" AI Agents Are Changing How People Shop. Here’s What That Means for Brands. "    
AI agents—algorithms empowered to take action on a user’s behalf—are starting to fundamentally reshape the business and consumer landscapes. Case in point: Enough consumers are skipping Google and searching using ChatGPT, an AI agent that interprets questions and synthesizes search results, that some experts estimate it could replace Google in four years. For others, AI-agents are creating a new source of customer leads, independent of traditional SEO. No doubt the dominant players will fight back, but the rapid adoption of AI agents has much bigger implications for who captures value—particularly who owns the end customer, the holy grail of the digital age.

For example, consider product search. In the past, a would-be customer might start by querying on search engines such as Google. They’d click through product reviews to decide what to buy, then search retailers offering the best deal, and finally navigate the multi-step process to purchase.

AI agents are already transforming this process. Today, you can ask an AI portal, such as Perplexity, for the best alternative to Tesla, receive suggestions of which cars to buy, a summary of pros and cons drawn from legitimate product reviews, and links to the best places and prices. It is a tiny step for Perplexity to complete the transaction, thereby almost entirely removing the influence of gatekeepers (e.g., Google, Amazon) or influencers (e.g., brands, Instagram personalities). Perplexity is halfway there, launching AI agents for multi-application tasks like booking trips or planning events.

This is the leading-edge of a potentially radical shift. AI agents are already integrated into apps—and all the major AI players (e.g., OpenAI, Claude, Google, etc.) have introduced agents—but they’re mostly able to complete simple tasks. Agents are able to field questions like “Can you help me choose an insurance policy?” or “Can you find the best shipping to get parts to the customer?” It is a short step for AI agents to then complete the purchase and optimize the logistics. Perplexity is reportedly already completing purchases.

More information from:
https://hbr.org/2025/02/ai-agents-are-changing-how-people-shop-heres-what-that-means-for-brands?ab=HP-latest-image-1

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