AI-driven Virtual Shopping Guides

Google just announced a suite of AI-driven shopping tools designed to transform the online retail experience 💥 Here’s what’s coming: 🧠 AI Shopping Mode: A conversational search tool that understands natural language and context. Think: “best dress for a trip to Cannes in May” – and it will deliver results tailored to weather, location, and purpose. 👗 Virtual Try-On 2.0: Shoppers can now upload full-body photos to see how items actually look on them — including drape, fit, and texture across different body types. A game-changer for apparel conversion rates. 💸 Agentic Checkout + Price Alerts: Users can set price targets, and when an item hits the right price, Google will notify them — or even auto-checkout via Google Pay. What this means for eComm marketers: ▪️ SEO and product data quality will become even more critical ▪️ Conversion will increasingly depend on visual assets (UGC, try-ons, real models) ▪️ Brands need to prep for a world where shopping journeys are conversation-first Currently, these features are being rolled out in the U.S. via Google Search Labs, with plans for broader availability in the future.

Any Fashion Marketplace with 900+ brands serving millions of customers will want to deliver personalized product recommendations. But a random tech won't help here. You need careful execution of Gen AI & cloud. The interesting thing is that a fashion company named ASOS has this solution incorporated into their app. Here's what they've done: - AI-Powered Shopping: ASOS integrated Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI prompt flow to build a conversational AI experience. Customers can now engage with AI on their website and app, making shopping feel more personalized and dynamic. - Personalized Product Discovery: With AI’s ability to understand customer preferences and trends, ASOS curates tailored product suggestions based on current fashion trends and individual style. It’s like having a personal shopping assistant. - Rapid Development: Using Azure’s prompt flow, ASOS was able to quickly prototype and test their AI experience, streamlining development while maintaining high standards of quality and security. - Ethical AI: ASOS prioritized responsible AI, ensuring the solution was free from biases and malicious prompts, offering customers a safe and brand-consistent experience. The result? A powerful AI-driven shopping experience that feels natural, authentic, and incredibly personalized. As AI continues to evolve, ASOS.com is a prime example of how retail can use generative AI to not just keep up with trends but set them. If you're looking to create a truly personalized shopping experience, AI is the way forward. P.S. What AI-driven features do you think will transform e-commerce next? #GenerativeAI #TechinFashion #MicrosoftAzure #Asos #Simform

OpenAI dropped something big: retailers can now embed AI shopping agents into their Shopify stores - in just a few clicks. Through a new integration between the Storefront Managed Compute Platform (MCP) (Shopify’s tool for powering custom storefront features) and the OpenAI Responses API (controls how AI agents understand and respond to users), building a shopping assistant no longer requires authentication, custom code, or complex setup. By adding a store URL to the OpenAI Playground (an easy-to-use web interface for testing and deploying AI agents), a fully functional assistant can be deployed almost instantly. Once live, the AI assistant is capable of: - Searching the store’s live product catalog - Adding selected items to a shopper’s cart - Generating checkout links in real time The interaction is seamless. A shopper might type, “I’m looking for a lightweight men’s button-up shirt for a vacation,” and the agent responds with curated options. Upon selection, the item is added to cart - autonomously and without delay. The launch marks more than a product update - it’s a strategic step toward agentic commerce, where AI doesn't just inform but acts on behalf of the shopper. While OpenAI provides the intelligence and interface, Shopify is laying the groundwork for retailers to operationalize it at scale through tools like the Storefront Managed Compute Platform (MCP). And it’s not alone. - Perplexity offers one-click purchasing via Buy with Pro and is onboarding merchants through a free product data program. - Google is enhancing Search and Bard with shopping intelligence, making results more shoppable — though still not fully agentic. - Amazon is using generative AI in listings, reviews, and its Rufus assistant to improve discovery and streamline decisions. - Startups like Cocoon and Cartwheel are building white-label AI agents for brands, turning chat into personalized storefronts. We are clearly moving from search engines to shopping agents. Opinions: my own, Video source: Shopify Developers 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫: https://lnkd.in/dkqhnxdg

Your Next E-Commerce Customer May Not Be Human (get ready.) There’s a narrative that the e-commerce store is dead. AI agents will shop for us, and the e-commerce website disappears. I think that's wrong. ChatGPT and Perplexity aren’t threats to your brand—they’re new shopping channels. Like social or search before them, they’ll reshape how products are discovered and purchased. Shoppers will say: "Find me running shoes under $150." "Reorder my favorite protein powder." "Buy a unicorn-themed gift for my daughter." Their AI agent will search, compare, and buy—sometimes without ever visiting your site. So what should DTC brands do? Build your own AI shopping assistant. That’s the single best move to make today. It differentiates you. While others rely on third-party discovery, your AI assistant becomes an expert in what your consumer needs, your products, and what results in more sales. It helps you understand what it really takes to sell your product—what objections arise, what info needs clarity, what recommendations convert. It makes you think of your site as a data source. You’ll naturally be prepared for SEO 2.0. And eventually, your assistant will be "speaking" with ChatGPT's and Perplexity's. Buy agents to sales agents. Robot to robot. Collaborating on price, availability, delivery—on behalf of the customer. This is not the end of e-commerce, but its next phase. Are you building for it? #FireTheChatbot #AIinRetail #AIShopping