Amazon has started testing ads within its Rufus chatbot. According to TechCrunch, ads will be shown based on Amazon search and conversational context, and Rufus may generate texts to accompany existing ad copy in certain cases. Uh, Chris, this is also the A& M put you on the spot question. Um, they would like to know.
Um, we, while we all likely saw this coming for Rufus, although maybe not this quickly, do you think mixing ads in with Gen AI search will be evolutionary, revolutionary, or not materially move the needle? Oh man, that is, wow. That's, that's a really good question. Um, yeah, I got to think about this one for a while.
Um, it's kind of got me scratching my head, honestly. Uh, the best way I could sum it up is I think it's, it's probably somewhere between revolutionary, revolutionary and not material is kind of how I think. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I think it's going to be either or feast or famine and, um, okay. I think at the end of the day, the move signals a lot.
I mean, when I first heard about this, I started thinking. You know, wait, I'm using conversational, uh, you know, context to search and find the products I want. So I want a really authentic response in my, you know, to my queries. Right. And so like, how does an ad fit into that? But then, but then you said something to me last week that got me thinking about how, you know, subjective product searches really are at the end of the day, it's not an objective thing when we search, cause the answers can be different for everybody and what could be the right product in one context could be.
A different product in another context. And so, and particularly when you think about price being involved. So like, you know, I might want that coffee maker this week at this price, but if there's another one available next week at another price, I might want that one. So, so to me, I think it makes me think that serving up ads inside of a conversational, uh, commerce search makes sense that we're going to see more of it.
There's probably pretty high conversion off of it too. At the end of the day, I think the CPG brands. Are going to like it a lot and they're going to love it. The other part of this too, is Google. Like it makes me think that Google is particularly strong on this front too, because where they're having those searches, they can pipe in any brand that wants to advertise as well.
So can Amazon to a degree, but so for that reason, I think I'm still heading towards the fact that this is a very revolutionary type concept that we're going to start to see more of. If you put a gun in my head, that's where I am today. Yeah, that's kind of, I was actually. More along the evolutionary, um, you're kind of taking the middle road.
I am, because I think that, you know, pragmatist, I like, we have a really great conversation with own it, um, that's coming out. So make sure to check that out, uh, with payment and Evan. And during that, that event in that recording, you know, they really emphasize that. This is changing the way that we search for products as consumers.
And so I think this is like that evolution of how we, how we conduct searches online for products. And I think, like you said, Chris, like if I can get the, that product for a better deal in that moment, it's a win all around. So if you can get me on price, you're scouring, you know, all of the internet to figure out which, the.
What product is best for me based on, you know, the inputs of the product companies, the, the brands themselves, like we talked about with like brands knowing, you know, what's been returned, what, what has worked, what have customers liked, what have customers voluntarily left reviews on, like if you're scouring all that information and you're truly serving me up like the best content, I think it's only natural that now they start to bring, you know, ads into this to figure out.
Further kind of get us over the hurdle of, of really hitting by in that scenario. And I think that, you know, where the revolution comes in for me is really thinking about how brands will start to use customer data, past purchase history. You know, they're, they can use AI on that. So I do to really get to know me better and, and maybe other things that I might've purchased so that they can start adding that into the data that they serve up the types of promotions that they serve up for me.
Um, so I think that's where the revolutionary part of it comes in. But the last question for me is what you, what you hit on, you know, is really that authenticity. Like I think. You still have that issue of who's providing this insight, who's recommending this, because I think like you look at even sponsored products right now on Amazon.
Like, is that the first thing that you go to all the time? Um, so I think like, you know, that's the, that's the question is how are retailers and brands using that data about me as a consumer and really putting that most, most authentic, um, right product in front of me. Yeah. It's interesting, you know, for me, like to the other part of like the, the revolutionary side of it Will consumers start to shop this way?
Um, you know, will they start to use these, these features more often, you know, both on Google and on Amazon or anywhere else too, right? And I mean, that's, yeah, that's the 64, 000 question that will ultimately determine if this is a revolution or not. I think so.
