JD Sports AI deal a 'small positive', says Citi

(Sharecast News) - Citi said on Tuesday that JD Sports' agreement with digital commerce tech firm Commertools, announced a day earlier, was a "small positive". JD Sports said on Monday that the deal would enable customers to make one-click purchases on AI platforms including Copilot, Gemini and ChatGPT.

Citi noted that the rollout will start in the US and begin with Copilot before extending to other LLMs.

"Indeed, JD's statement mentions research from 2025 by Adobe Express in the US on 5,000 consumers, which found '60% of those surveyed used AI as part of their shopping journeys'," Citi said.

"Currently circa 40% of JD's sales are in the US and at August 25, it had 2,529 NAM stores (including JD, Hibbett, Shoe Palace and DTLR)."

Citi said the deal was a small positive, "as it highlights a proactive approach to capturing traffic/audiences from LLMs and we believe there could be some initial advantages to being an early mover".