Social commerce — or shopping via platforms like TikTok and Instagram — has not been a smashing success in the U.S., in part because of continued mistrust of tech giants among consumers and major retailers. To help ensure that AI initiatives do not face similar resistance, major payment processors like Visa and software startups like New Generation, which help stores develop or partner with chatbots, are trying to broker technical settlements with retail partners. “We believe a service provider like us will be quicker to gain the trust of retailers, which is very important,” says Adam Behrens, CEO of New Generation.
Retailers want to join because chatbots have become a crucial tool for consumers researching and validating purchases. Partnerships between AI and e-commerce companies can ensure that chatbots not only provide accurate product information, but also consume fewer computing resources when fulfilling online orders. All of this could boost profits for both sides, if we can reach an agreement.
In one of the most outspoken comments about proxy shopping ever made by a senior technology executive, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently criticized how proxy shopping currently works on other platforms. “I would say the customer experience is not good,” Jassy said in a phone call last month. “There is no customization. There is no shopping history. Delivery estimates are often wrong. Prices are often wrong. We have to find a way to make the customer experience better and get the right exchange of value.”
A simple task like adding eggs to an Amazon cart, Opera’s AI agent, took 45 seconds in a WIRED test this month; Doing this manually on the Amazon shopping app took a third of the time.
Opera invited potential partners to attend workshops to evaluate security and design options. “If our agent doesn’t work with the biggest websites people visit, it’s going to be a suboptimal experience,” says Per Wetterdahl, an executive vice president who leads Opera’s commercial partnerships. “No one benefits then [a purchase] It ends up in the wrong place or in the wrong quantity.
Deal talks
As is often the case in the technology industry, money and data are central to negotiations. With agent shopping, the financial exchange can be straightforward. AI companies including Opera want to reduce sales to make purchases easier. “If we do something that adds progress, it’s very fair that we get compensated for that,” says Wetterdahl. OpenAI shows a way forward by bringing together what it describes “small fee” From partners like Etsy for instant purchases.
But sharing data can be more complicated. Retailers protect pricing and availability data, as well as customer information, to maintain an edge over competitors. AI companies want to protect conversation logs to maintain the sense of intimacy that chatbots can provide. But chatbots require real-time information to fulfill user requests, and retail brands prefer greater context to develop relationships with shoppers.