PayPal and Perplexity Launch Instant Buy, Bringing Checkout Into AI Powered Search

The retail landscape is shifting rapidly as AI-driven experiences begin to replace traditional search and ecommerce pathways. This week, payment giant PayPal and AI-driven answer engine Perplexity launched “Instant Buy,” a feature that integrates PayPal’s checkout directly into Perplexity’s conversational search interface   allowing users to go from product discovery to purchase with just a few clicks. The move marks a major step in making “agentic commerce”   where AI assistants act as shopping agents   a reality.

With Instant Buy now available to U.S. desktop users, Perplexity’s AI assistant can guide customers through personalized shopping journeys. Instead of navigating through multiple websites or shopping carts, users can ask the assistant for recommendations   such as “a jacket for a San Francisco commute”   and then immediately checkout via PayPal. Once a buyer’s preferences are clear, product cards from merchants like Abercrombie & Fitch, Ashley Furniture, Fabletics, Adorama, and Newegg appear directly within the chat interface. Transactions are completed without redirecting to external e-commerce storefronts.

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According to PayPal, the integration underlines the company’s broader vision of powering “the next era of commerce.” Michelle Gill, General Manager of Small Business and Financial Services at PayPal said, “We are building for the next era of commerce by connecting PayPal’s trusted payments and buyer protection directly to AI-powered shopping.” She described the launch as “the opening act of PayPal’s innovation in commerce for the agentic era.” By layering PayPal’s buyer-protection safeguards and secure payment flow on top of Perplexity’s AI-driven discovery, the partners aim to reduce friction and build shopper confidence in AI-led checkout experiences.

The introduction of Instant Buy is part of a broader trend across the tech industry toward embedding commerce directly within conversational and generative-AI interfaces. Earlier this year, Perplexity first announced its partnership with PayPal to power what it called “agentic commerce,” enabling users to buy products, book services, or make reservations directly from the AI chat experience. This integration signals a shift from search engines serving purely informational needs to becoming full-fledged commerce platforms   a transformation that could redefine the path from discovery to conversion for retailers and marketers alike.

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For brands and ecommerce marketers, this shift presents significant opportunity   but also new challenges. AI-first shopping experiences will demand tight integration between product catalogs, fulfillment systems, and payment providers. Retailers may need to re-think how they structure their online storefronts and inventory systems, while marketers must adapt to new attribution models and user behaviors. For martech leaders tracking consumer behavior, such developments warrant careful monitoring and early experimentation.

For further insight into how AI and emerging search-driven commerce are reshaping retail and marketing strategies, our readers can explore coverage at Marketing Technology Insights.

As the holiday season intensifies and AI tools become more deeply woven into consumer journeys, Instant Buy could represent a tipping point   transforming how people discover, evaluate, and purchase products online, and signalling the beginning of a new era in search-driven commerce.