Imagine that you just click on your browser or phone, ask an AI to find clothes that match your mood and taste, take a picture, check out how those sneakers look on your feet, get suggestions for shirts that match your style and maybe even earn discounts for products you didn’t even know you needed.
Welcome to the strange – and actually kind of sweet – shopping future!
McKinsey found that 71% of consumers desire brands to give them personalized interactions. When they do not, 76% of consumers report becoming annoyed. That is a significant number.
Brands that miss that opportunity are actually losing individuals before they even get a chance to choose a size. But, as it so often does, there is also push-back.
Personalisation isn’t just for brands anymore. With tools like Sigma Browser Agent, shoppers get their own personal assistant to help them in the buying process.
Instead of scrolling through endless tabs and wondering what’s legit, you can just type something like “find me the best sneakers under $150 with solid reviews and a minimalist vibe” into your browser’s sidebar.
Sigma will do the digging, compare options, and bring the best stuff straight to you. It’s like having your own personal shopping scout, but one that won’t get tired or try to sell you stuff you don’t need.
How AI is Better Acquainted With Your Shopping Habits Than You Are
Stores are not hiring in the dark. They monitor what you click, what you put into cart but don’t buy, what you bought last month and what you shopped at 2 a.m. AI algorithms look for patterns.
Maybe you always buy fragrant candles when you’re moving into a new flat. You can start shopping for baby stuff if you’re looking for prenatal vitamins.
All these trends allow companies to foresee what you’ll need next and provide you with special offers or suggestions before you yourself realize them.
Take the case of Target’s pregnancy-predicting story, for example. Its data scientists noted that people who then bought baby stuff had first bought unscented lotion, jumbo packs of cotton balls, etc.
They introduced a “pregnancy score” and when customers were at a stage, they started issuing coupons for baby items, synchronized to the pregnancy stage. It made a lot of media noise (and criticism) for how close it felt.
But predictions are only as good as the data you use to make them. They rely on past data, so if your past doesn’t match your future cravings, the model won’t work properly. They can be a bit creepy.
Sometimes the suggestions pop up when you’re not expecting them, making you wonder who’s watching. Plus, people have different tastes, so predictive models can sometimes over-generalise.
But predicting what customers will do has become the core aspect of modern retail personalization. When done well, that suggestion or nudge doesn’t feel like someone trying to sell you something else, it feels like someone saying, “Hey, I think you’d like this.”
The Pros and Cons of AI-Driven Shopping
Shopping AI personalisation is almost like having a friend who knows your style, but who sometimes snoop too much or who comes up with odd suggestions.
The good news is that when they get it right for brands, it can make a really positive difference. For example, Hellorep.ai recently shared that customers complete purchasing nearly 47% quicker when they engage with AI (recommendation or chat) compared to not.
And retail businesses using chatbots or agents also experienced repeat customers coming back into the store and spending around 25% more than AI-less customers. So, if you can deliver speed and personalisation, you can win over customers and bank a few quid in the process.
But – and you knew it was coming – it’s not all good. Privacy is a big issue. A poll by Omnisend reports that 58% of consumers are concerned about how their data is used by AI in retail.
They appreciate recommendations, but most don’t want an algorithm choosing for them. And then there’s the problem of over-personalisation. If everything in the store feels like “You will like this!” it can be creepy, like having someone always spying on your cart.
When the personalization becomes too personal, in fact, trust can decline, even if the product or service is beneficial. And finally, there’s bias, transparency, and the experience gap: hardware, camera capabilities, AR rendering – it all matters. If the try-on isn’t photogenic, no one cares.
When Shopping Becomes Hands-Free
And that’s where it gets interesting. What if, instead of sitting around waiting for brands to create perfect AR try-ons and rec engines, you had an AI agent as your personal assistant in your browser, doing all the heavy lifting while you relax?
Sigma Browser Agent is at your side. You input a query, like “Find the best laptop under $1000 with good reviews and battery life”, and it quietly fires off, checking prices in the stores, calling up reviews, dissecting specs, and returning a carefully curated shortlist.
No more flipping between hundreds of tabs or wondering if the color looked the same on the site as it does in reality.
There is much hype around this model. The AI Agents in eCommerce marketplace will be skyrocketing: on the order of a few billion dollars today, to tens or hundreds of billions of dollars by 2030.
Another report estimates it at $282.6 billion by 2034, with a CAGR of approximately 54.7%. This means that people will expect agents not just to recommend things – they’ll expect them to do something.
The Future of Shopping is Agent-Powered
Having weathered the highs and lows, it’s pretty obvious that internet shopping is moving from “browse and hope it fits” to “tell your sidekick, get curated, make smart moves fast.” Virtual try-ons and prediction engines have paved the way. AI agents are knocking on those doors.
What is to follow is less surfing endlessly and more intent. Shoppers on the web desire agents that are prompt, consistent and respectful of their privacy, and that enable them to stay in control. Agents like Sigma Browser Agent are designed to satisfy just this requirement.
If brands, platforms and tools make it their priority to be safe, ethical and transparent with individuals’ personal information, and employ hands-free agents, then we’ll have a smoother, more human and smarter method of shopping.
Before long, people won’t be asking you if you use such agents, but which one you’d like to trust so they can learn about your style, filter out the noise, and enable you to simply relish the finds.
