Shownotes
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI, and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss: If They're Buying Or Selling: Shopping Via Perplexity
For the full episode head here: https://youtu.be/xDKKCu9Alfk
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Transcripts
Perplexity has introduced a pro shopping feature for its pro users in the US according to TechCrunch.
Speaker A:AI powered search engine Perplexity is venturing into E commerce.
Speaker A:Last week, the company debuted a new shopping feature for its paid customers in the US which offers shopping recommendations within Perplexity search results as well as the ability to place an order without going to a retailer's website for shopping related search queries.
Speaker A:The tool presents users with visual cards that have details of the product, pricing and seller info, short description and the pros and cons of the item in question.
Speaker A:Users can click or tap on the card to read more information, including reviews and detailed key features.
Speaker A:Consumers can also store their address and credit card details in Perplexity for easy checkout.
Speaker A:The company says it calculates taxes for your address so you can purchase the item with just one click.
Speaker A:The company also said that Pro subscribers will get free shipping for items purchased through its one click checkout system.
Speaker A:For now, the search engine's recommendations are quote, unquote, unbiased, end quote, as there are no sponsored slots.
Speaker A:Perplexity notes the new search experience is powered by integrations with seller sites, including those on Shopify.
Speaker A:Chris, are you buying or selling shopping via Perplexity?
Speaker B:And I'm buying this hook, line and sinker.
Speaker A:Okay, this is the future to me.
Speaker A:I mean everybody.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:This is the future to me.
Speaker B:I don't know if it's necessarily via Perplexity in the long run, but this is the future.
Speaker B:This is the story that tells where the future is headed so much.
Speaker B:So Anne and I haven't said this in a long time.
Speaker B:I haven't said that this, this much this year actually.
Speaker B:This is now my dark horse candidate for headline of the year, which we're going to announce in just a few weeks here with our friends at the A and M Consumer Retail Group.
Speaker B:It's between this, I think when I thought about it, I think it's between this and Walmart getting 75% of its revenue growth from from high income shoppers.
Speaker B:I think it's one of those two for me this year because there's so many interesting dynamics to this story in particular.
Speaker B:So first I would call out natural language searches make learning about products easier because you can filter through the things that matter to you as an individual.
Speaker B:You're not constrained by the filters that the retailer gives you.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so and you can use that however you want and you can have, you know, Perplexity or chatgpt or whatever lay that out for you in Whatever, grid style, graph style, whatever you want.
Speaker B:And so that's, that's an important factor here.
Speaker B:But secondly, the fact that they are offering this via paid subscription is really interesting to me Anne, for sure because it gets people sticky to using Perplexity for search and it flies in the face of Google and their paid search model which in the long run is interesting to me because in theory my searches should be less biased if I'm using a service like this from Perplexity versus using one from Google that you know, runs their business on paid advertisements.
Speaker B:So, so that's interesting to me in terms of being a disruption here.
Speaker B:And then third, which is totally self serving for me.
Speaker B:I love the fact that I don't have to enter my, I'm sure you do too.
Speaker B:I love the fact that I don't have to enter my credit card info again or my shipping address and it's just stored in the search database.
Speaker B:And so if I'm shopping for products and looking at these images like I can just click on them and be like whoop.
Speaker B:And I can just basically give a text command.
Speaker B:I can be basically like please buy this for me and it'll buy it for me and it'll arrive at my house as soon as possible.
Speaker B:Like I, that is amazing.
Speaker B:Like I love that this, this gets, this is the bridge to what we were talking about five or six years on the keynote stages where we give presentations where it'd be like there's going to be the merging of text with something new, text commerce with something new.
Speaker B:And this is that something new.
Speaker B:I think.
Speaker B:But you were slapped an eye at me.
Speaker B:Why?
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Because I think you're giving credit, I think you're giving too much credit to Perplexity for a tool that already exists which is called Google Search.
Speaker B:I just, I can't do any of this in Google.
Speaker B:I can't do any of this.
Speaker A:That's not true at all.
Speaker A:Shipping, yes, you can Google save credit card information and address.
Speaker A:Yeah, I guess I think you're giving, yeah, maybe.
Speaker A:But is it enough for people to pay for?
Speaker A:Like that's my real question is like are you going to get people to pay?
Speaker A:Yeah, but you, but the search and.
Speaker B:All the other language query features you get.
Speaker A:Yes, but you already have that.
Speaker A:Like Google came out with this headline weeks ago and so I think Perplexity is set up to be a true competitor of Google.
Speaker A:But you still are going.
Speaker A:And, and yes, sure, it's like the bougie version of Google.
Speaker A:Like that's what this is to me.
Speaker A:It's like I, the, the rest of the, like, like, what's Anna Delvey?
Speaker A:She says in that, in inventing Anna that movie, when she's like, yeah, right.
Speaker A:Why are you so poor?
Speaker A:Like, this is like, this is the, like, why are you so poor?
Speaker A:Version is Google.
Speaker A:And then like perplexity is now like what the rich people will use.
Speaker A:But I mean, number one, number one thing that you hit on and that, which is why I think my headline of the year is actually going to be Google rolling out natural language search and all of the shopping abilities that they've, they are kind of giving to the masses.
Speaker A:I think that's Natural language search is the key headline here that has changed things dramatically and will continue to change how we shop.
Speaker A:I don't argue with that with you about.
Speaker B:So we're agreeing then?
Speaker B:Because that's basically that.
Speaker B:We're agreeing then because that's basically what I said.
Speaker B:I said I didn't know that perplexity is going to be the answer to this.
Speaker B:But this shows the future of where things are going.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:But I think that Google already showed the future of where things are going.
Speaker A:Walmart last year at NRF when they announced Gen AI search in their text box on their website.
Speaker A:Like, that's what's changing search, not this perplexity headline specifically.
Speaker A:Like, I still think that, you know, what they're doing is just a horse of a different color.
Speaker A:Like it's just a little bit, it's nicer, it's, it looks a little more polished.
Speaker A:But I don't, I don't think that Google's going to, you know, get away from this.
Speaker B:I, I use Google, get there with these features too.
Speaker B:Right, Anne?
Speaker B:I mean, I think that's what you're like for sure.
Speaker B:If it doesn't have them now, which I think it's debatable whether they have all of these now, but it'll get there eventually.
Speaker A:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker A:Plus I think you have greater user adoption from Google which gathers more information, which is able to change their, how they're interacting more consistently.
Speaker A:So I think definitely perplexity is something we should be paying attention to.
Speaker A:You're the unbiased reviews thing feels a little bit of a stretch to me because it's pulling from the same sources that Google is.
Speaker A:It's pulling from Wirecutter, it's pulling from Refinery 29.
Speaker A:Like all of these sources are the same place.
Speaker A:It's just being displayed a little bit differently.
Speaker A:And I, I also, I'm also willing to bet that Perplexity down the road ends up going the way of sponsored products or suggested products in my seat.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah, I thought that was fun.
Speaker B:Yeah, let's say hello or like.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, we saw you shopping for this.
Speaker B:Do you want to buy it at this discount?
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:But I think the important thing is it's.
Speaker A:It's a great thing for people to try.
Speaker A:I think the last thing I'll say, Chris, is that I was.
Speaker A:I used it last night.
Speaker A:I was testing it out to see, you know, how it displayed.
Speaker A:I was looking for a wet dry vacuum.
Speaker A:Right now.
Speaker A:As one does.
Speaker A:Yes, as one does.
Speaker A:The crazy thing to me is I went, I typed the same search query.
Speaker A:What is the best wet dry vacuum or mop for hardwood floors?
Speaker A:I put that in perplexity.
Speaker A:Beautiful layout.
Speaker A:Here are the options.
Speaker A:Here are the pros.
Speaker A:Here are the cons.
Speaker A:I went to Target.com and I put that in and you know what it served me up?
Speaker B:What?
Speaker A:Dog treats.
Speaker A:It served up a candle and it served up like your standard old mop.
Speaker A:And it says we could not understand that question for you.
Speaker A:That to me, that goes back to headline number one, which is like, this is how people are going to be searching.
Speaker A:You, Target, are not even prepared for this and it's going to come fast and it's going to come hard and you need to be ready.
Speaker A:So that, to me, that was a big eye opener that I feel like has to be discussed.
Speaker B:See now, now.
Speaker B:And I'm going to give you kudos to see how you just wrap the show.
Speaker B:You just completely enveloped the show from headline one to headline five.
Speaker B:You brought it back around full circle, completely enveloped it nicely.
Speaker B:Nicely done.
Speaker B:Nicely done.
Speaker B:And I could not agree with you more.