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Major retail chains and tech companies are introducing new or updated artificial intelligence tools for the holiday shopping season, hoping to give consumers a smoother gift-buying experience and find themselves a greater share of online spending.
Although AI-powered shopping is in its early stages, people like shopping assistants and agents have emerged wal-mart, Amazon And Google Can do more than past holiday chatbots. The latest versions were designed to provide personalized product recommendations, track prices, and place certain orders through unscripted “conversations” with customers.
Those features are on top of shopping updates from AI platforms like OpenAI chatgpt And Google Gemini. In one of the most talked-about launches of the season, Google this month introduced an AI agent that can be instructed to call local stores and ask if a desired product is in stock.
San Francisco-based software company Salesforce has estimated that AI will impact $73 billion, or 22%, of all global sales in some way from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to the Monday after the holiday, according to Kaila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce.
That figure, up from $60 billion a year ago, includes everything from ChatGate queries to AI-delivered gift suggestions on a retailer’s website, Schwartz said.
Brad Zashinsky, a senior retail industry analyst at information technology research and consulting firm Gartner, said that despite progress, the impact of AI on holiday shopping this year will be “relatively limited” because not every shopping site has useful tools and not every shopper is willing to try them.
“The more retailers launch these devices, the better they become, and the more consumers become comfortable and start seeking them out,” Jashinsky said. “But changing customer behavior takes a lot of time.”
Here are three ways technology is set to influence holiday shopping habits in 2025:
bypassing the search bar
AI’s ability to simplify the search for the perfect gift is by far most evident in tools that promise to give shoppers faster and more detailed results than web browsers with very few clicks.
OpenAI has upgraded ChatGPIT with a Shopping Research feature that provides guides for individual shoppers. Information comes from product pages, reviews. Prices and the user’s previous interactions with the chatbot. OpenAI said the tool works best for complex products like electronics and appliances or “detail-heavy” items like beauty or sporting goods.
Then there’s Rufus, the shopping assistant that Amazon launched last year. It now remembers information that customers have previously given it, such as whether it has four children who all like board games, for example. User’s browsing and purchasing history and reviews are used to personalize recommendations.
Google has upgraded its AI mode search tool to provide answers to detailed questions in natural language. For example, users can tell the agent they want to buy a casual sweater that matches the skirt or jeans to wear in New York in January,
The responses are taken from Google’s 50 billion product catalog. The tool can also generate charts with side-by-side comparisons of prices, features, reviews, and other factors. Previously, buyers had to use keywords, filters, and product links to find the information they needed.
“I think this is an expansionary moment for all of technology and commerce,” Lillian Rincon, vice president of product, consumer shopping at Google, recently told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Walmart’s AI shopping assistant, Sparky, provides occasion-based recommendations and synthesizes reviews. AI-powered gift finder on TargetThe app, especially for the holidays, responds to signals like the recipient’s age and special hobbies.
New pricing tools and alerts
Tools for tracking online prices have existed for years, including CamelCamelCamel, a third-party service for Amazon prices, as well as PayPal’s Honey browser extension for monitoring thousands of online stores.
This holiday season, shoppers have new options.
Amazon launched a 90-day pricing history tracker this month for almost everything it sells. Shoppers can now also set up alerts to receive notifications when prices for specific items fall within their budget.
Google, which has had a basic price tracker for years, launched a more advanced version that lets users refine their requests with details like garment size and color. Microsoft’s Copilot also launched a price tracker this year.
Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Groupe, said he thinks the new pricing tools will put more pressure on retailers to make sure their prices are competitive.
“Many consumers who weren’t even looking for price alerts are going to be searching for price alerts for the first time,” Goldberg predicted.
new ways to buy
Amazon, OpenAI, and Google are racing to create tools that will allow seamless AI-powered shopping by taking consumers from browsing to purchase within a single program, rather than having to visit a retailer’s website to complete a purchase.
OpenAI has launched a new instant checkout feature that lets users purchase products recommended by ChatGPT without leaving the app. Users can order merchandise from Etsy sellers and some brands that use Shopify, including Glossier, Skims, and Spanx.
OpenAI and Walmart announced a similar deal in October, saying the partnership would allow ChatGPT members to use the instant checkout feature to shop for almost everything available on Walmart’s website except fresh food. However, for now, the feature only supports purchasing one item at a time.
A separate deal Target struck with OpenAI lets shoppers place multiple items in a cart on ChatGPT, including fresh food products. But when customers are ready to pay for their order, they are redirected away from the chatbot to the Target app.
New tools from Amazon and Google will give shoppers the experience of shopping with autonomous AI assistants. Experts say that although services are still limited, “Agent AI” aims to be more independent and advanced than generative AI chatbots that excel at research and writing.
Amazon is now letting Rufus automatically purchase items for customers who click the “Auto Purchase” button when setting up a price alert. Once the price of a product drops to the desired level, customers are notified of their completed orders and have a limited window to cancel, the company said.
The e-commerce giant also began allowing shoppers to use Rufus searches for brand-name products on the Amazon app as a gateway to other retailers. If Amazon doesn’t carry a desired item in its store, the “Shop Direct” button will take them to the website of the location where it does.
Google’s AI Mode Price Tracker also includes a “Buy for me” option that automatically lets a customer make a purchase through Google Pay when the price is right. The company said the feature is available for products sold by Wayfair, Chewy, Quince, and some Shopify merchants, and Google expects to add more stores. Seller.
Google also expanded its web browser with an automated AI calls feature that calls local businesses on behalf of customers looking for information or specific products. Google’s program tells stores it’s an AI caller, and stores can choose not to participate, the company said.
Google said it is initially rolling out the feature to specific product categories: toys, health and beauty, and electronics. Target and Walmart declined to comment on whether this type of service would be part of their future plans.