For subscribers
How AI is disrupting shopping
Looking for Christmas gifts? Just ask a chatbot.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
As AI upends online shopping, physical stores gain renewed importance.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
The Economist
Follow topic:
The time of year has come again when gift-givers must trudge around shops and scroll endlessly through e-commerce websites to find suitable Christmas presents for their loved ones. Some will enjoy browsing. Many will not. A growing number will happily outsource much of the process to artificial intelligence (AI).
Chatbots offer a personal shopper for all. They can listen to what a user wants, produce a shortlist of products and help with comparisons. This holiday season, around two-thirds of consumers in rich countries (and five-sixths of those aged 18 to 24) plan to use AI to help them shop, according to a survey by Shopify, a provider of e-commerce tools.
