Why most AI shopping products fail: restocking rewards efficiency, but browsing is the fun part
omooretweets · x · 2026-09-07
The author revisits AI x commerce: a month ago he'd have said ChatGPT was what's working; now he says Instinct — an AI shopping agent that browses the whole web for inventory and converts to purchase easily once credentials are saved.
He splits purchases into two categories:
- Things you have to buy: winning means the most inventory, best prices, easiest conversion. ChatGPT and Instinct tap the entire internet via real-time browsing, outflanking vertical AI commerce products with pre-scraped, limited inventory. Instinct stands out for its frictionless checkout.
- Things you want to buy (clothes, beauty, furniture, travel): most products wrongly optimize for speed, but sifting through options is part of the fun. General assistants are enjoyable here given their context on you, yet conversion remains low.
His takeaway: the final form of the product that works likely hasn't shipped yet.
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