AI Shopping: 34% of Consumers Now Use AI Tools, Study Finds

What happened

A new AI Shopper Study from Acosta Group finds that artificial intelligence has become a genuine shopping channel in its own right, with 34% of consumers now using AI tools at some point in their shopping journey. The research shows adoption is strongest among younger shoppers, with more than half of Gen Z respondents reporting they use AI tools while physically in-store, not just for pre-purchase research online.

Despite this uptake, the study points to a clear trust ceiling: shoppers remain reluctant to let AI tools complete transactions on their behalf, with privacy concerns cited as the main reason they stop short of handing over full control of the purchase.

Why it matters

The findings suggest AI is moving from a research aid to an active presence inside the shopping journey itself — including on the shop floor, where retailers have traditionally had the most control over the customer experience. For retail and CX leaders, this reframes AI not as a back-office efficiency tool but as a new, largely unmanaged touchpoint that sits alongside staff, signage and apps in shaping decisions at the point of sale.

At the same time, the gap between usage and trust is the real story for service design. Consumers are willing to let AI inform their choices but not yet finalise them, which means retailers need to think carefully about where in the journey AI should advise versus where humans or explicit customer action should remain the final step.

By the numbers

• 34% of consumers surveyed say they use AI tools during their shopping journey.
• Over half of Gen Z shoppers report using AI tools while shopping in physical stores.

The Renascence take

The headline number here isn't adoption — it's the trust gap sitting right behind it. Retailers chasing AI deployment risk missing that shoppers are using these tools as a confidence check, not a checkout shortcut.

Behaviourally, this is a classic case of consumers wanting assistance without surrendering agency — they'll let AI narrow the choice set, but they still want to feel like the final decision, and the final click, is theirs. Retailers that treat AI purely as a conversion engine will misread this moment; the smarter play is to design AI into the advisory, reassurance and comparison stages of the journey, while keeping the purchase moment visibly human-controlled. Brands that get the sequencing right — AI informs, people decide — will build trust faster than those racing to automate the transaction itself.