AI Tools Transforming Holiday Shopping
NEW YORK — This holiday season, major retailers and tech companies are introducing new artificial intelligence tools aimed at enhancing the shopping experience for consumers and capturing a larger portion of online sales.
While AI-driven shopping solutions are still relatively new, the latest updates from companies like Walmart, Amazon, and Google extend far beyond traditional chatbots. These tools now offer personalized recommendations, price tracking, and the ability to place orders through conversational interactions.
Among the notable advancements, Google recently launched an AI agent capable of calling local stores to check product availability—a highly discussed feature this season. San Francisco-based Salesforce estimated that AI would impact $73 billion, or 22%, of global sales from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to the Monday after, according to Caila Schwartz from Salesforce.
This figure has increased from $60 billion last year and includes diverse interactions, from queries made via ChatGPT to AI-generated gift suggestions. However, experts like Brad Jashinsky from Gartner caution that AI’s influence on holiday shopping may remain “relatively limited” this year, as not all websites have integrated helpful tools and some shoppers are still hesitant to adopt them.
Jashinsky noted, “The more retailers that launch these tools, the better they get, and the more consumers will seek them out over time, but changing customer behavior takes a while.”
Three Ways AI Will Impact Holiday Shopping
1. Streamlined Search
The potential for AI to simplify the search for gifts becomes evident with features designed for quicker and more tailored results compared to traditional web browsing.
OpenAI, for instance, enhanced ChatGPT to include a shopping research feature offering personalized buyer guides informed by product details, reviews, pricing, and users’ prior interactions. This tool is particularly useful for more complex items like electronics and appliances.
Amazon’s Rufus now retains information about customer preferences—like favorite games for each of their children—along with browsing history to tailor suggestions. Similarly, Google’s upgraded AI Mode allows users to ask detailed questions in natural language, retrieving information from a vast pool of product listings and offering comparison charts—all things that previously required more effort from the user.
2. Enhanced Pricing Tools
Price monitoring tools aren’t new, but this holiday season brings improved options. Amazon recently rolled out a 90-day price history tracker and allows users to set alerts for price drops on specific items.
Google has advanced its basic price tracker to include user preferences like size and color. Jason Goldberg from Publicis Groupe suggests that new pricing tools will pressure retailers to stay competitive, potentially introducing more consumers to alerts they hadn’t considered before.
3. Innovative Purchase Methods
Companies like Amazon, OpenAI, and Google are racing to create seamless AI-shopping experiences, allowing consumers to browse and buy without leaving the app. OpenAI’s instant checkout feature now enables users to purchase items recommended by ChatGPT directly.
A partnership between OpenAI and Walmart aims to let users shop for items across Walmart’s inventory utilizing this checkout feature—though it currently supports one item at a time. Meanwhile, a deal with Target permits putting multiple items into a cart through ChatGPT, directing users to the Target app for payment.
Amazon’s Rufus is enhancing autonomous shopping capabilities with an “auto buy” feature that can purchase items when prices meet user-set conditions. Customers receive a notification for orders but retain a limited time to cancel. Google’s price tracker includes a “buy for me” option for automatic purchases when prices are favorable.
With Google also expanding its AI calling feature to check local businesses for product availability, the landscape of retail technology is shifting. While the full impact of these developments remains to be seen, experts note that these AI tools may influence the future of shopping in exciting ways.
