British sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion said on Monday that customers in the United States, its largest market, will be able to search for and buy its products directly through artificial intelligence platforms, marking a major step in how the company connects with shoppers.
The retailer, which operates more than 2,500 stores across the JD, DTLR, Shoe Palace and Hibbett brands as well as online channels in the U.S., generates over 40% of its global sales from the market.
The new service will initially launch on Microsoft’s Copilot, before expanding to Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Through these AI platforms, U.S. customers will be able to discover and purchase sports footwear, apparel and accessories from JD Sports without visiting the retailer’s website or app.
JD Sports said it has partnered with digital commerce platform provider commercetools and financial infrastructure firm Stripe to link AI-powered product searches with secure checkout and payment systems.
The move puts JD Sports alongside other major retailers experimenting with AI-driven shopping. Walmart and Etsy are also developing tools that allow consumers to move from product discovery in a chatbot directly to purchase. On Sunday, Walmart said it was working with Google’s Gemini to enable customers to buy items from certain sellers without leaving the AI chat interface.
JD Sports CEO Regis Schultz said AI represents a fundamental shift in how retailers interact with consumers. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in New York, Schultz said AI is less about traditional e-commerce and more about creating a smoother, more intuitive interaction between brands and shoppers.
He added that enabling customers to purchase through AI chatbots could reduce the need for in-store cash desks, which currently take up 15% to 20% of floor space in JD Sports stores. That space could instead be used to display more products.
JD Sports is scheduled to release a trading update for the Christmas quarter on January 21. In November, the company forecast annual profit at the lower end of market expectations, citing weak economic and consumer indicators in its core markets. Its shares closed 1% lower on the London Stock Exchange, reversing earlier gains.
