The new AI functions of Google disrupt Retail Saas and e-commerce market places

Google launched new shopping experiences on the AI ​​mode with more than 50 billion product lists of global retailers and mom and POP -stores | Photocredit: Dado Ruvic

Since Google makes its ambitions public to be a store concierge with its new AI mode, the relocation has been set up to disrupt the companies of Retail SaaS companies Basic stores, comparison tools, plug-and-play Checkout layers and AR/VR tools. Furthermore, if your start-up D2C brands helps to be discovered while searching, Google can now do this as part of their AI mode itself.

During the recent event, Google launched new shopping experiences on AI mode with more than 50 billion product lists of global retailers and mom and pop shops. With reviews, prices, color options and availability, a virtual try-on mode and a new agentic checkout experience that are all included in this mode, you can complete their shopping on Google themselves. Although this is launched in the US, it is a function that Google wants to expand.

In this way, impulse purchases can now be made via the search page and they will probably also be products that fit your history. However, Google will have no control over the prices of the trader.

‘Validation and competition’

“In India, in particular, where retail is a mix of discovery, trust and low fuel payment, this could hit market places and medium-sized D2C aggregators more than pure Saas,” said Sunil Nair, co-founder and chief operating officer, Mela Platforms. “For start-ups for retail technology, in particular those who are building store infrastructure or virtual try-on and recommendation engines, it is both validation and competition,” he adds. Start-ups must now re-assess how defensible they are, he said.

In the US, Bloomreach, Marketo, Dressx and Sea kit (taken over by Walmart) are some companies that offer these services. Some Indian players in this room include Scapic (taken over by Flipkart), Fynd (Omni Channel and Storefront Tech), Tagalys (AI-based merchandising and product discovery), Vue.ai (taken over by M2P Fintech) and Gokwik (Checkout Optimation and Conversions). There are also AI startups at an early stage in the 3D catalogi and virtual try-on space.

Spotlight is AI

Greyhound Research says that the move from Google gives a hinge to the direction of ‘Ambient Commerce’, where AI is not only an add-on, but the layer that allows all online shopping. “We believe that this step will accelerate feature community in niche AR and start-ups of the store, forcing them to integrate, specialize or risk,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst & CEO, Grayhound Research. Both vertical Saas suppliers and social discovery platforms can be influenced, he added. Instagram can, for example, be under pressure as the user’s attention migrates to multimodal environments, he notes.

Ashwini Asokan, co-founder of AI Start-Up Mad Street den (the company behind Vue.ai), says that Saas Tools will be ‘invalid’ at night. “Google will freely distribute most of their tools in the early stages as part of GCP (Google Cloud Platform). She adds that Enterprise customers would choose vertical optimized platforms because of accuracy and quality, but now that has been changed with Gen Ai. MSD has recently been taken over by M2P Fintech.

However, the situation is not entirely gloomy.

Amazon, Flipkart, Mesho and other market places have already interwoven AI during their search, product catalog, cash register and logistics segments through internal technology and acquisitions. They also have the advantage of customer habits and price differences.

But Gogia warns that brands must now treat AI “as a central operating system” to reduce the business risk.

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Published on 25 May 2025