Perplexity and PayPal Partner To Change the AI Shopping Experience

The announcement of the new partnership appeared in a press release on May 14:

“Perplexity today announced that it has partnered with PayPal to power agentic commerce across its Perplexity Pro platform. Starting this summer in the U.S., consumers can check out instantly with PayPal or Venmo when they ask Perplexity to find products, book travel, or buy tickets.”

The partnership takes a prominent step towards a new era of AI chat: agentic commerce. But what is agentic commerce? Well, current AI engines source information and recommendations upon request of the user. The agentic commerce model would go a step further, proactively comparing, assessing options, and completing purchases on behalf of the consumer.

While Perplexity hasn’t quite reached this point, the partnership to create an in-chat buying experience is definitely a big step in the right direction. PayPal is said to take control of the entire checkout and post purchase process, utilizing its account linking and secure tokenized wallets.

AI search is still relatively new, so partnering with a highly reputable, trusted payment provider is a smart move by Perplexity to help win over new customers. This in turn will have a knock on effect on ecommerce businesses, providing a huge new opportunity to make sales.

The commercial scope is expected to grow further as Perplexity Pro expands outside of the US, thanks to PayPal’s global customer base of 430 million users in around 200 markets.

This partnership positions Perplexity as a pioneer of AI search. The increased commercial reach and streamlined user experience will benefit businesses who see their products and services featured on the platform.

If you’re wondering how to get your products shown on Perplexity, the AI search engine advises businesses to sign up to the Perplexity Merchant Program. This is a short form that registers your business information with the search engine so it can make accurate recommendations.

It’s free to complete, so I recommend filling out the form with your business information now if you want to get in on the in-chat purchasing features due to roll out this summer.

Only businesses based in the US can register for the program at this time. Similarly, the PayPal-powered purchase will be exclusive to US Perplexity users upon its launch, but both are set to expand in the near future.