Consumer electronics retailer Newegg has launched a conversational artificial intelligence (AI) shopping experience on its ecommerce site, it announced June 26.

Calling it “AI mode,” Newegg said customers can describe what they’re looking for in plain language. From there, they can refine searches through conversation. Consumers can ask the AI assistant to swap parts, adjust a shopping budget or prioritize product specifications, according to Newegg. In each case, the retailer said, consumers can do so without restarting their search.

“Tech shopping involves a lot of reasoning about specs, trade-offs, budget, fit, with what you already own,” said Jim Tseng, vice president of Newegg Product Management, in a statement. “Our new AI assistant is built to think through all of that the way an experienced tech friend would, surfacing the right options, and staying with you from the first question all the way to checkout, without you ever leaving the conversation.”

Anthony Chow, CEO, said in announcing Newegg’s Q1 2026 results that the retailer is advancing its AI strategy on two fronts. First, it is working with leading AI platform partners on conversational and consultative shopping experiences for customers, he said. Second, it’s using AI across its internal operations to improve productivity and efficiency.

Newegg is No. 86 in the Top 2000 Database. The market research tool ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales and more.

About the Newegg AI shopping assistant

Newegg said its AI shopping assistant uses the context from its conversations with consumers to surface relevant products.

When a consumer chooses to add items to their cart, those items remain accessible in a side panel within the conversational AI experience, Newegg said. That allows consumers to review their build and check out without leaving the conversation, the retailer said.

The AI shopping assistant uses information from Newegg’s live catalog as it recommends products. Newegg said the AI factors in:

• Current pricing
• Real-time inventory
• “Shell Shocker” deals
• “OpenBox” listings
• Combos

Newegg said it plans for the AI to integrate directly with the retailer’s proprietary build tools, PC Builder and PC Upgrade.

“Beyond the storefront experience, the same conversational AI also lives as an on-page assistant available from any page on Newegg.com,” the retailer said. “The on-page assistant focuses on product questions, compatibility checks, and deal guidance, helping customers as they browse the storefront without interrupting their flow.”

In addition to making its product catalog available to its own AI, Newegg has integrated its listing into an app on OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The retailer said its app “brings Newegg’s catalog into ChatGPT conversations with the same live pricing, inventory, and deal integration.”

Newegg sales and GMV in Q1 2026

In its fiscal Q1 2026, which ended March 31, Newegg sales were $306.2 million. That was an 11.8% year-over-year decrease.

Newegg gross merchandise volume (GMV) also decreased in Q1 2026. It fell 12.5% year over year, to $377.5 million from $429.5 million.

The declines came as its number of active customers fell to about 570,000 in Q1 2026, from about 670,000 the year before. It defined active customers as “unique customer IDs” that made at least one purchase on a Newegg platform in the past three months.

Repeat purchase rate also fell, to 17.59% from 22.21%. That refers to the percentage of active customers who made at least two purchases in the past three months.

However, Newegg’s average order value (AOV) increased to $470 in Q1 2026, from $439 the year before.

“Our first quarter played out against a backdrop of significant memory supply constraints and industry-wide pricing pressure,” Chow said in a statement. “In this environment, we placed greater emphasis on pricing discipline and margin management. While this contributed to year-over-year declines on the top line, it supported improvement across our key profitability metrics, including gross profit, net income, and adjusted EBITDA.”

He said Newegg’s inventory approach, which includes early procurement for constrained categories, has served the retailer well. It has allowed Newegg “to maintain availability and capture bundling opportunities” across its PC categories.

Newegg addresses pricing challenges

Christina Ching, chief financial officer, said Newegg has “observed consumers becoming increasingly price-sensitive, shifting toward value-oriented products in discretionary categories such as graphics cards, CPUs, and motherboards.”

At the same time, she said, enterprise buyers have “shown strong momentum and continued investing in premium AI-capable hardware, providing a meaningful offset.”

Ching said the industrywide shortage has driven component prices “significantly higher.” That has elevated average selling prices and put pressure on unit volumes, she added.

“Our priorities for the remainder of 2026 are clear,” she said. “Protect margins through disciplined inventory management, capture the growing enterprise demand for AI hardware, and deliver value to consumers.”

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