Shipt's AI Shopping Assistant | Fast Five Shorts
This segment from the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five podcast, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso, examines Shipt's new chat-to-cart feature powered by Perplexity's Comet browser.
While Chris and Anne appreciate the innovation, they question the execution. Requiring customers to download a separate browser creates too much friction for mainstream adoption. Anne and Chris agree it's the right idea at the wrong time... a PR headline that sounds more innovative than it actually is. Will Shipt's AI gamble pay off, or is it too early for consumers to embrace?
For the full episode head here
#shipt #perplexityai #aishoppingassistant #chattocart #grocerydelivery #retailtech #aiinretail #shoppinginnovation #grocerytech #retailinnovation
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Transcript
Shipt has launched a Chat to Cart feature.
Speaker A:Jesus.
Speaker A:Shipt and Chat to Cart in one sentence that's really hard.
Speaker A:According to Progressive Grocer, retail tech company Shipt is partnering with software company Perplexity and its new browser in a move that promises to enhance the grocery shopping experience by assisting with same day delivery and encouraging discovery of new and trending products.
Speaker A:By leveraging Perplexity, Comet C Shipt aims to assist consumers with cart building and shave additional time from their shopping process by powering product discovery and cart curation with artificial intelligence.
Speaker A:Quote Everything we create at Shipt is in service of blending human warmth with technological innovation, said Katie Stratton, Chief Growth Office Chief Growth and Strategy Officer at Shipt.
Speaker A:And for those curious, also no relation to Ricky Stratton of Silver Silver Spoons.
Speaker A:And are you buying or selling Ship's chat to Cart functionality with Perplexity?
Speaker B:I think that I'm buying the idea but I still think there's too much friction from the customer standpoint and I understand the the tightrope that Shipt is walking.
Speaker B:They wanted to be first to market with this and so you have to decide like are you going to be first to market with some hurdles for the customer still or are you going to wait until it's 100% seamless process and then roll it out to consumers being shift?
Speaker B:I think I would have waited, I think I would have done the latter because they are they have not historically been a first to market company with their their concept.
Speaker B:Well I think that their, their consumers are going to not use it like if they have to go out to another application, they have to download, you know, comment on their phones like they are in ships because it's an easy thing for them.
Speaker B:They have reliable, you know, pickers for their products and shoppers.
Speaker B:So to me I think like this is a great idea down the road because I think it benefits everyone.
Speaker B:You know it gets if they did have Comet installed or as part of their go to search engine it gets comment and perplexity, more traffic for other things outside of grocery and then for the ship shopper it becomes more simple for them to pick up their goods and not have to put as much work into every single week putting together that grocery list.
Speaker B:But I for right now I really think that it's just going to be too early and too hard for the ship shoppers to ship consumers I should say to grasp right now.
Speaker B:So I'm worried it's going to, it's going to not have the impact that they want it to Big PR headline for them, for being progressive but not going to have the shopper impact.
Speaker A:But what do you think?
Speaker A:You said it.
Speaker A:I 100% agree with you.
Speaker A:100 agree with you.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:That's what I wrote in my notes.
Speaker A:I said, seems like a headline that sounds more innovative than it actually is.
Speaker A:And it's because you want the PR from it.
Speaker A:And the other point, knowing the Big Red as we do and is, you know, I worry about, you know, getting a false.
Speaker A:A false negative on this because no one's going to use it potentially.
Speaker A:And then, you know, the leadership's gonna go, well, why do we invest in that?
Speaker A:Well, because you did it the wrong way.
Speaker A:You know, you probably should have done it inside the Shift app to make this easier for them.
Speaker A:You know, can make those connections happen the way they want to or figure out how to do this in a way that has a better user experience.
Speaker A:Because.
Speaker A:Because you're right.
Speaker A:No, very few people are going to do this, I think.
Speaker A:But despite, you know, all the fervor over perplexity comment this week on social media, I think it's still.
Speaker A:It's still a big ass to get people to acclimate to this in.
Speaker A:In my opinion.
Speaker B:And they launched this, like, did they launch this at Shop Talk Fall or.
Speaker B:They announced it and it was like, it was just so slow to come out, which.
Speaker B:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker B:I feel like.
Speaker B:I feel like this is just.
Speaker B:It's the right idea.
Speaker B:Right idea.
Speaker B:Just wrong timing and execution.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:First when I heard about, I was like, ooh, this is cool.
Speaker A:And then I read about.
Speaker A:I'm like, no, it's not.
Speaker A:And so it's like, I know, I know.
Speaker A:I want to get on board with something.
Speaker A:I just can't.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:Well, hopefully people will think it's cool and download the.
Speaker B:I keep wanting to call it Capstone.
Speaker B:It's Comet.
Speaker B:They'll download Comet and they'll try it.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:There's so many new words to everything.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:I know.
