When GenAI Quietly Saved My Market Research Deadline (For people Managing Teams, Not Models)

Google gave me links and Perplexity gave me direction :)

Last week, I had to develop a market research in hurry, as always , which is something most consultants, strategists, managers will relate to:

Brief was to : Understand the potential of smart mirror adoption in Indian retail.

My first natural hand movement led me to google and typed in : “Smart mirror adoption in retail India 2024”Got some links, A couple of vague reports. A Reddit thread. Some vendor websites talking about their own products. Ten minutes in, I had tabs open… but no direction.

Now here’s the thing — I didn’t know much about Perplexity at that point. I’d just been hearing that it’s somehow challenging Google in the search game, so I thought why not try it

I typed in my same question — something like: “How are smart mirrors being adopted in Indian retail?” And before throwing answers at me, Perplexity paused.

Instead, it asked:

“Do you want this scoped to fashion retail, or all retail categories?” “Are you looking for adoption case studies or market size?”

That alone made me sit up , and as I moved forward the suggestions it threw, helped build such a clear direction on developing the report (check out the image below)

and I am not very sure my even junior associate could even help me with following kind of analysis in such a short span and still ask me if would want more.

"Smart mirrors are gaining traction mostly in apparel retail. Adoption is limited by infrastructure costs. Zara , Lenskart, and Shoppers Stop have tested them. Would you like a summary of the Shoppers Stop case study?”

I wasn’t expecting magic, But I wasn’t expecting that either and the funny part, eventually I went back to google to validate the links and sources perplexity had given.

Using the perplexity, it helped to develop a high quality with extensive coverage market research based on secondary research report in may be less than day , of what otherwise could have taken a week or more, so less time and somehow I was more confident , because the coverage of the report was much higher than a junior analyst could have been able to develop.

My objective to share this story is not question the skillet of an Analyst or mock google or praise perplexity , but this experience has had significant impact on how my approach to developing market research or analysis has changed and this is what : One small shift in how I searched. One big shift in how I thought.

A Small Thought to End With

There’s so much happening in AI right now — new tools, new courses, new terms every week.

And sometimes, that constant flood of information can do the opposite of what it’s supposed to.Instead of making us curious, it quietly makes us freeze.

We start thinking:

“Maybe I should take a course first…”“Maybe I need to learn prompting…”“Maybe I’m already too late…”

But this moment with Perplexity reminded me — maybe we don’t need to learn everything to begin.Maybe just trying something small, in the middle of real work, is enough to shift something.

That’s what I’ll be exploring more of — not chasing everything in AI, just noticing the small shifts that help us work better, think faster, and feel a little more in control.

One step at a time. No pressure, That’s really what Aimadesimple.com is about —

Not just simplifying AI for managers… But giving people a space where it’s okay to not know everything, okay to start slow.

While you can also have a look at some recent posts

#GenAI: 3 Simple MircoOnline Courses to Get Started With

#GenAI: 5 Enterprises Creating Real Business Value

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