Perplexity’s AI-powered shopping assistant takes aim at Amazon and Google Shopping

The platform offers product recommendations that are tailored to the user’s search query, according to the company. Similar to Google Lens, the feature lets users search for an item by adding a photo of what they want along with their query. Shoppers can get free shipping if they use Perplexity’s one-click checkout tool to buy items from the company’s merchant partners. If Buy with Pro isn’t available, the platform redirects users to the retailer’s website to checkout. 

Perplexity is also launching a free merchant program to make it easier for large retailers to share their product data with the platform. Merchants that join and provide detailed product data will have a better chance of being a recommended product. Merchants will have access to Perplexity’s API to refine how their products appear in search results and use a custom dashboard to offer insights into search and shopping trends. For now, Perplexity isn’t taking a cut on sales that happen through the platform.

The new shopping tool is powered by integrations with brands’ sites, including platforms like Shopify, which gives Perplexity access to Shopify’s merchants and product catalog. Shopify works with brands like Hanes, On and Victoria’s Secret. Shopify brands have their own distinct Buy with ShopPay checkout.

Perplexity’s Buy with Pro supports a variety of retailers, company spokesperson Sara Platnick wrote in an email. The idea behind the merchant program is to give other retailers a way to connect with Perplexity to integrate into Buy with Pro.

With Buy with Pro, Perplexity is taking on the likes of Amazon and Google Shopping, which dominate product searches in the U.S. Perplexity, which is looking to triple its valuation to $9 billion, counts Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as one of its investors. In March, the platform had 15 million active users, per Wired.

Perplexity’s e-commerce ambitions are on the rise just as consumers, particularly Gen Z, are turning to AI to shop online. It remains to be seen if Perplexity’s e-commerce bet will pay off, as the startup faces stiff competition from retail stalwarts who are racing to release AI-powered tools of their own. 

In an interview with Modern Retail, Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, said the startup doesn’t view Amazon as competition. “We’re just acting as an agent on behalf of the user that’s looking to make a transaction,” Shevelenko said. “Amazon is the merchant, so it’s complementary from our vantage point.”

But if Perplexity wants to revolutionize the business of product search, it will invariably challenge Amazon, as more than half of online shoppers in the U.S. start their product searches on the sprawling web store. Many Amazon customers who use the company’s Prime shopper program tend not to compare prices or shop around before they make a purchase. 

Modern Retail spoke with Shevelenko about Perplexity’s approach to e-commerce, what’s next in the product pipeline and standing out in the ever-growing AI space. 

This conversation has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Where did the idea for online shopping on Perplexity come from?
It really comes from seeing how people are already using Perplexity. We had a lot of folks using Perplexity to research products and compare products. We answer over 400 million questions a month, and we don’t break it out, but shopping was a material part of those queries. The most active users were using it a lot for shopping, as well. 

We wanted to make that experience on the research and discovery side as powerful and as useful as it can be, but also think a step ahead of like, “Okay, once you’ve found that product, how can you streamline actually buying it?” 

How is Perplexity recruiting more brands to its merchant program?
This is a great way to drive more sales. If you give us more visibility into your catalog, it’s more likely your products will show up in an answer, and then that leads to more sales. This is a true win-win where the more information we have, the easier it is for us to surface their inventory when it’s relevant to the user’s question. 

How will this AI shopping assistant work with the ads Perplexity is running on the platform? For example, does a brand need to buy ads to make sure they appear at the top of search results?
We’re not going to let brands do that. The one thing that’s sacrosanct is you can’t change the answer. The answer is the answer. It’s complementary to our ad effort, but it’s not integrated with it. 

For the last decade or so, brands have been laser-focused on optimizing for SEO. But AI has really changed the game. How can brands optimize their product listings to make sure they appear in AI searches?
I think, in some ways, traditional search went sideways by sharing too much, and you created all this gamification that actually corrupted the product. Ultimately, the way to have your products show up in answers is to build a great product. It’s not about stuffing your website with keywords. 

Last month, Dow Jones filed a lawsuit against Perplexity accusing it of copyright infringement. Do you have any concerns that controversy related to this lawsuit will make brands reluctant to join the merchant program?
We haven’t seen a change from advertisers or brands that want to partner with Perplexity. We’re honored to be working with incredible partners around the world. And yeah, that this isn’t changing anything on that front. 

Looking ahead, what other AI or e-commerce features can we expect from Perplexity in the future?
Another very big category of query on Perplexity is travel queries. If you apply some of the thinking that we did to e-commerce, you could imagine that being relevant to travel and, say, booking a hotel. I wouldn’t be surprised if that comes into sight pretty soon, as well.