Is the rise of AI agents going to change the shopping paradigm? Was interested to listen to Tim Ferris podcast with Kevin Rose:
Kevin Rose: So, this is actually, you’re hitting on a very fascinating trend, which is this idea where applications, destination websites, all those things go away. So, in a world where you say, “Hey, I just need some new towels for my house.” Rather than going on Amazon and searching for new towels or whatever it may be, or Shopify or whatever independent shop, you just ask ChatGPT. Now what Amazon is worried about is if they are top of funnel, if ChatGPT is the entry point, they can just be swapped out.
Kevin Rose: Right? So, it’s like, “Oh, you know what? Walmart has the same thing for $10 less.” And they just push that right into the feed. And so for them, they’re like, “Oh, shit, this was our moat because we were the destination. Everyone comes to Amazon.com, they shop there and now the AI is deciding and buying on their behalf.”
This has already been possible before, with price comparison portals like idealo.de and geizhals.de (in Germany)
It's possible that AI agentic shopping brings this technology to those who haven't used it before. But I think it's also possible that AI agentic shopping becomes an extension of their users' shopping habits
Kevin Rose: Right? So, it’s like, “Oh, you know what? Walmart has the same thing for $10 less.” And they just push that right into the feed. And so for them, they’re like, “Oh, shit, this was our moat because we were the destination. Everyone comes to Amazon.com, they shop there and now the AI is deciding and buying on their behalf.”