Last month, Perplexity announced Shop with Perplexity, a new feature that allows users to purchase items directly through the platform. This is enabled by Perplexity’s integrations with various merchants, including Shopify, which allows users to directly purchase any item listed on a store with Shop Pay enabled.

This could potentially signal a huge disruption for eCommerce SEO, which relies on readers visiting their website directly to purchase a product.

From product research to product checkout

Perplexity originally started its foray into eCommerce by streamlining product research and synthesizing research from top product review websites. When I searched “Air purifiers with high carbon weights,” for example, Perplexity surfaced this neat table.

A comparison query for Air Purifiers with high carbon weights via Perplexity.

Now, Perplexity has taken things one step further by allowing users to purchase items without leaving Perplexity via their Pro subscription.

Shop with Perplexity is solid — even on day one

Initial reactions — I’m struck by how smooth the checkout experience is even on launch. If I search “Best Air Purifiers with high carbon weights,” Perplexity will now surface the option to purchase the item directly from multiple vendors.

Two air purifiers recommended by Perplexity.

When I click “Buy with Pro,” I’m redirected to a one-click checkout page that saves my payment information after the first time I purchase an item.

Perplexity’s checkout screen.

Notably, Perplexity even offers the option to purchase certain Amazon items using Perplexity Pro. Amazon and Perplexity haven’t publicly announced a partnership in the same way they did with Shopify, so I was surprised to see this. In an interview with ModernRetail, though, Perplexity’s Chief Business Officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, commented on the feature, stating that they don’t view Amazon as competition. “We’re just acting as an agent on behalf of the user that’s looking to make a transaction…Amazon is the merchant, so it’s complementary from our vantage point.”

What does this mean for eCommerce SEO?

Companies like Perplexity initially replaced the job of affiliate websites, automating much of the comparison and pre-purchase research process. Why visit a specific review website when Perplexity finds the top review websites, pulls all their content in, and summarizes it neatly without an intrusive user experience? Perplexity’s latest change moves one step down the value chain, becoming the point of purchase rather than just a research tool.

How will this affect retailers?

Ultimately, Perplexity will drive more consumers to the products and services of retailers. When the user purchases an item, that’s still happening from the Shop Pay integration enabled on their website. They still receive the order, but what they don’t receive is a user that will browse their website, look at multiple different items, perhaps sign up for a mailing list, etc. This, in the long term, will be a major loss to retailers who seek to build loyalty with the end consumers.

How will this affect affiliate websites?

This latest change is very dangerous for affiliate websites because these answer engines remove the need to visit the affiliate website at all. In the past, Perplexity may have cited an affiliate website as the source of a key piece of information about the product. If you can now purchase the item directly through Perplexity, there’s even less need to ever visit an affiliate website altogether.

Closing thoughts

Retailers are sure to feel a loss of direct traffic to non-checkout areas of their websites, which will significantly diminish their ability to build loyalty with consumers. On the other hand, AI answer engines will provide a far more robust way to compare, research, and ultimately purchase new products, which should (generally) drive a net increase in purchases from search over time. That said, only time will tell whether this ends up being a net positive or negative for eCommerce brands. What this ultimately means is that retailers should start optimizing for visibility in AI answer engine results now.

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