Two people are shopping for the same TV. One has spent three weekends on it: reading reviews, comparing panels, going to a store to see the picture in person. The other typed “Find me a good TV for a bright living room, under $1,000” into an AI assistant and moved on with their day.
Our view is that shopping is splitting into two types: chosen shopping and delegated shopping. And the part we find most interesting is that the split likely isn’t by category. It’s by person.
Chosen shopping
Chosen shopping is the shopping a person decides to do themselves. They might use AI tools along the way, but they’re driving the process: learning the category, weighing the options, and making the decision. We think this kind of shopping will lean even more toward brands people already know and trust.
Delegated shopping
Delegated shopping is when the shopper hands that decision to an AI agent. “Find me a good one, under this budget, and buy it.” They count on the agent to already know their preferences, or to learn them, and to find a product that meets their specific needs.
Why it’s by person, not category
Two people can shop the exact same category in completely different ways, for purchases big and small. For one shopper, the TV is a project they love. For another, it’s overwhelming and not that interesting, and they’d happily let an agent handle it. You’ll find the same split with coffee, skincare, running shoes, almost anything. One person can switch, too: someone who spends a month choosing a road bike may be happy to let an agent pick the helmet.
So most brands will serve both kinds of shopper in the same category, and each one needs something different:
- Delegated shopping needs a clear, trustworthy answer the shopper’s agent can read and act on.
- Chosen shopping needs a rich, human experience for the shopper who wants to be in the driver’s seat.
What the delegated journey needs
An agent picking a TV for that bright living room is an expert with a big disadvantage: it learned about your TVs from the internet, not from your team.
Your merchandising team knows which model they’d point that shopper to, and why. That usually isn’t written anywhere an agent can read. We think it should be, so the agent’s answer starts from your team’s.
Some brands won’t want agents completing purchases on their sites, and that’s a fair choice. But agents will read about your products either way, so it’s worth making sure your team’s judgment is there when they do.
What the chosen journey needs
When a shopper comes to your brand because they enjoy engaging with your products, they want to understand their options, with help from someone who knows the products.
In a store, that’s a good associate. Online, it can take a few forms: a straight answer on the product page about whether this TV is right for their room, and why; related products that each come with a reason, compared to the one they’re looking at; a few questions that lead to the right product; or a conversation in their own words. Shoppers who chose to be here give ecommerce teams permission to really push the boundaries of what a shopping experience can be.
Both journeys run on the same judgment
The answer the agent needs for “a good TV for a bright living room” is the same answer the shopper on your product page needs when they ask whether this one is right for their room. Both come from your team’s judgment about who each product is right for, who it isn’t, and why.
If that judgment lives in one place, and your team reviews it, both journeys can work from it. When your team changes its mind about a product, the agent and the product page change with it.
That’s how we built Cartful. Your team decides who each product is right for, and why, and those decisions live in one library. On your site, they answer the shopper’s “Is this right for me?”, put a reason on every recommendation, and decide where a few quick questions lead. A shopper chat joins them in January 2027. Off your site, we write the same decisions into the product data AI assistants read.
It’s going to be a turbulent few years while all of this gets worked out, and nobody knows yet how fast delegated shopping will grow. But both kinds of shopper are already in your category, and both are better served when the answer starts with your team.
Want to see what this looks like for your products? Let’s talk.