Amazon faces a critical decision about AI-powered shopping agents that could reshape the e-commerce industry. The company must choose whether to fight these tools or embrace them as partners.
Annie Palmer reports for CNBC that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has watched competitors like OpenAI, Google, Perplexity and Microsoft release AI agents that allow consumers to shop without visiting Amazon directly. These agents scan the web for products and complete purchases within chatbot windows, potentially diverting traffic from Amazon’s platform.
The trend poses significant risks to Amazon’s margins and customer relationships. OpenAI collects a small fee from each transaction made through ChatGPT, prompting retail analyst Sucharita Kodali at Forrester to warn that “retailers risk relinquishing transactions on their site to pay a toll on someone else’s highway.”
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Amazon has responded defensively by blocking 47 external AI bots from crawling its website. The company sued Perplexity in November, alleging the startup concealed its agents to scrape Amazon’s data without permission.
Meanwhile, Amazon develops its own tools. The company released shopping chatbot Rufus last February and tests Buy For Me, an agent that purchases products from other sites within Amazon’s app.
McKinsey projects agentic commerce could generate one trillion dollars in U.S. retail revenue by 2030. Morgan Stanley estimates nearly half of American shoppers will use AI agents by that year.
Jordan Berke, CEO of retail consulting firm Tomorrow, describes Amazon’s situation as a “leader’s dilemma,” noting the company has the most to lose given its dominant market position.
