GoKawiil
Tech News
Mastercard has signed a new deal aimed at letting AI-driven shopping agents complete purchases using customer payment credentials. The move comes as rivals Visa and American Express are also preparing their own systems to support autonomous, AI-powered shopping bots.
Shipt, Target's same-day delivery service, rolled out an AI tool called Ask Shipt that converts written prompts or photos into ready-to-checkout shopping carts. Customers can request carts based on occasions like tailgates or school lunches, or set a budget, such as a weeknight dinner for five under $35. The tool can also identify ingredients from a photo of a dish and add them to a cart automatically.
The referenced article about whether readers prefer AI-generated stories could not be retrieved, as the page returned only an e-commerce error message about shopping bag transactions. No actual content, data, or findings from the intended study or report were accessible.
Instacart has rolled out Clementine, a built-in AI assistant now live across North America on its Marketplace app that helps users plan meals and shop within budget. It can suggest recipes based on natural-language requests, check ingredient availability at a chosen store, filter for dietary preferences, restock pantry staples from past orders, and convert handwritten grocery lists into cart-ready items.
Instacart introduced Clementine, an AI-powered shopping assistant that converts natural-language requests, recipes, or grocery lists into ready-to-purchase carts. Users can ask for things like budget-friendly kids' lunches or high-protein dinners, upload photos of handwritten lists, and get recipes tailored to dietary needs such as gluten-free or vegetarian preferences. Clementine also surfaces deals and cheaper alternatives while shopping.
Amazon announced that its Alexa for Shopping AI can now tell customers whether a message claiming to be from Amazon is genuine or a scam. The system cross-checks sender details, content, timing and metadata against billions of messages Amazon has sent worldwide, and is designed to improve as users flag more suspicious texts and emails. This builds on Amazon's earlier [email protected] email tool and online form for reporting suspicious communications.
E-commerce SEO firm Productrise found that identical products listed through Google's AI Mode averaged 21.6 percent higher prices than the same items shown via traditional Google Search. The study also found AI Mode listings appeared 49 percent more prominently to users, and nearly half the time recommended a different primary retailer than standard search results.
Shopify COO Jess Hertz says the company lets its engineering teams spend without limits on AI tools, a bet that's paying off as revenue climbs 34% even as headcount holds steady. Hertz frames this as part of Shopify's push to build the infrastructure that lets AI agents discover and purchase products on behalf of consumers, a shift away from the old model where big-budget brands dominated search rankings.
Amazon launched a new Alexa for Shopping feature called 'Update Me When,' which sends personalized notifications when events like a new product line, book release, or concert announcement could prompt a purchase. Users manually set up these alerts for now, choosing what brands, artists, or products they want tracked.
Livestream shopping, long popular in China, is gaining traction in the U.S. through platforms like TikTok Shop and Whatnot, now valued at $20 billion. Companies such as Beachwaver, run by celebrity hairstylist Sarah Potempa, generate a significant share of sales through hours-long live sessions featuring product demos, auctions and interactive stunts. Legacy retailer QVC has also pivoted to this model, broadcasting over 200 hours weekly across seven TikTok channels after emerging from bankruptcy.
YouTube announced eligible U.S. creators can now tag Amazon products directly within shorts, long-form videos, and livestreams to earn a share of resulting sales. The feature integrates Amazon's catalog natively into YouTube's Shopping Affiliate Program, replacing the older method of pasting Associates links in video descriptions. Creators can also enable auto-tagging, letting YouTube's systems scan past uploads to identify and tag eligible products automatically.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced that Amazon has become a participant in YouTube's creator affiliate shopping program. Creators can now tag Amazon products directly within videos, Shorts and livestreams, earning commissions when viewers buy through their links.