JD Sports plans to let shoppers buy through AI platforms

JD Sports has said it plans to allow customers to buy its products directly through AI platforms without leaving the apps.

The British trainer and sportswear company will allow “one-click purchases” through platforms such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, as big retailers attempt to keep up with AI-powered shopping.

The technology will launch in the US in the coming months, with potential to expand into other regions, the company said.

Jetan Chowk, the JD Sports chief technology officer, told PA Media that AI was “the future of how people will shop”.

“What we are currently seeing is that customers are regularly using AI apps to research and discover the products they want to buy,” he said. “We can see that already and want to ensure we are moving early to meet customers and their needs in that space.”

AI usage has been booming in the retailer’s core target demographic of shoppers aged between 18 and 24, he said.

Research from the advisory company KPMG found last year that 30% of those aged between 25 and 34 use an AI-enabled chatbot to look for deals online.

These large language models allow users to ask questions in conversational language. The platforms can then offer specific product suggestions, after scraping the internet and inbuilt datasets for relevant information. Some sources are given more trusted status than others.

Several UK retailers have told the Guardian that they are working on generative engine optimisation, the latest incarnation of search engine optimisation, to help push their company to the top of results from AI chatbots.

Tactics include making sure they appear in Reddit forums, as well as responding to reviews on Google or Trustpilot, and ensuring AI models can access the correct product data.

It represents a new challenge for retailers competing for business online, as well as undermining Google’s dominance in traditional search traffic for shopping.

Google has been developing its own AI features, and on Sunday announced that it had teamed up with several leading US retailers, including Walmart, to enable shopping within its Gemini AI chatbot. Sundar Pichai, the Google chief executive, said customers would “soon be able to experience everything they love about Walmart directly in the Gemini app”.

More consumers are also using AI agents – autonomous digital secretaries – to help with their online shopping. Last year, OpenAI, Perplexity, Google and Microsoft launched AI features that allow users to search for products through their chatbots, with agents that can complete orders on behalf of consumers.

JD will report on its fourth-quarter trading after the crucial Christmas period on 21 January. The retailer said late last year that unemployment among young people in the UK had hit sales growth and profits.