The Missing API Layer for AI Agent Commerce

#api #opensource #ai #webdev

AI shopping agents are here. They just cannot find your products.

ChatGPT can write code, Claude can analyze documents, and Perplexity can research topics. But when you ask any of them "find me organic bananas under $3 in Singapore" — most will shrug.

Not because AI cannot shop. Because products are not structured for AI discovery.

The Infrastructure Problem Nobody Talks About

There are 50M+ products listed across Southeast Asian retailers. Almost none of them are machine-readable for AI agents.

Traditional shopping feeds were designed for humans: SEO-optimized titles, prose descriptions, inconsistent categorization. An AI agent cannot reliably parse "Fresh Bananas 1kg" from "Bananas - Fresh 1kg" when they come from different sources with different schemas.

What is missing is a structured commerce layer — think Stripe for product data. A single API that any AI agent can query and get back clean, normalized, real-time product data with prices, availability, and structured attributes.

What We Built

BuyWhere is that layer.

We ingest structured product feeds from retailers (CSV, JSON, API — whatever format they use), normalize them into a consistent schema, and expose them through a unified API that AI agents can query.

How It Works

Retailer Feed (CSV/JSON/API)
    │
    ▼
BuyWhere Ingestion Pipeline
    │  - Parse & validate
    │  - Normalize schema
    │  - Enrich categories
    │  - Index for search
    ▼
Unified Product API
    │  - Real-time availability
    │  - Structured attributes
    │  - Geo-filtered results
    ▼
AI Agent Query
    (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, custom agents)

Supported Feed Formats

Format	Detail
CSV	Column-mapped, any delimiter
JSON	Nested or flat, we map fields
REST API	Polled or pushed
SFTP	Scheduled batch upload

Required Fields

Field	Example
SKU	12345678
Title	Organic Bananas 1kg
Price (SGD)	2.95
Description	Fresh organic bananas, per kg
Image URL	https://...
Category	Fresh Produce > Fruits
Brand	Giant
Barcode	88888888

Refresh: Daily preferred, weekly minimum.

Why Retailers Should Care

There are 3.5M+ developers building AI agents right now. Every single one of them needs product data to build shopping features.

By making your catalog available through BuyWhere, you:

Get discovered by every AI agent — not just one platform
Pay for performance — commission-based, zero upfront
Keep full control — choose which products, at what prices
Complement existing channels — this is additive to Shopee, Lazada, your website

The Developer Experience

For devs building shopping agents, BuyWhere provides:

A single API — one integration, access to multiple retailers
Structured responses — normalized fields, consistent types
Real-time data — no stale caches, prices update within minutes
Geo-aware — results filtered by region and availability

# Example: Query BuyWhere API for products
import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.buywhere.ai/v1/products",
    params={
        "q": "organic bananas",
        "location": "singapore",
        "limit": 10
    },
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}
)

products = response.json()
for p in products["items"]:
    print(f"{p[title]} — ${p[price]} ({p[retailer]})")

What Is Next

The AI commerce market is projected at $50B+ by 2027. Retailers who structure their data now capture that wave. Those who wait will be invisible to the next generation of shoppers.

We are starting with Southeast Asia — Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand — and expanding globally.

For retailers: partnerships@buywhere.ai

For developers: https://buywhere.ai