China is letting AI do the shopping: Chatbots now find deals, recommend products and complete purchases

China's Singles Day shopping festival is putting artificial intelligence to the test as shoppers increasingly use AI to find products, compare options and complete purchases, while sales of AI-powered products and tokens surge, Reuters reported on Wednesday

AI chatbots are becoming a new route to online shopping in China, with platforms using them to recommend products, find discounts and even complete transactions. At the same time, AI toys, companion robots and AI tokens are seeing strong demand during the month-long shopping festival.

For e-commerce companies such as Alibaba, JD.com and PDD Holdings, AI is offering a new way to keep consumers engaged as competition remains intense and shoppers remain cautious.

AI becomes part of the shopping journey

Alibaba's Tmall, which focuses on established brands, and Taobao, which has a wider range of merchants, offer AI-powered tools for product research, virtual clothing try-ons and finding discounts.

On short-video and social commerce platform Douyin, AI drove roughly 5% of purchases through chatbot links in October, according to data from WPIC Marketing + Technologies. For considered purchases such as supplements, that share exceeded 20%.

"This is still a very new gateway and discovery channel," Jacob Cooke, chief executive of the research firm, said. "I expect it to account for a growing share of direct purchases, comparable to livestreaming or social commerce."

Whether the growing use of AI will lead to higher overall consumer spending, however, remains unclear.

"Some brands benefit more based on how the platforms are tuned or how the brands are pricing their products," said Ben Cavender, managing director at Shanghai-based China Market Research Group.

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But brands can also be hurt "if they are no longer showing up in product searches because the consumer is defaulting to letting an AI assistant do the 'shopping'," he added.

Sales during Singles Day rose 2.4% between October 7 and October 31, according to third-party data platform Syntun. The platform will provide an updated figure for the entire event on Thursday.

The 2.4% rise compares with a 1.1% increase in China's retail sales for the year through the end of September.

AI can now shop for consumers

AI has become more closely linked to online shopping in China than in Western markets, helped by the country's super apps. Their AI agents can research products, complete transactions, apply coupons and schedule deliveries without shoppers having to switch between different apps.

Consumers can also give AI tools detailed requirements instead of searching for products one by one.

A shopper can ask a chatbot to find a washing machine suitable for a narrow balcony and quiet nighttime use within a specific budget, said Liu Xingliang, a Beijing-based independent technology analyst.

JD.com said its AI shopping assistant, Dongdong, drew nearly 80 million users seeking advice for this year's Singles Day festival, more than triple last year's users.

AI products see strong demand

AI-powered products are also gaining popularity during the festival.

Alibaba said AI toys surpassed 100 million yuan ($15 million) in sales on its platforms within one year of launching as a new category.

One such product is Dr. Look's AI learning camera, which allows children to take a picture of a leaf or an insect. The camera identifies the object and explains its characteristics.

Sales of AI companion robots rose nearly fivefold year-on-year in the second half of October, Alibaba said, without disclosing how many were sold.

AI tokens have also seen a sharp rise in demand. Tmall said sales of AI tokens rose more than 700% between October 15 and November 5, compared with the period from September 15 to October 5.

Top livestreamer Austin Li featured AI products for the first time, selling 100,000 monthly subscriptions to Alibaba's QwenWork within 30 minutes.

For some shoppers, AI tools have already become a normal part of buying online.

Amanda Gao, a 40-year-old office worker in Beijing, said she uses Taobao's AI virtual try-on feature whenever she shops for clothes. "I find the function useful and fun," she said.