Savvy shoppers have stumbled upon a new trick that can save you money on everything from fashion to furniture online.
The nifty hack involves an elusive AI chatbot that’s proving to be a secret weapon for bargain hunters.
It’s called Nibble and is hiding in plain sight on websites ranging from Asos to make-up brand Iconic London.
Earlier this year, London-based software engineer George McGowan used the bot to snag an eight per cent discount on a mattress from Eve Sleep, negotiating the price down from £940 to £870.
Writing on X, McGowan said he “had to click around” on the site to get it to work. But, as the tech boff quickly learned, there’s a limit to the savings Nibble offers.
McGowan wrote that he attempted to secure a £500 price for the mattress, but Nibble firmly rejected the offer. The chatbot responded: “There are low offers, and then there’s…That. I can’t accept, sorry.”
This website is offering to let me negotiate with an AI to buy a mattress pic.twitter.com/6rhv0jhrfo
— George McGowan (@GjMcGowan) July 15, 2024
Apparently, you can’t try to fool it into making a mistake like some have coaxed Google’s Bard (now Gemini) or ChatGPT into doing.
With a little work, however, others have used it to grab discounts on shopping hauls from Asos of up to 40 per cent.
How to use Nibble
So, how do you find it? Well, it may be a case of the bot finding you. According to the UK-based firm behind Nibble, it can be tailored to appear on specific products or categories.
You’ll know you’ve discovered it when you see a “negotiate” button near the “add to cart” option on a website. Eerily, it can also be timed to pop up if you’re looming over the buy button or about to leave. Retailers can also change the button that corresponds to the bot and even customise its tone.
But, not everyone is enamoured with the AI. As fashion expert Katie Robinson recently argued on X, the chatbot can be used by fast-fashion companies to continue their exploitative practice of underpaying garment workers.
“They will likely have inflated the price to allow for this,” Robinson said in a recent post, adding that it sets “a dangerous precedent” for a community that already expects fashion to be low price.
can't believe the day has come where fast fashion sites are letting you haggle with a robot to bring down the price of an already criminally cheap dress even more🤦🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/GVstOGnszL
— katie robinson (@katieerobinson_) August 8, 2024
Robinson said the bot fits into the current trend of gamifying retail. This divisive tactic is used by cheap online marketplaces like Temu and AliExpress, two Chinese retail giants that “reward” shoppers with discounts and freebies for sharing products with friends and playing interactive raffles.
Nevertheless, Nibble appears to be gaining traction in the e-commerce space. More than 300 brands and retailers are using the AI-powered chatbot, according to Forbes.
Talking to it is like shopping at an Egyptian souk, Sucharita Kodali, an analyst at Forrester, told the publication. “There are segments of the population who love this,” she said.
