When you click on the CTA, a pop-up appears where your payment details are already filled—this should be the credit card you’re using for your Perplexity Pro subscription.
Google and marketplaces like Amazon have been predominantly where people shop and buy.
In the recent years, we’re seeing the shift towards social commerce like TikTok and Facebook Shop where customer journeys start and end. They see an ad or video of a product on TikTok, they click through and purchase directly.
And now, AI search. Besides Google’s AI Overviews, no other AI search platforms have offered shopping capabilities—until today.
Perplexity recently launched Shop like a Pro, where users can search for the items and buy directly through the platform—important for ecommerce brands to note and strategize.
What is Perplexity Shop like a Pro?
Perplexity Pro users in the US can now get recommendations from Perplexity and buy those items without leaving the platform.
Product cards with key details
When looking for a product, you could ask Perplexity for recommendations, just like how you would with a regular query or conversation.
Each query comes with your regular answers with product cards below. The product cards look like this.
When you click on it, it opens up to this. My first thoughts are, it’s unlikely anyone would purchase from this little information.
To find out more, you’d have to click on View more. That would surface up a side panel that provides a lot more details like features, a consolidated review, and sources.
Some key observations and notes:
- Shopify and some marketplaces like Best Buy, Target and Walmart (no Amazon) are already on the merchant program, which I’ll share more later.
- The ratings seem to be further tuned. In the above screenshot, I couldn’t find a 4.8 star rating anywhere, in any of the links provided.
- Recommendations could be improved. When I asked for recommendations for a Apple Watch Series 10 strap that looks professional but also good for workouts, the Apple original Milanese loop band came up.
- The AI-generated features mostly took keywords and phrases used in the product descriptions and specifications, sometimes from review sites. It also rewrites and summarizes some points.
Details on the product cards aren’t always accurate as you can see here. On Walmart, it says 1、20FT but the AI thought it was 120 FT.
This shows how important it is to use proper punctuations and include accurate information in your product detail page.
One-click checkout and free shipping
Only brands that are Perplexity’s merchant program offer one-click checkouts with the CTA “Buy with pro”. When you purchase through Perplexity, you also get free shipping sponsored by the platform.
All you need to do is to add your shipping address. When the order goes through, you can track delivery statuses through the app.
Side note: The copy could be clearer here—I wasn’t sure if clicking “Let’s go” means confirming the order.
Those not on the Perplexity Merchant Program will include a link that goes to their website, which actually sounds like the better option since you’ll get traffic and potentially higher AOV.
But there’re far more benefits to being on Merchant Program, which I’ll share later.
Snap to Shop
Like Google Lens, users can also snap or upload a photo onto Perplexity to find the same or similar products to buy.
I uploaded a photo of my Lavender Fellow Carter Move Travel Mug and asked Perplexity where I can buy it. It showed me these options.
The options featured were fairly accurate, but I found that the original brand of the mug I asked for, Fellow, wasn’t recommended.
Instead, Food52.com’s listing showed up. I Googled the same product and Fellow did come up as the top SERP, followed by a product listing on Amazon. That means SEO wasn’t an issue.
So it could be because the former used more lifestyle images, similar to the image that I uploaded.
This shows how important it is to using a variety of images with different backgrounds rather than just going for plain white, like Fellow does.
Side and irrelevant note: This is a great coffee mug by the way. Your ice stays as ice in the mug for an entire day. And unlike sip mugs, you get the coffee notes on your nose, which elevates the drinking experience.
How can ecommerce brands boost their chances of being recommended on Perplexity Shop?
As more and more Google searches move to AI, user behavior will shift and shoppers will start trusting and buying things from the results of their conversation with AI.
While Perplexity Shop is in its early phases, it’ll be a good idea to start considering AI searches as part of your strategy.
Product detail page optimization
Fundamentally and similar to SEO, what shows up on your product detail page matters, a lot.
From my chats with Perplexity, it looks like the AI takes most of its information from your descriptions, bullets and even the review section of your page. Their Snap like a Pro feature also takes into account your product images, not just the quality but the variety.
3 things to consider here:
1/ Product details: Comprehensive, accurate and in a recognizable format.
Going back to the Apple Watch strap example above, where the AI rewrote 1、20FT as 120 FT, we need to take note of the format and punctuations we use.
It should also be comprehensive enough for the AI to pick out and generate the feature write-ups. Use keywords and phrases that the AI could easily reference.
This would be easy to do with our product data enrichment software or AI attribute mapper. These features take your messy and sparse sheets for thousands or millions of products, and turn them into a structured table form with enhanced, accurate data to use in your PDPs.
2/ Product descriptions: Touch on features and benefits
In the product card feature section, the AI always links features and benefits. So as you’re writing your descriptions and bullets, do the same. You can also use our product description generator for crafting them in bulk, in your brand voice and custom format.
Similar to point 1, include relevant keywords and conversational phrases that humans would use when they chat with AI, for example, “suitable for workouts”, “looks professional and stylish”, or “keeps your drink cold for 24 hours”.
3/ Product images: Use a variety of angles and lifestyle backgrounds
In most industries, especially fashion and furniture, images are of top priority.
First, the image quality signals the product quality. And as we can see from the Fellow coffee mug example above, having a variety of images matters. With Snap to Shop and even Google Lens, it’s likely that the images users upload come with real-life backgrounds and in different angles.
You can quickly enhance and standardize your images in batches by using our AI picture editor. It can upscale your product images, apply studio-quality AI-generated backgrounds and standardize them to the same size and proportions, faster than you can finish your cup of coffee. Unless it’s an espresso shot, or if you inhale your coffee instead of sipping it.
Get reviews on different channels
In the source section on each product card, I found quite a few review sites with comprehensive blog posts on the item. Reddit also appeared frequently.
There are 3 types of content that appear in sources:
- Listicles on the top X in your category
- Specific comparisons between your product and a similar one, e.g. X vs Y
- Dedicated write-up of what it is, detailing the pros and cons of the item
It’s worth creating blog articles on the second type of content, and working with influencers to get a detailed review or a spot of listicles, and creating content on Reddit for more coverage.
Get on Perplexity Merchant Program
It’s free for merchants and you can sign up via Perplexity’s website—just scroll down to bottom of the page and fill up a form.
The program makes it easy for you to share your product details and specifications. Also, note that it’s not related to any sponsored features.
Here’s the list of benefits, taken from Perplexity Shop’s launch post.
The first point is similar to how Google views structured data, as it increases your chance of showing up on Google Shopping. Likewise, sharing specific product details with Perplexity makes it more likely for you to get recommended.
Conclusion
Perplexity’s Shopping feature emerges as a strong contender to dominant players like Google and Amazon, and even social commerce.
Ecommerce brands need to double down on their omnichannel strategy and ensure they don’t miss out on large, fast-growing revenue sources like AI search, so start early!
