talking about handing over our shopping decisions to algorithms that might have their own biases or partnerships we don’t know about. And with mobile access still weeks away, they’re missing the prime impulse-buy platform during the busiest shopping season.
Perfect timing, questionable differentiation
Launching right before the holidays is brilliant timing – no argument there. But I’m skeptical about how much real differentiation Perplexity can maintain. When every AI shopping assistant claims to understand intent and remember preferences, they all start sounding the same. The memory feature – remembering your ferry commute when you later ask for boots – sounds neat, but will it actually work consistently?
Basically, we’re about to see whether AI shopping assistants become genuinely useful tools or just another layer between us and what we want to buy. Perplexity’s making some bold claims about putting users first – let’s see if they can actually deliver when the holiday shopping frenzy hits.
