AI is disruptive in the same way that the digitalization of information was: it doesn’t just change industries—it redefines them. For brands, the rise of AI-powered commerce platforms like Perplexity may feel like the end of the D2C golden age. But it’s also a wake-up call.

By focusing on what AI can’t do: build communities, craft bespoke experiences and inspire emotional connections, brands can turn disruption into opportunity. The game may have changed, but there’s still room to play—and to win.

From competition to substitution

In the 2000s, the phrase “adapt or die” became a rallying cry for companies caught flat-footed by the digitalization of information. But as Sangeet Paul Choudary explains in his incisive analysis of AI’s impact, we’re now living in an era where AI isn’t just accelerating change—it’s fundamentally reshaping how companies should think about competition. As Choudary argues, AI is creating *substitutions* instead of competitors. Just as Apple disrupted the mobile phone industry when it launched the iPhone: not a phone but a mobile computing device where telephony was just an app. With the iPhone, Apple substituted the category instead of becoming another competitor to BlackBerry or Nokia.

Perplexity’s latest move into AI-driven commerce, called Buy With Pro has the potential to be equally disruptive, by taking one business function: e-commerce, and integrating it *as a feature* into another business: AI assistants. Perplexity’s newly announced shopping experience sidesteps traditional e-commerce by integrating 3rd-party reviews, authority sources, and comparison sites, then crafting seamless purchase suggestions—without brands controlling any aspect of this purchase journey. Even when you purchase the product, checkout will happen within Buy With Pro (incentivized by free shipping), giving users little or no exposure to any brand experience.

In the same way that forward-thinking, digital-first brands like Nike disintermediated retailers with their D2C models, Perplexity (and soon many others) is disintermediating D2C commerce with an agentic experience that works on behalf of the customer.

If brands thought the rise of Amazon was disruptive, Perplexity’s approach signals a whole new paradigm: the battle isn’t just about competing with peers, but with platforms that can algorithmically synthesize, compare, and sell their products. And as with Amazon, if brands choose not to play along they will miss out on access to a huge consumer base.

This shift doesn’t just challenge business strategies; it forces brands to ask fundamental questions about their relationship with consumers. If platforms like Perplexity own the customer experience from discovery to checkout, what’s left for brands? The answer isn’t to resist, but to evolve.

Rethinking the D2C Relationship

To survive—and thrive—brands must pivot. The traditional D2C model won’t cut it in a world where AI serves as both competitor and curator. By focusing on the following pillars, brands can build a new playbook for a disrupted marketplace.

01 Brand experience and service design

The best defense against disruption is differentiation. Brands must double down on the elements of the experience they can control, crafting services and touchpoints that AI platforms simply can’t replicate.

Think relevant services: a camping gear brand offering an online destination finder to help customers plan their trips or luxury apparel brands providing virtual styling consultations. These value-added services create emotional connections, positioning brands as irreplaceable experts rather than faceless suppliers. And actually, AI can help build differentiation here, as the AI-powered Showroom we built for Lotus demonstrates.

02 Building community

AI platforms may be great at suggesting products, but they can’t build relationships. Brands should create spaces where their audience can interact—not just with the brand, but with each other. Whether it’s vibrant social media groups, exclusive forums, or live webinars, these communities foster a sense of belonging. At the end of the day, people are likely to stick with a community they feel is “theirs.”

03 Inspiration-based commerce

Search-based commerce may soon belong to AI agents. But a powerful alternative is inspiration-based commerce. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram already serve as shopping malls for the scrolling generation. By leveraging influencers, user-generated content, and high-quality branded campaigns, brands can meet consumers where they’re already finding inspiration—and guide them seamlessly toward direct purchases.

Even your existing D2C e-commerce platform can in principle compete effectively with AI’s search experience – just not when the experience is completely commoditized and based on ‘best practices’ and A/B tests, rather than brand distinctiveness. Long list pages with product tiles and traditional search with filters are no match for AI’s ability to hunt for products on the customer’s behalf. But rich online experiences that inspire both at a brand and product level can not easily be supplanted by AI.

04 CRM and loyalty

In an era where acquiring new customers is increasingly mediated by AI platforms, retention becomes even more important. Brands should invest heavily in CRM strategies that keep existing customers engaged. Personalized emails and DMs, loyalty rewards, exclusive events, connected retail experiences, and member-only app content and functionality add tangible value to the consumer’s life.

Loyal customers don’t just stick around—they evangelize. In a marketplace dominated by AI, human advocacy might be the most valuable currency of all.

How Hypersolid can help you change the game

At Hypersolid, we believe in the radical synergy of Technology and Creativity. With a dedicated team of data and AI experts, and many practical cases of applying AI across all parts of your business, we have shown how we can harness AI for business results, like we did for Lotus. But with our world-class brand design team we have also created differentiated D2C commerce environments for brands like Polestar–a website unlike any other automotive brand, which seamlessly blends rich brand experience with conversion. We don’t believe in the traditional advertising model, but we deliver differentiated and targeted campaigns for brands like IMC, Under Armour, and HEINEKEN, while leveraging AI to optimize assets as well as quick and deep consumer insights to drive creativity.

To explore how we can help your business adapt to the new world AI is shaping, we love to collaborate on a specific and targeted business problem to solve. Through that initial engagement, we will establish our integrated way of working with internal IT and Marketing teams and start to demonstrate impact. Our experience with our other clients teaches us that this is usually the start of a longer partnership where we empower your internal organization to be more ready for disruption, speed up experimentation, and build out a solid technical and brand foundation.