Perplexity Launches Shopping Hub to Compete with Google

(Reuters) – Artificial intelligence search startup Perplexity on Monday launched a shopping hub to attract users, aiming to strengthen its platform as it challenges Alphabet-owned Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s dominance in the search engine space.

The firm, backed by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos and leading AI chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), will provide users with product cards showing relevant items in response to shopping-related queries.

Each card delivers product details in a visual format, according to the company.

This new feature is supported by platform integrations such as Shopify (NYSE:SHOP), which grants access to recent and relevant product information from businesses on the Canadian e-commerce platform, available globally for shipping to the United States.

E-commerce platforms have increasingly implemented AI-powered tools to attract more merchants.

Perplexity's shopping-focused rollout includes 'Snap to Shop' – a visual search tool that displays products based on user-uploaded photos of items.

These features are initially launching in the United States, with expansion plans for other markets, although specific timelines have not been provided.

Additionally, Perplexity is introducing a 'Merchant Program' to enable retailers to share product information with the company.

The startup is currently raising new investments that could value it at $9 billion, as reported earlier by Reuters in November.

Perplexity also seeks to broaden its offerings, as OpenAI has become a direct competitor after the generative AI pioneer integrated new search functionalities into ChatGPT.