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Struggling With That Buying Decision? This AI Shopping Tool Could Help

Perplexity has an AI shopping assistant that integrates into the search platform for product research, discovery and purchasing.

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Headshot of Carly Quellman
Carly Quellman Contributor
Carly Quellman, aka Carly Que, is a multimedia strategist and storyteller at the intersection of technology and the humanities, investigating how perspective can enhance, rather than overstimulate, the world. She can be found online and near the closest south-facing window in Los Angeles.
Carly Quellman
3 min read
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I was recently sifting through AI-powered shopping assistants to reduce the decision fatigue that comes with the endless assortment of options that pop up when shopping online for pretty much anything.

I ended up trying out Perplexity Shopping, an assistant that integrates within Perplexity AI to help me find and purchase a few items that were both simple in functionality, yet niche in their details. 

My search was for something like a flat, clear water bottle that doesn't leak, has a mouth wide enough for an individual water filter and can fit into a work purse without taking up too much space.

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How does Perplexity Shopping use AI?

Perplexity was co-founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho and Andy Konwinski. Perplexity Shopping was introduced in 2024 to use AI to advance product discovery and purchasing features.  It's much like Amazon's Rufus and Help Me Decide AI tools.

Its AI product recommendations are accessible directly on the search interface. You can ask natural language questions and, in response, get AI-generated summaries and product suggestions with detailed information. The AI tool first analyzes the intent behind your question, more on this below, and then searches product data to create a set of results to help in your decision-making.

Perplexity Shopping is available on Perplexity's free tier as well as Perplexity Pro, which at $20/month provides you with access to advanced AI models plus other shopping features like AI-supported payment options and order tracking.

How to use Perplexity Shopping

A screenshot showing AI shopping assistant Perplexity as I searched for a specific water bottle

My quest was to find a very specific water bottle by using Perplexity AI shopping.

 Perplexity/ creenshot by CNET
  1. Sign up for a Perplexity AI account if you don't already have one. You can start with the free tier and still access most of Perplexity Shopping's features.
  2. Head to the left-hand search bar that says Home and find the Shopping tab from the dropdown menu.
  3. Describe your first product in as much detail as you can. One of Perplexity Shopping AI's features is its ability to understand details and your intent.
  4. Soon after, Perplexity Shopping responds to AI-powered recommendations in three ways: product suggestions with background information about each, price comparisons across retailers and reviews. 
  5. It also features product images on the farthest tab over, which is great if you're looking for inspiration in response to your search instead of products to purchase. 
  6. You can even upload a photo and ask Perplexity AI to find similar products across online stores through its Snap to Shop feature, which is similar to Google Lens. 
  7. Lastly, you can save products to your wishlist, another AI feature. Perplexity Shopping allows real-time price monitoring to ensure you don't miss deals. If you're a Pro user, you can access details like one-click purchases and free shipping. 

If you're interested in learning more about Perplexity and its various extensions, including Perplexity Shopping, visit its blog. 

Should you use Perplexity Shopping?

Some advanced features are only available with a paid $20 subscription, which might deter you if you aren't already using Perplexity. Still, there's quite a bit of functionality within its free tier, particularly if you're looking for the aggregator to provide you with a few specific options rather than sifting through thousands of products. 

The platform is somewhat new, though, so not every store or brand is available on it. Plus, product availability depends on retailer integration with Perplexity. 

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The product recommendations felt decently personalized, and the visual search feature helped me connect my idea of a product to an AI-powered online shopping reality. 

Ultimately, convenience is what sold Perplexity Shopping for me. There's something stabilizing about using a tool connected to a company you're familiar with.

Previously, I had attempted to add Google Chrome extensions of three AI shopping assistants, but it felt like they provided more hassle than support. I was very particular in what I was looking for, which may have helped. 

I didn't end up purchasing a water bottle through the platform's suggestions, mostly because I had more questions about flat water bottles, like how to clean one.

Still, using Perplexity Shopping, at the very least, made it easier to transition from idea to purchase. Once I have more information on the specific product I'm looking for, I would use Perplexity Shopping to help me sift through the overwhelming amount of products created to solve even the most niche problem.