• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 18, 2024

Stepping into ecommerce as the holidays get underway, Perplexity debuted a shopping feature for its paid customers in the U.S., and created a merchant program that gives retailers and brands direct access to share data and process consumer payments.

The shopping feature for its paid customers in the U.S. offers recommendations and ability to order products in its search results without going to a retailer’s website. 

Perplexity -- which has a long list of high-profile investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos -- calls the feature "Buy with Pro" and describes it as an "AI-powered shopping assistant" where consumers can research and purchase products from one location.

The service offers free shipping and a way to process payments.

The tool serves users visual cards that detail product, pricing, and seller information, a short description, as well as pros and cons of the items sort of like a summary of recommendations. Users can click on the card to read more information, including reviews and features.

Snap to Shop, a visual search tool that shows relevant products when the consumer takes a photo of an item, will help to find a specific product even when the description or name isn't available. 

Ask Perplexity a shopping-related question, and in return the AI ecommerce engine will provide a concise answer. One question might be "find all the items it requires to build a double bookcase."

The discovery experience is powered by platform integrations such as Shopify, which pulls relevant information on products across Shopify-powered businesses globally that sell and ship to the U.S.

Scrolling through countless product reviews has become a thing of the past, according to Perplexity. The company plans to expand into new markets following the U.S. launch. 

Along with the ecommerce features, Perplexity has introduced a merchant program, making it easier for large retailers to share product specifications with the company and ensure it can access live details on available products.

The program is free for merchants and has been designed to give them a direct process to share data. It is likely the beginning of a larger push to support advertising other than sponsored ads. 

The program seems very similar to Google Merchant Center, which enables businesses to list product information, share data and manage inventory feeds with Google Shopping's free and paid listings.