The next retail war in South-east Asia: marketplaces vs GPT prompts

[SINGAPORE] E-commerce players in South-east Asia are trying to catch up to Shopee, but consumers might soon do their shopping on artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT instead of online marketplaces.

Known as GPT-based or agentic commerce, this new way of shopping allows consumers to search for product information, dig deeper into reviews, and compare products within their conversations on AI tools.

People can also buy directly on these chatbots. Earlier this week, OpenAI released its Instant Checkout feature in the United States. Initially available for Etsy purchases, the feature will soon be expanded to include Shopify merchants.