A lot of shopping starts before you open a retailer’s site now. In NielsenIQ’s May 2026 data, 42% of consumers said they had used at least one AI tool to shop in the past month. That’s no longer secular behavior in the U.S., and tools like an AEO platform are already tracking how these AI-driven shopping patterns are reshaping what people search for and which brands get found first.
That number becomes more useful when you pair it with Adobe’s retail research, which drew on more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites and a survey of over 5,000 U.S. respondents. Put the two together and a clear pattern appears: people are using AI to get to a better first answer faster, then using that answer to shop with more focus.
Search Bar to Shopping Buddy
The first big change is straightforward. AI is becoming a practical companion in the research stage, where you’re trying to narrow the field, compare options and stop wasting time on tabs you never needed to open.
Adobe found that shoppers using generative AI turn to it for a specific set of tasks:
- Product research, used by 55% of generative AI shopping users
- Product recommendations, used by 47%
- Finding deals, used by 43%
- Gift ideas, used by 35%
- Finding unique products, used by 35%
- Building shopping lists, used by 33%
That feels familiar because these are the fiddly parts of shopping that can drain your attention. Comparing two coffee machines, checking whether a laptop is worth the extra spend, asking for gift ideas that fit a budget and don’t feel lazy.
There’s also a practical clue in the traffic data. Adobe found that 86% of traffic to retail websites from generative AI sources came through desktop between November 2024 and February 2025, while desktop made up just 34% of e-commerce traffic overall in the same period. That suggests AI shopping is strongest during longer, more deliberate research sessions, not when you’re racing through a quick mobile checkout.
The visits themselves look promising too. Adobe reported that visitors arriving from generative AI sources showed 8% higher engagement, viewed 12% more pages and had a 23% lower bounce rate than other visitors, even though they were still 9% less likely to convert straight away. AI appears to be helping people think through purchases more carefully before they buy.
Great With Gadgets But Less Great With Gut Feelings
The next question is where AI helps most. The answer seems to be in categories where the decision leans on specs, comparisons, price and practical trade-offs.
NielsenIQ found that Americans are especially open to using AI for electronics, home appliances, phones, furniture and décor, with roughly 40% to 50% saying they would consider it in those areas for their next purchase. These are categories where a good answer can save you from reading ten near-identical product descriptions and still feeling unsure.
There’s a deeper reason for that pattern. A peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Business Research found that AI recommenders perform about as well as people for utilitarian products, while people do better for hedonic products. So if you’re buying a router, robot vacuum or air fryer, AI can be very good at sorting what you need from what just looks flashy.
Style, fragrance and wellness choices can feel different.
That doesn’t make AI less useful; it simply changes the job you give it. For a practical purchase, it can help you get to a shortlist quickly. For a more personal one, it may be better at helping you frame the options than picking the winner for you.
Clutch’s 2026 consumer research supports that distinction. It found consumers were most comfortable using AI for household items at 40% and electronics at 37%, while comfort dropped to 16% for health and wellness products. Most of us are happy to let software compare battery life; we’re a lot less eager to hand over instinct, taste or wellbeing.
Trust Is the Feature
Helpfulness on its own isn’t enough. If AI is going to earn a place in your shopping routine, it needs to be clear about where information came from and how much influence paid placement had on the answer.
That tension shows up in Clutch’s January 2026 findings. The firm reported that 65% of consumers use AI to research products before buying, 32% use AI shopping tools weekly, only 17% generally trust AI recommendations without verification and just 4% would allow AI to complete a purchase on their behalf. People are open to support; they just want to stay in the driver’s seat.
That instinct looks sensible, not hesitant. In a Pew Research Center survey, 54% of Americans said generative AI programs should credit the sources they rely on. When you’re making a purchase, seeing where an answer came from can be the difference between confidence and a shrug.
Trust also drops when commercial influence feels hidden. Quad and The Harris Poll reported in April 2026 that 75% of Americans would lose trust in AI shopping if results were sponsored, and only 39% trusted AI agents to make everyday purchases for them. The smartest use of AI is to let it speed up your research while you keep the final call.
The Smartest Cart Starts Before Checkout
The strongest evidence from NielsenIQ, Adobe, Clutch, Pew and Quad points in the same direction: people are using AI to research, compare and filter choices more efficiently, especially in practical categories where a good answer removes friction early.
That leaves you with a useful rule of thumb. Let AI do the heavy lifting at the start, ask it better questions, check the sources when the answer influences price or quality, and keep your own judgement for the last mile.
