Your next personal shopper may not be human at all. Modern artificial intelligence assistants are better than chatbots at answering questions and creating content. Generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT are the brains. These new AI agents are layered on top and can now think like a body and autonomously perform tasks for the user, such as shopping. It’s also persistent and always runs in the cloud. Meta Platforms’ new personal agent Muse, released on September 8, also lets you search for the best products, compare prices, and complete purchases on retail sites. It wasn’t the first. However, it quickly caught on and replaced ChatGPT at the top of Apple’s US App Store charts. Muse has over 5 million downloads and more than 3 million weekly active users. Meta stock has risen more than 17% since Muse’s launch. The evolution from generative AI (creating something on behalf of users) to agent AI (agents doing things on behalf of users) raises questions for many companies and their investors. At the heart of it is: What happens when consumers hand over their purchasing decisions to AI agents?The initial view on Wall Street is that some companies and industries face tougher challenges than others, and that some companies and industries may actually benefit from this change. For example, companies that benefit from customers not having to go through the trouble of canceling subscriptions, comparing prices, or looking for a better deal have been hurt in recent weeks. From Muse’s launch to Thursday’s close, Planet Fitness is down nearly 12%, Booking Holdings is down 11%, SiriusXM is down 8.6% and Charles Schwab is down 9%, all victims of so-called “consumer inertia” trading. Goldman Sachs explained that the migration possibilities will move from “search and buy” to “delegate and approve.” While current AI shopping tools are still primarily used for product discovery and recommendations, Goldman believes that eventually AI shopping tools will drive more of the buying process. But so far, investors don’t seem to be pricing in much near-term disruption to our three retail holdings. Since Muse’s launch, through Thursday’s close, TJX is up about 8%, Costco is up about 4% and Amazon is down 1%, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of about 1.7%. Full agent shopping remains a long-term prospect, and each company has characteristics that may help it insulate their business as technology develops. However, these defenses are very different and provide a broader picture for the retail industry and how the rise of AI shopping brings both challenges and benefits. The biggest risk isn’t losing sales, which would make Amazon an obvious target for disruption. If consumers could ask an external AI agent to find the perfect laptop, paper towel, or dog food for them, regardless of retailer, they might no longer need to start searching on Amazon. But Amazon has protections that smaller online retailers don’t have. Massive scale, wide selection, fast fulfillment, and a Prime ecosystem that gives consumers a reason to keep coming back. “Amazon and (other) companies with strong value propositions have less exposure,” Rosenblatt analyst Scott Devitt told CNBC. Goldman reached a similar conclusion, arguing that “platforms that offer attractive pricing, broad inventory selection, rapid fulfillment, trusted consumer relationships, and rich first-party data assets are likely to be best positioned.” Amazon’s massive scale gives it the flexibility to keep shoppers within its ecosystem rather than exposing its catalog to external AI agents. Notably, Amazon prevents Muse from purchasing products directly on its platform, even though competitors such as Walmart, Shopify, and Best Buy have accepted Muse agents. The e-commerce giant isn’t sitting on this trend either. Amazon has its own agent shopping assistant, Alexa for Shopping, which provides personalized recommendations, product comparisons, price history, and can automate purchases through features like price alerts and automated purchases. With more than 350 million customers in the past year, CEO Andy Jassy said active users nearly doubled year-over-year in the second quarter and interactions grew more than five times. Customers who use Alexa for Shopping spend an average of 40% more per order. So the concern isn’t whether AI agents will take over Amazon’s e-commerce business. The bigger question is whether Amazon can continue to be the place where these purchases are made while maintaining the customer data and advertising economy that make each transaction more valuable. Joe Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said that even if Amazon ultimately fulfills orders, outside agencies could put distance between Amazon and shoppers. In that scenario, Amazon could earn revenue while giving up some of the valuable customer data it collects when shoppers interact directly with its platform. Another potential pressure point exists with advertising. Amazon has turned to advertising as a lucrative revenue stream in recent years, with ad revenue expected to reach $83 billion this year, according to FactSet. But its business relies on shoppers searching and browsing its platform, and brands pay to promote their products there. Amazon could lose some of its valuable advertising opportunities if external AI agents decide which products consumers see and buy. David expects Amazon can find other ways to monetize agent-driven purchases through in-agent advertising, increasing seller commissions, changing Prime pricing, or another mechanism. But he said advertising revenue growth and sales and marketing spend are important metrics to watch if traffic starts to come in indirectly through agents. AI could make value proposition clearer Costco has built its business around member loyalty, low prices, and getting customers into its stores, and shoppers often leave with far more than they planned to buy. AI agents programmed to efficiently purchase items from a predetermined list could threaten some of our impulsive spending by removing the browsing experience from the equation. However, there are also potential benefits. An AI agent that compares prices could independently verify Costco’s value. There are already bright spots for Warehouse Club. CFO Gary Millerchip said on the company’s latest earnings call that revenue from search in large language models such as Gemini, Anthropic and OpenAI is growing at triple-digit rates, albeit on a very small base. He said the search highlights the value of Costco membership and increases member activity and engagement. This is especially interesting because Costco does little paid digital advertising. Rather than paying to tell consumers that the company’s products offer good value, AI tools that compare products and prices could do some of that work for the company. “AI provides the opportunity for a kind of neutral environment where we can ensure that our value and quality is transparent to our members,” Millerchip said. Costco’s carefully selected selection may also be helpful. The company’s buyers personally scrutinize the relatively limited selection of products the company sells, and management said it wants a combination of price, quality and customer reviews to stand out when consumers search using AI. There is a risk. Agents may make consumers more price sensitive and make it easier to assess whether membership is worth maintaining. That makes Costco’s ability to maintain loyalty especially important. The company’s financial results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026 were strong, with improved membership renewal rates and high-priced executive memberships reaching record highs. Executive members also tend to have higher renewal rates than basic members. Costco is also gaining traction among younger shoppers, an important source of future loyalty and lifetime value. The problem is that younger customers are more likely to sign up online and tend to have higher membership churn rates than those who started in-store. It’s worth focusing on retaining these new customers, as AI gives shoppers even more tools to continually assess where they’re getting the most value. But for now, Costco’s early experience suggests that AI could be another way to prove why customers pay to shop there in the first place. You can’t ask your agent to find something you can’t see. The selection of TJX brands TJ Maxx and Marshalls is constantly changing, meaning shoppers can visit a store without knowing exactly what they’ll find. This is a “treasure hunt” that is difficult for AI agents to replicate. “It’s really impossible to find an agent who will find the treasure,” Wells Fargo analyst Ike Borshaw told CNBC. “It’s like, ‘I need clothes, so let’s go to TJX and see if they have anything interesting.'” Guggenheim analyst Simeon Siegel said consumers are likely to outsource their “needs” to AI before they outsource their “wants.” While it’s relatively easy for agents to replenish supplies, choosing a shirt or dress is more subjective. “There’s something special about it. There’s something personal about it. There’s subjectivity in purchasing discretionary items, choosing a fall sweater, choosing a pair of sneakers,” Siegel told CNBC. “There are some areas where it’s very obvious to ask an agent for service, like canceling a subscription, but I think it’s going to be a while before the entire apparel buying process is taken over by an agent.” TJX has another layer of protection. Much of what TJX sells is difficult for AI agents to find in the first place. Part of the value of off-price retailers to brands is their ability to quietly sell excess products online without heavily advertising discounts, Borsjo said. Siegel sees TJX’s relatively small e-commerce presence as a feature rather than a flaw. “I think off-price wins because of the absence of e-commerce, but not in spite of it,” Siegel said. “How do agents help you find things you can’t find in the first place? How do agents help you shop in places that are meant to sell you invisible through their stores?” Similar to Costco, increased price transparency could further strengthen TJX’s value proposition. Even if a shopper standing at TJ Maxx could quickly determine that the product in front of him was cheaper than what he could find online, technology hasn’t eliminated the “treasure hunt”; it has validated the treasure. As such, Siegel believes AI is more likely to complement the shopping experience rather than replace it. “I think it’s going to be a tool for shopping, not the only way to shop,” he said. To continue to get the most out of the in-store experience, TJX needs to get the product mix right. Last quarter, the company announced it did not do so, leading to weakness in Marmaxx, its largest division, which includes TJ Maxx and Marshalls. CEO Ernie Herman said at the time that corrective measures had been taken and were bearing fruit. (Jim Cramer Charitable Trust is long AMZN, COST, META, TJX. See here for a complete list of stocks.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club, you will receive trade alerts before Jim makes a trade. After Jim sends a trade alert, he waits 45 minutes before buying or selling stocks in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim talks about a stock on CNBC TV, he will issue a trade alert and then wait 72 hours before executing the trade. The above investment club information is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, along with our disclaimer. No fiduciary duties or obligations exist or arise from your receipt of information provided in connection with the Investment Club. No specific results or benefits are guaranteed.
