Building GrasShopper: AI-powered shopping assistant

It happened to me multiple times, that when I shop online, I tend to go deep into research about the product I want to buy and that takes me then deep into the rabit hole.

One example: last time I was shopping for running shoes online (simple task, right?), after 3 hours of: - 15 browser tabs open - 10 YouTube reviews watched at 2x speed - 7 “TOP 10 BEST RUNNING SHOES 2024!!!” articles (all with different recommendations) - 4 Reddit threads arguing about pronation - 1 existential crisis about whether I even need new shoes

…I still didn’t know if the €120 Nike Pegasus was actually better than the €90 Adidas Ultra Boost for my weekend 5K runs.

That’s when I thought: “What if AI could do all this research for me, but actually understand what I need and compile the resulting suggestion based on all the knowledge about various products and their reviews found online?”

So as my next side-project, I started building AI-powered shopping guide generator that does all the research for you, so you can make confident purchase decisions in minutes, not hours.

The problem: Information overload in the age of infinite choices

We live in an interesting paradox. Never before have we had access to so much information about products: - Professional reviews - User reviews - YouTube deep-dives - Reddit discussions - Comparison sites - Price trackers

Yet somehow, buying decisions feel harder than ever.

The hidden cost of “research”

When my friend asked me few months ago which laptop to buy for work, I spent 2 hours creating a spreadsheet comparing specs, prices, and reviews. Two hours! For someone else’s purchase!

This is the hidden cost of modern shopping: - Time cost: Average person spends 2-3 hours researching major purchases - Mental cost: Decision fatigue from comparing dozens of options - Opportunity cost: What else could you do with those hours? - Anxiety cost: The nagging feeling you might have missed something

What we actually want

After talking to dozens of frustrated online shoppers, the pattern was clear. People don’t want more reviews to read, more specs to compare or more videos to watch…

They want: - A trusted friend who already did the research - Clear recommendations based on their specific needs - Confidence they’re making a good choice - To get on with their life

So I’m trying to solve my own and few others’ issue with my new side-project, GrasShopper: an agentic AI shopping assistant that is not tied to one platform and one shopping “style”, but is trying to be usable across multiple categories of products and also, since I’m buildig this as an agentic system, it should after initial short conversation conform to your style of shopping.

On the surface, GrasHopper should feel simple: you tell it what you’re looking for, what is your goal (Best deal? Best product quality? Buying in bulk for your company?) and it generates a comprehensive buyer’s guide in under 30 seconds. But the magic is in how it works.

How it actually helps

Last week as I was dogfooding the app and testing it, I searched for: “best summer sneakers in €90-120 range, black and white, preferably Nike or New Balance”

In ~20 seconds, GrasShopper delivered 6 specific shoe recommendations with exact prices, pros and cons for each option,where to buy them, YouTube review summaries (so you don’t have to watch them), a price comparison chart, and “Best for” recommendations (Best Overall, Best Value, Most Stylish)

No BS. Just actionable information.

Road forward

As I’m building this, I’m thinking about future monetization ideas: - Pro features: Save guides, track price drops, collaborative lists - API access: Let other apps use our multi-agent system - White label: Custom versions for specific retailers (without bias) - Never ads: Because that defeats the whole purpose - Price drop alerts: Get notified when products in your guide go on sale - Comparison mode: Compare your saved guides side-by-side - Voice shopping assistant: “Find me a good DSLR for beginners” while already in store - Sustainability scores: Know the environmental impact

Let’s see where this takes me.