Making shopping sentient: Inside the next era of AI-guided retail

The future of shopping won’t feel like using a tool; it will feel like talking to someone who knows you impeccably well. In Michael Tutek’s vision, the founder of Melbourne-based AI Shopping Assistant Preezie, e-commerce is on the cusp of becoming “magical” – but only if it manages to preserve the most human parts of the sales floor.

From sales floor instinct to system design

Preezie was born out of Tutek’s years on a physical shop floor, helping shoppers decode racks of options into a single, confident choice. That experience still anchors how he thinks about AI. Great salespeople, he told Inside Retail, don’t just provide information; they build rapport “through warmth, personality, and expertise.” As automation spreads, that sensibility becomes a design requirement rather than a soft skill.

In practice, that means treating AI less like a search bar and more like a seasoned associate – one that remembers previous interactions, understands budget and intent, and can switch seamlessly between inspiration, comparison and reassurance. Preezie’s own assistant promises exactly that, with on-brand, natural-language guidance that can live on the homepage, category pages and product pages simultaneously.

Next-gen shopping, everywhere and for everyone

Today, high-touch service is still largely the preserve of luxury flagships and brands with roomier margins. Tutek believes AI will flatten that hierarchy. “Guided shopping in the AI era will mean that every retailer, regardless of size or category, can deliver a world-class customer experience,” he said.

That guidance is already starting to look less like a separate “widget” and more like an operating system for the entire customer journey. Preezie’s assistant can interpret natural-language requests, re-direct to product pages, compare pieces and add to cart in a single flow, while answering detailed questions on size, fit, fabric, care and styling. Over time, Tutek imagines the traditional architecture of ecommerce dissolving: “you wouldn’t have lines of separation between home pages, search boxes, collection pages, product pages, carts… it’s all blended together.”

Rethinking the e-commerce store

The e-commerce store, as a construct, isn’t disappearing tomorrow – but its role is already changing. Many of the jobs we currently assign to static images, dense copy blocks, size charts and filters are migrating into real-time dialogue.

Instead of scrolling through tabs, a shopper might ask: “How does this dress fit on a shorter torso?” or “Which of these two jackets will feel warmer on a windy day?” and receive instant, contextual answers, plus dynamic alternatives if a size or colour is unavailable. The effect is a subtle but important psychological shift: Shopping becomes less about hunting and more about being guided.

Personalisation that feels like a person, not a pattern

For all the industry hype around “personalisation”, most experiences still default to pushing bestsellers. Tutek draws a sharp line between that and what AI now makes possible. Good personalisation, he said, is “immediate, accurate, and genuinely customer-led… like speaking with an expert assistant who understands intent, context, and preferences, rather than simply pushing generic bestsellers.”

On Preezie-powered sites such as Australian fashion retailer Blue Bungalow, that difference shows up in the numbers. AI-engaged shoppers spent twice as long on site, had a 40 per cent higher add-to-cart rate, and converted 85 per cent to 110 per cent more than those who never spoke to the assistant. It is, in Tutek’s view, proof that when personalisation gets closer to how humans actually sell – compare, reassure, suggest, edit – customers reward the effort.

Trust, transparency and the new psychology of conversion

As AI takes on more of the selling, its psychological cues matter as much as its technical capabilities. Tutek talks about trust as the foundation: Clarity, transparency, ease of use. In one A/B test, Preezie found that simply being honest about the assistant’s AI nature increased engagement by 30 per cent, precisely because shoppers felt they knew what they were dealing with.

“The goal is not to manipulate behaviour,” he noted, “but to provide confidence, reduce uncertainty, and support customers in making decisions they feel good about.” In design terms, that means foregrounding explainability – why this product, why this size, why this bundle – and giving users easy escape routes, comparisons and alternatives so they feel guided, not funnelled.

First-party data as the new sales floor

Behind the scenes, AI and first-party data are quietly rewriting the mechanics of merchandising. With every interaction, Preezie captures declared intent – style, size, price tolerance, occasion – in a way third-party cookies never could. That creates what Tutek calls a “digital version of [your] best in-store assistant,” one that can pass structured insight back into range planning, bundling, promotions and even product design.

It’s also category-agnostic. Preezie now works with brands from Puma and Arc’teryx to Stihl and L’Occitane. Electronics is likely to be reshaped first, Tutek argued, precisely because products are so similar and experience becomes the differentiator. But fashion, beauty and home are not far behind.

Humans in the loop, by design

For all his optimism, Tutek is clear that AI will not – and should not – erase people. He expects that more than 95 per cent of e-commerce transactions won’t require a real person, but insists that human presence remains critical for brand building and complex, emotionally loaded decisions, from beauty rituals to buying a home.

“AI will primarily augment human teams, not replace them,” he said. Repetitive queries and low-value tasks will be automated; time will be freed up for creativity, relationship-building and brand storytelling. In that world, Preezie’s ambition is disarmingly simple: To bring “the best of in-store expertise online,” and make a level of service once reserved for the front row available to every shopper, on every screen.

• Ready to turn your online store into a conversation, not just a catalogue? Learn more about Preezie’s AI shopping assistant here.

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