AI shopping assistants become core retail infrastructure
AI shopping assistants are conversational, personalized digital agents embedded in e-commerce sites and apps that help shoppers discover products, compare options, experience virtual try-on technology and receive tailored recommendations, turning fragmented browsing into guided, end‑to‑end shopping journeys driven by natural language interaction and data‑driven insight. For years, Amazon’s own AI agents such as Alexa for Shopping and its internal recommendation systems gave it a clear edge in e-commerce customer experience. Now that advantage is spreading across the industry. Retail AI technology is shifting from experimental add‑on to foundational infrastructure, embedded in search, discovery, and service workflows. Major brands are rolling out personalized shopping agents that can interpret vague intent, balance style and budget, and surface relevant products in seconds. This marks a turning point: to stay competitive, retailers increasingly see AI‑powered, conversational e-commerce customer experience as a requirement rather than a differentiator.
Kmart’s Joy: A virtual companion for discovery and try-on
Kmart’s new AI shopping assistant, Joy, shows how fast this shift is moving. Joy sits at the center of the retailer’s online experience on web and app, combining conversational search with virtual try-on technology and augmented reality. Shoppers can ask for specific products by size, style, color and budget, then refine suggestions in plain language. Joy’s “See It in My Space” feature lets customers visualise items and furniture in their homes before buying, while virtual try-ons help them picture how selected products might look on them. Customers can also upload photos to receive more tailored recommendations and see side‑by‑side suggestions to compare items. The assistant works across Kmart’s full online assortment, including marketplace brands, and is powered by Gemini Enterprise for Customer Experience from Google Cloud, which can manage agents from product discovery through post‑purchase support.
Amazon’s Agentic Shopping Assistant goes wholesale
Amazon is now exporting its own AI shopping playbook to other retailers through the Agentic Shopping Assistant, available via Amazon Web Services. Built on services like Amazon Bedrock, AgentCore and OpenSearch, it gives brands a technical foundation to deploy conversational retail AI technology in weeks instead of the years needed to build from scratch. Amazon says the solution was “validated using billions of real shopping interactions on Amazon.com” and informed by Alexa for Shopping, which combines its Rufus and Alexa+ efforts. According to Amazon, more than 300 million customers used its AI shopping assistant last year, driving nearly US$12 billion (approx. RM55.2 billion) in incremental sales. With architecture guidance, starter code and access to AWS experts, retailers can create personalized shopping agents that reflect their own catalog, customer base and brand voice while still benefiting from Amazon’s scale‑tested AI capabilities.
Kate Spade’s AI Gift Concierge and the rise of focused agents
Kate Spade is among the first brands to adopt Amazon’s Agentic Shopping Assistant, using it to power an AI Gift Concierge. Rather than a generic chatbot, this assistant focuses on one high‑stress task: gift buying. Shoppers describe the occasion, style preferences and other details in natural language; the agent then suggests suitable products from Kate Spade’s catalog. Powered by Anthropic’s Haiku 4.5 model, the concierge is based on how people actually shop for gifts and draws from questions customers posed to Alexa for Shopping that led to successful outcomes. Amazon notes that 53% of shoppers report stress when choosing gifts, highlighting why targeted, personalized shopping agents can add meaningful value. Tapestry, Kate Spade’s parent company, tested the experience for around 2.5 months before launch, signalling how seriously brands now treat AI‑driven e-commerce customer experience.
From experimental feature to table-stakes customer experience
Taken together, Kmart’s Joy and Amazon’s Agentic Shopping Assistant show AI shopping assistants evolving into standard e-commerce infrastructure. These systems no longer answer simple FAQs; they guide customers through complex tasks like product discovery, comparison, virtual experiences and post‑purchase help. As Bernard Wilson of Kmart Group notes, “Customers aren’t just searching anymore; they’re engaging conversationally and looking for ideas and guidance.” That shift raises the bar for everyone. Retailers that rely only on static search and filters risk falling behind brands that embed retail AI technology throughout their journey. Because platforms like AWS now offer pre‑built foundations, AI‑powered, personalized shopping agents are accessible to more players, not only tech giants. The competitive frontier is moving from whether a retailer has AI at all to how well its assistant understands context, reflects brand identity, and improves customer satisfaction and conversion.
