AI Shopping Has Gone Mainstream. Consumers Still Check the Answer.

AI has moved surprisingly quickly from experimental shopping tool to mainstream research channel. New data compiled by MarTech from several 2026 studies shows that 43% of U.S. online shoppers have used an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Perplexity for product research in the past 90 days. One in five used AI while researching their most recent online purchase worth more than $50.

But the more revealing finding is not simply how many consumers are using AI. It is what they are using it for, and what they do after receiving the answer.

<h2>AI Is Becoming the Starting Point for Shopping Research</h2>

Among consumers already using AI, 46% now begin their purchase research on a standalone AI platform, up from 25% in 2024. Over the same period, the proportion starting with traditional search fell from 43% to 24%. That is a significant behavioural shift in two years.

Consumers are not primarily using AI to discover products. The largest group, 53%, uses AI mainly to compare alternatives and narrow a shortlist. Only 21% primarily use it for final decision-making, while 19% use it primarily for discovery. AI's most established role in shopping today sits squarely in the middle of the purchase journey: compare the options, explain the differences, help me narrow the field.

For brands, that makes appearing in AI answers important. But it makes how the brand is characterized relative to competitors potentially even more important.

<h2>AI Traffic Is Growing Extraordinarily Quickly</h2>

The traffic numbers are striking. Adobe data cited by MarTech shows a 1,200% year-over-year increase in AI-sourced traffic to U.S. retail websites. Those AI-referred shoppers also converted at rates 31% higher than visitors arriving from other sources. Separate L.E.K. Consulting data reports a 176% compound annual growth rate in AI-referred web traffic, while search, social, and direct traffic remained comparatively flat. More than 1.1 billion monthly retail-site visits came from AI in 2025.

The absolute base matters when interpreting enormous percentage growth rates from a relatively young channel. But the direction is difficult to dismiss: AI-generated referrals are becoming a meaningful source of commercial traffic.

<h2>Consumers Are Increasingly Arriving With Their Minds Made Up</h2>

Perhaps the most consequential statistic for marketers is further down the funnel. Thirty-one percent of AI users say their purchase decision is largely made before they reach the brand or retailer's website, compared with 26% two years ago. At the same time, average website visit duration declined 6% across the 13 categories studied between March 2024 and March 2026. Household essentials fell 18%, while healthcare services and beauty and personal care each declined 16%.

That does not establish that AI caused the decline. But taken together, the findings point toward an important change in the role of the website. Consumers who have already asked AI to compare products, summarize reviews, and explain differences may arrive at a brand site with considerably more of their evaluation already completed. The website may increasingly be where an AI-informed consumer validates a decision already taking shape, not where consideration begins.

<h2>But AI Still Has a Trust Problem</h2>

This is where the data gets particularly interesting. Despite rapid adoption, 86% of U.S. shoppers who used AI for product research verified its recommendation using another source before purchasing. And AI still ranks only sixth among consumers' most trusted sources of product information. Family and friends rank first, followed by online customer reviews, expert publications or professionals, brand and retailer websites, and Reddit or other online forums. AI ranks ahead only of YouTube creators and reviewers.

So consumers are clearly using AI. They just are not necessarily trusting it enough to stop there.

<h2>Price Changes How Much Consumers Trust AI</h2>

One of the clearest findings involves purchase value. For purchases under $50, 42% of shoppers said they would trust an AI recommendation without checking another source. For purchases above $500, just 5% would. That suggests AI's role in shopping cannot be understood with one universal model. The same consumer who is comfortable accepting an AI recommendation for an inexpensive household product may want extensive verification before acting on its recommendation for a laptop, vacation, or financial product.

Interestingly, that is not preventing consumers from using AI in higher-consideration categories. Reported AI research usage reaches 71% for travel, 65% for consumer electronics, and 62% for financial products. Every category tracked in the L.E.K. data was at 47% or higher. Consumers appear willing to use AI extensively for important decisions without necessarily being willing to surrender the decision to it.

<h2>Autonomous Shopping Is Still Further Away</h2>

The same pattern appears when consumers are asked about AI agents. According to the Adobe data cited by MarTech, 47% of customers would be comfortable having their personal AI agent interact with a brand's human representative. Consumers were less comfortable allowing agents to exchange personal information or authorize purchases. Gartner similarly found that consumers are much more receptive to AI finding coupons and deals than actually completing transactions for them.

NielsenIQ forecasts that agentic shoppers could eventually represent $190 billion to $385 billion in U.S. ecommerce spending by 2030, roughly 10% to 20% of online retail sales. Today's consumer behaviour suggests there is still considerable distance between 'help me shop' and 'shop for me.'

<h2>What the Data Means for AEO</h2>

The immediate AEO implication is more concrete than the grand predictions about autonomous agents. AI is already being used at meaningful scale to research products, compare alternatives, create shortlists, and shape decisions before consumers reach brand websites. That means measuring whether a brand appears in AI answers is increasingly important.

But the 53% comparison-and-shortlisting figure suggests marketers should be equally concerned with the next question: when AI compares your brand with competitors, what does it say, and do you survive the shortlist?

The trust findings add another dimension. With 86% of AI shoppers still checking recommendations elsewhere, the sources consumers use for verification, including reviews, expert publications, brand websites, and online communities, remain critically important. AI shopping is not replacing the broader information ecosystem. For now, it appears to be reorganizing it.

> AI shopping has gone mainstream. AI shopping without human verification hasn't.

<h3>References</h3>

[1] MarTech, <a href="https://martech.org/ai-shopping-stats-2026-what-you-need-to-know/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-amber-700 underline">AI shopping stats 2026: What you need to know</a>, 2026.

[2] Adobe Analytics, AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail websites, 2026.

[3] L.E.K. Consulting, AI-referred web traffic compound annual growth rate analysis, 2025.

[4] NielsenIQ, Agentic commerce forecast, 2025.