#ai-shopping-assistants

#ai-shopping-assistants

Adobe's initial Black Friday e-commerce data projects that consumers will spend a record $11.7 billion online, up 8.3% from 2024. Shoppers are expected to take advantage of deals early and outpace Cyber Monday spending, as they anticipate finding the best deals on Friday, according to Adobe. Users are hunting for toys, electronics, and skincare as gifts, with Labubus and Lego sets expected to sell quickly.

As OpenAI seeks more ways to make money, ChatGPT's potential as a shopping assistant is one promising idea: You tell the bot what you're thinking about buying, and it will help you make comparisons, sort prices and answer intricate product questions. With any luck, those answers might even be right. Crucially, the assumption is that many people will prefer to shop online this way rather than use their current methods,

But retail media ads are effective they appear in such long lists of products, Shields argues. If purchase suggestions become tailored by AI chatbots, doesn't that mean fewer opportunities for consumers to see ads for alternatives? Besides, Shields says, the idea of an impartial AI shopping assistant feels incompatible with the Walmart deal. Will Walmart be ChatGPT's preferred retailer, for example, even if its prices are higher?