Tech giants introduce AI-powered shopping assistants ahead of the holiday season as specialized startups defend their niche expertise and domain focus.
As Black Friday approaches, two major AI companies have rolled out shopping assistant features designed to transform how consumers research and purchase products online, though specialized competitors remain confident about their niche positioning.
New AI-Powered Shopping Tools
OpenAI introduced its "shopping research" feature on November 24, integrating it into ChatGPT to help users make more informed purchasing decisions. The tool allows users to describe what they're looking for and receive personalized buyer's guides within minutes, with the company offering nearly unlimited usage through the holiday season.
The feature is powered by a variant of GPT-5 mini designed specifically for shopping-related tasks. According to OpenAI, "We trained it to read trusted sites, cite reliable sources and synthesize information across many sources to produce high-quality product research."
Perplexity launched a similar initiative, partnering with PayPal to introduce Instant Buy, which allows U.S. consumers to complete purchases directly in Perplexity's AI chat, creating a single flow from product discovery to checkout. The company emphasizes how its chatbot's memory can personalize shopping searches based on details it already knows about users, including their location or occupation.
Market Context and Competition
The timing is strategic. Adobe predicted that AI-assisted online shopping will grow by 520% this holiday season, representing a significant opportunity for companies entering this space.
Both tools function similarly, allowing users to search for products by description or even upload photos to find comparable alternatives. OpenAI's system performs optimally in detail-heavy categories such as electronics, beauty, home and garden, kitchen appliances, and sports equipment.
Niche Players Push Back
Despite the entry of tech giants into AI shopping, specialized startups maintain that their focused approach provides superior value. Zach Hudson, CEO of interior design shopping tool Onton, argues that domain-specific expertise remains crucial.
"Any model or knowledge graph is only as good as its data sources," Hudson told TechCrunch. "Right now, ChatGPT and LLM-based tools like Perplexity piggyback off existing search indexes like Bing or Google. That makes them really only as good as the first few results that come back from those indexes."
Julie Bornstein, CEO of Daydream and veteran e-commerce executive, echoes this sentiment. "Fashion is uniquely nuanced and emotional — finding a dress you love is not the same as finding a television," Bornstein said. "That level of understanding for fashion shopping comes from domain-specific data and merchandising logic that grasps silhouettes, fabrics, occasions, and how people build outfits over time."
Availability and Access
ChatGPT's shopping research feature is available to all users, including those with free accounts, across mobile and web platforms. Users can access it by selecting "Shopping research" from the menu, or ChatGPT will automatically route relevant prompts to the specialized model.
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