Your next personal shopper may not be a person at all. The latest breed of artificial intelligence assistants goes beyond the abilities of chatbots, which are great at answering questions and creating content. These generative AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, are the brain. These new AI agents layered on top, think of them like the body , can now autonomously perform tasks for users, including shopping. They are also persistent, always running in the cloud. Meta Platforms ‘ new personal agent Muse, released Sept. 8, can search retail sites for the best products, compare prices, and even complete purchases. It wasn’t the first. But it quickly went viral, displacing ChatGPT at the top of Apple ‘s U.S. App Store charts. Muse has surpassed 5 million downloads, with more than 3 million weekly active users. Meta shares have surged more than 17% since the Muse launch. This evolution from generative AI (which creates something for you) to agentic AI (an agent that does something for you) raises questions for many companies and their investors. Chief among them: What happens when consumers hand over purchasing decisions to AI agents? The early read on Wall Street is that some companies and industries face steeper challenges than others — and some may actually benefit from the shift. For example, companies that benefit from customers not bothering to cancel subscriptions, compare prices, or search for better deals have taken a beating in recent weeks. Since the launch of Muse through Thursday’s close, Planet Fitness fell almost 12%, Booking Holdings dropped 11%, SiriusXM dropped 8.6%, and Charles Schwab lost 9% — all victims of the so-called ” consumer inertia ” trade. Goldman Sachs described the potential transition as moving from “search and shop” to “delegate and approve.” Today’s AI shopping tools are still largely used for product discovery and recommendations, but Goldman sees them eventually executing more of the purchasing process. So far, however, investors don’t appear to be pricing in much near-term disruption for our three retail holdings. Since Muse’s launch through Thursday’s close, TJX has gained nearly 8%, Costco is up about 4%, and Amazon has slipped 1%, compared with a roughly 1.7% gain for the S & P 500 . Fully agentic shopping remains a longer-term prospect, and each company has characteristics that could help insulate its business as the technology develops. But those defenses look very different, providing a good cross-section of the retail space and how the rise of AI shopping brings both challenges and benefits. The biggest risk isn’t losing the sale Amazon would seem like an obvious target for disruption. If consumers can ask an external AI agent to find the best laptop, paper towels, or dog food regardless of the retailer, they may no longer need to start their search on Amazon. However, Amazon has defenses that smaller online retailers don’t — enormous scale, broad selection, fast fulfillment, and a Prime ecosystem that gives…
Read More: AI agents could soon shop for consumers. What it means for retail stocks
