Shoptalk, one of the retail and e-commerce industry's top U.S. conferences, took place in Las Vegas last week, where Goldman analysts had one key takeaway for clients on Monday morning: AI is beginning to reshape how consumers shop.
Analysts Brooke Roach and Kate McShane, among others, attended the conference and listened to retailers, consumer brands, and technology vendors focus on the evolving consumer space in the era of AI.
Their top takeaway was that AI is emerging as a "new front door to commerce," and instead of beginning product searches on Google or Amazon, an increasing number of consumers are turning to chatbots to decide what to buy.
"Brands and retailers noted that consumers are increasingly beginning their shopping journey inside AI platforms rather than on brand websites or search engines, with adoption accelerating rapidly over the past several months," the analyst noted.
Here are more takeaways from Goldman's analysts after attending Shoptalk:
The front door to commerce is shifting to AI
Brands and retailers noted that consumers are increasingly beginning their shopping journey inside AI platforms rather than on brand websites or search engines, with adoption accelerating rapidly over the past several months.
GAP stated it is seeing stronger purchase intent and higher conversion from customers arriving through agentic channels, and described itself as explicitly not in a wait-and-see mode. The company also noted it is an early partner on Google's Universal Commerce Protocol, which allows the merchant to bring its own experience including loyalty, promotions, and cart capabilities directly into LLM environments, rather than pushing users to a generic external destination.
Enhancing consumer relevance and enabling product research / purchase decisions
Brands noted that becoming relevant within LLMs is a different challenge from search engine optimization, as LLM crawlers ingest content differently and are blocked more often than classic search crawlers.
Sephora announced the launch of its own app inside ChatGPT, which allows users to connect their Sephora accounts and receive personalized beauty advice (e.g., skin type, shade matching). Management is currently experimenting with their entire ecosystem, and is using AI as another channel to extend their core proposition of being a trusted beauty advisor.
Behr partnered with Google's Gemini to launch a paint visualizer designed to help DIY customers overcome color paralysis and feel confident in their purchases.
HD has a shopping agent called Magic Apron, designed to help customers find easy answers on home improvement projects.
LOW is using their AI-shopping assistant MyLow to help associates in stores and deliver personalized recommendations to the customers. Management noted that customer expectations are changing, as they now expect comprehensive answers, not just keyword-based results.
Trust and authenticity increasingly important
RDDT noted that consumer trust in online information is declining, as users are rejecting AI-generated content given its tendency to regurgitate information from other sources. Consumers value authentic perspectives and are turning to their platform for experience-based answers.
AEO emphasized the importance of continuously testing marketing creatives with customers and being attentive to what resonates and what doesn't. They found that AI-generated content must be clearly identifiable on the platform, so customers can trust that the company is not attempting to deceive them.
As consumers shift product searches from traditional Google queries to AI-powered answer engines, the brands and platforms that establish an AI presence first could capture meaningful tailwinds.
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