The holiday shopping season is here again, and this time it comes with a new twist. Both OpenAI and Perplexity have announced new AI shopping assistants inside their chatbots. These tools allow people to ask simple questions about what they want to buy, and the AI will help them search for the best options.
At first, this sounds like a big moment for online shopping. When two of the biggest names in the AI world enter the shopping space at the same time, it usually makes smaller startups nervous. But in this case, many of the smaller AI shopping companies are not worried at all. In fact, many of them believe that this move only shows why there is still space for niche and focused AI tools.
In this blog post, we will break down what OpenAI and Perplexity are launching, why this matters, and why many AI shopping startups still feel safe. The goal is to explain everything in simple words, so even someone new to the topic can understand it clearly.
What OpenAI and Perplexity Are Offering
Both companies added similar tools. OpenAI now lets users ask ChatGPT to help them find things to buy. For example, someone can ask for a laptop under one thousand dollars with a screen larger than fifteen inches. They can also upload a picture of an expensive piece of clothing and ask ChatGPT to find something cheaper that looks similar.
Perplexity also launched its own version. It is promoting how its memory feature can help users get more personal suggestions. For example, if Perplexity already knows where a user lives or what their job is, it can suggest items that fit their lifestyle without needing extra details every time.
These features make it clear that both companies want to make shopping easier, faster, and more personal. With people doing more online shopping every year, this is a smart business move.
Why This Matters for the Holiday Season
Adobe has predicted that AI assisted online shopping will grow by more than five hundred percent this holiday season. That is a huge jump. As more people use chatbots to shop, it is easy to think that smaller AI shopping startups will suffer.
But the story is different. Many of these startups are focused on niche areas like fashion, interior design, and furniture. They believe they still offer something that huge general AI models cannot.
Why Startups Are Not Afraid
Zach Hudson, the CEO of Onton, explained the main reason. He said that AI models are only as good as their data sources. ChatGPT and Perplexity mostly depend on the search indexes from Google and Bing. This means that the answers they give are often limited to the first few results from those search engines.
On the other hand, niche AI shopping startups build their own special databases. For example, an interior design AI might catalog hundreds of thousands of furniture items on its own. This allows it to understand shapes, colours, textures, and styles better than a general AI model.
Julie Bornstein, the CEO of Daydream and a long time expert in e-commerce, agrees. She said that search in the fashion industry has always been weak because fashion is emotional and very personal. Finding a dress you love is not the same as choosing a television. A general chatbot cannot easily understand fabrics, silhouettes, or how people build outfits.
Startups that focus on a single category, like fashion or home goods, can train their AI with data that fits that exact area. This helps them give better product suggestions and offer a more enjoyable shopping experience.
The Advantage of Big Companies
Even though startups feel confident, they do admit that OpenAI and Perplexity have some clear advantages. One of them is that they already have millions of users. People are already using these chatbots every day, so adding shopping features inside them makes it easy for users to try them.
Another big advantage is their partnerships. OpenAI works with Shopify, and Perplexity works with PayPal. This means users can complete their purchases directly inside the chat. They may not even need to visit a store’s website.
This is something many startups cannot offer yet. Startups often earn money through affiliate links, which means users are sent to a retailer’s website to check out. But for companies running huge AI models that cost millions to operate, reaching profitability is a big priority. E-commerce might help them get there.
The Limitations of General AI Shopping
Even with these advantages, the big question still stands. Can general purpose chatbots truly replace specialized shopping tools? Many experts say no, at least not now.
General chatbots try to understand everything. However, shopping in specific fields like fashion, furniture, and travel needs deep domain knowledge. This includes knowing materials, patterns, styles, colours, use cases, and even emotional preferences.
If these models start showing paid ads inside search results, it may also make the shopping experience worse for users. People already complain that Google is filled with ads. If AI chatbots follow the same pattern, the problem might only grow.
The Bottom Line
The launch of AI shopping assistants by OpenAI and Perplexity is a big step for the industry. It will push more people to use AI tools for buying things online. But at the same time, niche shopping startups will continue to thrive because they focus on depth instead of broad knowledge.
Fashion AI, home goods AI, and travel AI tools will probably grow even more, because they understand their categories in a way large models cannot match yet.
In simple terms, there is room for everyone. The big players will bring general help for millions of shoppers, and the small players will offer deep and special shopping experiences for users who want something more personal.
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