Shopping with Claude: How to find quality brands, automate returns, and buy things that last 100 years | Nicole Ruiz

Nicole Ruiz is a writer and parent who has built a comprehensive AI-powered shopping system to help her family buy high-quality, long-lasting items while avoiding the noise of drop-shipping brands, paid ads, and poorly made products. She writes an interview series on Substack about how technology is changing the household.

Listen or watch on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts

What you’ll learn:

1. How to build a Claude Project with custom instructions for vetting brands based on heritage, craftsmanship, and return policies

2. The shopping criteria that help surface century-old manufacturers over trendy direct-to-consumer brands

3. How to use Claude to search through trusted vendor websites that have terrible UX

4. Why AI actually helps small artisans and heritage brands compete against Amazon’s infrastructure

5. How to use Claude Cowork to automate returns by finding receipts in your email and drafting refund requests

6. The technique for getting Claude to analyze whether a brand is legitimate or just a drop-shipping operation

7. How to shop within a specific budget or with gift cards using AI assistance

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Nicole and AI-powered shopping

(02:29) The problem

(04:55) Building a Claude Project for household purchasing

(07:44) The “anti-to-do list” concept for reducing mental overhead

(10:30) Shopping for a can opener: the system in action

(15:53) How AI helps century-old brands with terrible websites

(18:45) Processing returns with Claude Cowork

(25:06) Using gift cards strategically

(26:33) Vetting brands

(29:40) Recap, lightning round, and final thoughts

Tools referenced:

• Claude: https://claude.ai/

• Claude Cowork: https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude-cowork

Other references:

• Boston General Store: https://bostongeneralstore.com/

• L.L.Bean: https://www.llbean.com/

• Manufactum: https://www.manufactum.com/

• 5 OpenClaw agents run my home, finances, and code | Jesse Genet: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/5-openclaw-agents-run-my-home-finances

• From a $6.90 newsletter to $3M API: How a non-coder built Memelord | Jason Levin: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/from-a-690-newsletter-to-3m-api-how

Where to find Nicole Ruiz:

X: https://x.com/nwilliams030

Substack (The Third Oikos): https://www.thirdoikos.com/

Where to find Claire Vo:

ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/

Website: https://clairevo.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/

X: https://x.com/clairevo

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].