Ashley, North America’s largest furniture store brand, last week announced the launch of a fully transactional shopping experience through Perplexity, an AI-powered answer engine. With PayPal’s seamless payment technology, the new experience gives customers the ability to complete their entire buying journey from search to checkout, directly within the platform’s conversational interface.
Through this launch, Ashley has become one of the first major furniture retailers to offer direct purchasing within an AI-powered search environment. Customers can now ask for product recommendations, explore curated options, add items to cart, and complete a payment transaction – all in one continuous, intuitive conversation.
“This moment signals where retail is headed—and where Ashley intends to lead,” said Chad Spencer, CEO of Ashley Global Retail. “AI-powered commerce gives us the ability to anticipate guest needs, personalize in real time, and deliver a seamless experience from discovery to purchase.”
Designed with simplicity at the forefront, the experience leverages PayPal’s trusted payment capabilities, including its fraud protection solutions, to ensure customers can shop confidently within the AI experience. As more customers begin their furniture search on AI platforms such as Perplexity, this new capability positions Ashley at the forefront of agentic commerce.
Setting a New Standard for Retail Innovation
“For us, innovation always starts with the customer,” said Nick Lezin, Senior Vice President of eCommerce at Ashley Global Retail. “By offering a fully shoppable experience within Perplexity, we’re removing friction and giving customers a smarter, more intuitive way to shop Ashley.”
This new experience reinforces Ashley’s ongoing investment in next-generation commerce and highlights the brand’s commitment to meeting the expectations of today’s digital-first customer.
On November 25, 2025, PayPal announced that it has enabled PayPal merchants to become discoverable within Perplexity, giving consumers the ability to checkout in chat. As of today, U.S. users exploring Perplexity’s new shopping experience can seamlessly transition from research to purchase, leveraging PayPal’s identity verification, Purchase and Seller protection, and trusted payment processing, without leaving the answer engine.
This collaboration fulfills the vision of the companies’ strategic partnership announced earlier this year, deploying PayPal as the commerce solution for the next generation of AI-driven retail. By integrating PayPal’s agentic commerce services, Perplexity users can browse merchant catalogs in real-time and checkout directly on the platform, from Abercrombie & Fitch, Ashley Furniture, Fabletics, Adorama and NewEgg, and many others to come. It has never been easier or more convenient to purchase items with the speed and trust of checking out with PayPal, completing the full shopping journey in just a few simple clicks.
“We are building for the next era of commerce by connecting PayPal’s trusted payments and buyer protection directly to AI-powered shopping,” said Michelle Gill, General Manager, Small Business and Financial Services, at PayPal. “Our collaboration with Perplexity is the opening act of PayPal’s innovation in commerce for the agentic era. This is the continuation of our decades-long commitment to make AI-driven commerce seamless and interoperable across every platform.”
Powering Perplexity’s Enhanced Shopping Experience
PayPal serves as the commerce engine behind Perplexity’s newly revamped shopping offering, enhancing Perplexity’s agentic discovery experience and making it a fully functional storefront. PayPal enables the transaction to happen instantly within the AI interface and keeps the retailer in control as the merchant of record.
By serving as the bridge between high-intent shoppers and brands, PayPal ensures that retailers are paid directly and remain at the center of the customer relationship. This seamless connectivity means the shopping experience is no longer just about finding answers—it is about transacting with the full benefits of a direct purchase.
Empowering Merchants in the Age of AI
For merchants, this partnership unlocks immediate access to the emerging agentic economy without requiring complex technical lift. PayPal’s agentic commerce services – including store sync and agent ready – allows merchants to:
- Seamlessly Integrate: Store sync makes merchant product catalogs instantly discoverable within Perplexity’s results, while agent ready ensures they can accept payments on the platform using their existing PayPal configurations.
- Increase Conversion: By capturing high-intent buyers at the moment of discovery, merchants can drive higher sales volume.
- PayPal’s payment security: Transactions are screened by PayPal’s industry-leading fraud detection and risk management systems, crucial for establishing trust in automated shopping environments.
“Shoppers and merchants demand a better e-commerce experience in the age of AI, one that’s as personalized as it is seamless,” said Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Business Officer at Perplexity. “We’re excited to partner with PayPal to bring instant checkout to our new shopping experience. PayPal’s decades of e-commerce leadership, including deep merchant integration, robust identity verification, and secure transactions give Perplexity users the complete experience needed to shop with confidence and give merchants a powerful new way to expand their consumer relationships in the age of AI.”
