Perplexity Launches New Shopping Feature For Pro Subscribers

The AI startup Perplexity announced new shopping features for premium members in the United States yesterday.

Perplexity Pro subscribers will be able to access “Buy With Pro”—an option to save payment information and make purchases with just one click—, the visual tool Snap to Shop, and get recommendations through a discovery feature. The company also added a program for large retailers, the Perplexity Merchant program, for better chances to get featured on their chatbot.

“Perplexity is now a one-stop solution where you can research and purchase products,” states the public announcement on the startup’s website. “It marks a big leap forward in how we serve our users – empowering seamless native actions right from an answer. Shopping online just got 10x more easy and fun.”

The Buy with Pro button allows U.S. users to check out fast and through the app in a one-click checkout process with the stores that allow it. Perplexity Pro users will have to previously set and save their billing and address information to get the most out of the feature. “We’ve built a first-of-its-kind AI commerce experience,” reads the document.

The Buy With Pro program includes free shipping and the company clarified that the chatbot will redirect users directly to the seller’s website when the Buy with Pro feature is not available.

Snap to Shop allows users to share an image of the product they want to purchase—without a description or a name—and Perplexity’s chatbot finds the product—or similar—as well as the options currently available in the market.

The new shopping program includes a search system, Discover the best product, to help users choose the best option. After a user requests the chatbot to find a product, it will generate results and cards with key details. The company said it will not share biased recommendations and that the cards aren’t sponsored. Perplexity allied with Shopify to integrate platforms for this feature.

The Perplexity Merchant program allows big retailers to share product descriptions and more relevant information about their products for better opportunities to get featured on the platform, insights, as well as access to the API and the Buy with Pro integration program.

The AI company is close to reaching a $9 billion valuation, as it is at the final stage of a $500 million deal.