As an entrepreneur navigating the ever-changing tech world, I’ve learned that success often boils down to adaptability and focus. 2025 has brought another exciting twist to the startup ecosystem with OpenAI and Perplexity launching AI-driven shopping assistants just in time for the bustling holiday season. These tools promise smarter shopping through personalized recommendations, igniting conversations about how these innovations might impact smaller startups in the same space. Let’s unpack what’s happening.
The Big Players Step into AI Shopping
OpenAI and Perplexity, two of the leading names in AI, have made a splash with their new shopping assistant tools. Integrated into their chatbots, these features aim to improve the user experience by offering tailored recommendations and fast product searches. For OpenAI, this includes the ability to compare products and suggest the best options based on user queries. Perplexity takes it a step further by incorporating personal shopping histories, giving their AI the capacity to “remember” preferences and tailor suggestions accordingly.
This move feels strategic, designed to capture a significant portion of an increasingly digital-first e-commerce market. Analysts are forecasting that AI-assisted shopping could skyrocket by over 500% during the 2025 holiday season, data shared recently by Adobe's AI shopping predictions. It’s clear the ground is fertile for AI advancements in this space.
For Startups: Why Staying Calm Makes Sense
As someone who’s built my own companies from scratch, without the privilege of Venture Capital (VC) millions, I might add, I find solace in an important truth: the entry of big players in a space doesn’t spell doom for smaller players. Even though OpenAI and Perplexity bring scale and capital, startups can still carve their niche with unique approaches.
Let’s examine why these smaller startups are unshaken:
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Specialization Beats Generalization
AI shopping tools from OpenAI or Perplexity focus on breadth, providing a broad range of recommendations. Startups, in contrast, excel in their niches. For example, Daydream zooms in on fashion. It uses highly curated, domain-specific data to create recommendations that feel natural and emotionally resonant for fashion shoppers. This precision and emotional connection is hard for generalized AI tools to replicate. -
In-depth Data Cataloging
Tools like OpenAI’s and Perplexity’s are built on datasets from web crawlers such as Google or Bing. In contrast, platforms like Onton curate bespoke data, such as a vast, high-quality catalog of options for niche sectors like furniture or interior design. These precise datasets allow niche AI to deliver incredibly relevant suggestions, something generalized systems struggle to match. -
Creative Partnerships and Focus on Experience
Where startups lack in budget, they make up in agility and creativity. For instance, startups like Phia and Cherry are forming affiliate partnerships to secure their revenue streams. Some, like Daydream, are even beginning to sell curated data back to retailers, which could present another sustainable business model.
How to Position Your Startup Against Industry Giants
Here’s how you can defend your turf and grow even in the shadows of giants.
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Invest in Data Quality over Volume
Ride the wave of consumer interest in product relevance and transparency. Curate data that’s clean, precise, and relevant to your niche. If you’re tackling fashion, for example, focus on shaping meaningful style graphs that can tune recommendations to personal tastes and aesthetics. -
Build Trust through Personalization
AI may be the core technology, but trust is the secret ingredient. Many shoppers have expressed concerns about big tech monopolizing data and prioritizing brands over good-fit products. Show through your marketing and AI technology that your mission is customer-first, using their data responsibly to improve their experience. -
Create Human-Centric Differentiators
Fancy algorithms are not the endgame. In consumer-focused sectors, your tool’s success depends on how human it feels and whether it solves your user’s problem in a meaningful way. Add those small but thoughtful touches to your product that can delight users and build love for your brand.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in the AI-Driven Market
While opportunities in AI are abundant, it’s easy for startups to trip over common errors. Here are some pitfalls to look out for:
- Competing on General Features: If your product can be overshadowed by OpenAI’s ChatGPT recommendations, you need a radical rethink. Focus on what makes your offering hyper-specific.
- Lacking a Sustainable Revenue Model: All the innovation in the world won’t matter unless you’ve figured out a way to monetize.
- Ignoring Your Client’s Needs: Keep your ear to the ground. What are shoppers looking for? Constantly ensure your solution solves a pain point in a way that’s accessible.
European Founders: What You Must Learn
For European founders like those I mentor at Fe/male Switch, especially women, preparing for competition with tech giants requires embracing both creativity and discipline.
- Lean into grants and support systems: Europe offers unique opportunities to bootstrap effectively. I witnessed this firsthand with CADChain, which benefitted from several EU grants. It’s a longer path, but it builds financial sustainability.
- Embrace Collaboration: Your network is a goldmine. From accelerators like Yes!Delft to global connections, relationships can unlock doors you didn’t know existed.
- Play the long game: I often remind my mentees that while the big players may launch with fanfare, startups have the endurance and focus to innovate persistently. Build tight feedback loops to stay agile.
Conclusion
Rather than feeling disheartened, startups should see the arrival of OpenAI and Perplexity as validation for their market. Despite their big budgets, these companies don’t often have the finely-tuned expertise in niche areas that specialized startups bring to the table. The landscape of AI-driven services rewards those who can match technology to unaddressed, industry-specific needs.
If you’re a European entrepreneur, this is your signal to stay lean, offer what they can’t, and keep your focus laser-sharp. Shoestring budgets have often led to the biggest breakthroughs, something I’ve lived firsthand. The time to show the world how boutique businesses outperform generalists is now. Consider these launches a nudge to up your game and truly own your niche. The right mix of ingenuity and resourcefulness can help disrupt even the largest players.
FAQ
1. What are OpenAI and Perplexity’s new AI shopping assistants?
OpenAI and Perplexity introduced shopping assistants integrated into their chatbots, offering personalized recommendations and product comparisons. Explore Perplexity’s shopping assistant | Learn more about OpenAI's Shopping Research
2. How do Perplexity’s AI shopping tools stand out?
Perplexity’s assistant leverages contextual memory to recall user preferences and refine recommendations based on past searches. Discover Perplexity Shopping
3. What is OpenAI’s ChatGPT Shopping Research feature?
ChatGPT’s Shopping Research feature provides options for comparing products, analyzing reviews, and presenting tailored suggestions in real time. Learn more about ChatGPT Shopping Research
4. How will AI shopping impact the e-commerce market?
Adobe forecasts AI-enabled shopping to grow by 520% during the 2025 holiday season due to enhanced personalization and convenience. Explore Adobe’s AI Shopping Predictions
5. Are smaller startups concerned about competition from OpenAI and Perplexity?
Startups like Onton and Daydream believe vertical-focused AI with niche datasets will outperform generalized tools from larger companies. Learn more about Onton’s niche AI tools | Discover Daydream’s fashion AI
6. What are the advantages of niche-focused AI startups?
Specialized startups excel in curating high-quality data for specific industries like fashion or furniture, providing superior recommendations for niche markets. Learn more about Onton's data expertise
7. What innovative features does Daydream provide for fashion shopping?
Daydream focuses on “style graphs” and nuanced data to create emotionally resonant shopping suggestions tailored to individual tastes. Discover Daydream’s chatbot for fashion
8. How can startups monetize their AI shopping tools?
Startups use affiliate partnerships, technology licensing, or direct data sales to retailers as sustainable revenue models. Learn about Phia’s partnerships
9. How are AI tools handling consumer data concerns?
Startups are focusing on transparency and trust by responsibly using consumer data to enhance personalization without sacrificing privacy.
10. Will monetized AI shopping assistants like ChatGPT prioritize ads over relevance?
There is concern that monetized assistants may prioritize advertiser interests, but niche-focused startups aim to maintain consumer trust with unbiased recommendations.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.