Future of Shopping: The Role of Shopping Agents
Shopping Agent Transforming eCommerce Experiences
Jiwon Hong, July 2024
As builders on the frontier of the latest fashion AI, we at YesPlz AI AI have witnessed the evolving landscape of fashion technology from every possible angle.
When most users think of search, ideas of traditional text-based engines that match keywords are the first that pop into their minds–along with the words “slow, inaccurate, and frustrating.”
We’re now living in the most significant transformation of search since the advent of the internet. At YesPlz AI, we’re noticing the emergence of multi-modal, domain-specific AI that is more powerful than ever; it can process images, text, and contextual search information simultaneously.
And this shift isn’t only happening behind the scenes–they’re changes that are affecting how users interact with fashion search engines and eCommerce platforms.
AI technology moves fast, especially in fashion eCommerce. Even as multi-modal search is being adopted, there’s already an even newer trend on the horizon: AI agents.
Unlike current AI/ML systems that automate tasks but still require human assistant, an AI agent is capable of completing tasks from end to end without human intervention.
We've observed this trend in other industries, such as sales, where AI sales agents are now handling the entire sales process from lead generation to meeting scheduling, acting as a Sales Development Representative.
An AI SDR can find qualified leads, search for email contacts, craft a personalized email, and follow up to lock in a meeting with a human representative. So, what could that look like in fashion eCommerce?
As we continue to innovate at YesPlz AI, we're exploring the possibilities of how the latest emerging technologies can reshape the fashion shopping experience.
We believe that the future of fashion tech lies in creating more intelligent, personalized, and autonomous systems that can truly understand and cater to individual style preferences.
Food for Thought: Is it time to ditch text-based discovery engines?
Let’s take a step back and ask– “what is a shopping agent?”
An AI shopping agent can act as your own personal shopper, getting to know your preferences, reading thousands of reviews on a product to find the best fit, and even compare prices.
What is a shopping agent, though?
A shopping agent is a software application designed to independently complete entire online shopping tasks from start to finish. It excels in handling repetitive activities such as price comparison, finding the right product, checking sizes, and analyzing user reviews–all of the activities that would take humans hours to do otherwise.
A shopping agent can also be a personal curator for shoppers:
By tirelessly searching online stores worldwide, a shopping agent curates the best options for customers based on their past purchase data and preferences, making online shopping more efficient and personalized.
We all spend the majority of our time online shopping, consuming media, and interacting with friends online. If we give access, a shopping agent can provide helpful analysis on our shopping habits. It can aggregate and analyze bulk amounts of data about key styles, sizes, brands, or price ranges from the items we purchased.
A shopping agent might even know us better than we think we know ourselves! With the ability to perform complex pattern analysis, a shopping agent can probably find the best item for our tastes and preferences.
Agent-to-agent shopping: the future of shopping?
What if there was a way for shopping agents to talk to each other, automatically liaising to perform tasks previously required humans?
Imagine a shopping agent who has your information (within the permissions that you give) that can talk to another shopping agent–but this time, the other agent works for an online store. Your personal shopping agent will interact with the store agent, checking whether the online store has the product, prices, sizes, or user reviews that satisfy my search criteria.
The store agent knows the entire product catalog, the latest promotions, and can easily pull relevant products that meet search needs.
As a human, we have limits on the number of stores we can visit online and gather product information from before decision fatigue sets in. We (the humans behind the scenes at YesPlz AI) have a limit of 3 online store visits before it’s too overwhelming.
But a shopping agent doesn’t have a store limit–and can talk to as many online store agents as needed, continuing to search for products until the search needs are met and shoppers are happy.
What if an online store doesn’t have the product we’re looking for?
The store agent will report that information back to its buying agent (or merchandising agent) to start buying the styles. It can also talk to its marketing agent, sharing our media consumption habits through our shopping agents, so the marketing agent can make a plan to target content and distribute them.
In the ecosystem of agent to agent shopping, a personal shopping agent can extend its reach to store agents, who in turn, can provide valuable shopper information to a retailer’s buying or marketing team.
A Shopping Agent Friendly Store: Where do humans fit in?
A common concern among humans is that AI is going to replace our work or suddenly all jobs are replaced by “robots.” But, we’re here to assure you that’s not the case it all.
A shopping agent allows humans to spend less time on repetitive work and start spending more time on creating and producing complex services that delight other human customers.
For any eCommerce business, the time is now to start getting ready for the future of shopping. An eCommerce world supported by shopping agents is just around the corner.
How can eCommerce businesses get ready for this change? They can build websites that are shopping agent friendly, and easy for shopping agents to scan. Ecommerce businesses can also make sure to include rich product information on their websites, including images, descriptions, and content.
Shopping agents will be more likely to skip stores that have insufficient product data available for analysis. AI can help eCommerce stores create rich product descriptions and fill in missing product information.
The Next Evolution of Online Shopping Search: Shopping Agents
An online shopping ecosystem filled with shopping and store agents interacting with each other isn’t a sci-fi story, but is what the near future looks like. With ever-evolving technology and new agents being introduced to the market, an agent-to-agent future is just around the corner.
If you’re curious about learning more about how you can prepare for your store to be ready for a shopping agent future, YesPlz AI is here to help.
Schedule a meeting today to learn more.
by Jiwon Hong
CEO & Co-founder at YesPlz
A recommendation engine is my favorite topic and I can talk about it all day long.
