Nine in 10 retailers and brands already use artificial intelligence to engage shoppers, but are they missing the opportunity to use AI to build emotional trust and engagement? In this blog, we say “yes” and help you explore how to do a better job to help shoppers solve problems and provide solutions.
Retailers and Brands: You Need to Do a Better Job Helping Shoppers.
According to NVIDIA, 89% of retailers use artificial intelligence. According to this study,
- 60% of retailers use it for marketing content
- 44% for predictive analytics
- 42% for personalized marketing and advertising
- 41% for customer analysis and segmentation
- 40% for digital shopping assistants (or co-pilots).
How does your company use AI today? Do you see artificial intelligence (including agentic AI) more as a commercial tool, a way to deliver efficiency within your company? Or as a tool that enhances your shoppers’ lives by providing solutions to everyday shopping needs?
That second question begs not just the answer “yes” – or it should be — but also “how.”
Virtually all retailers, brands and their shoppers encounter AI daily (yes, AI is not new) suggesting that AI might be – like Google was – just another tool that has seamlessly assimilated into shoppers’ lives. If so, that raises other big questions for those retailers and brands using it. Among them:
- What is AI’s measured influence on your shoppers’ behavior?
- What do consumers want AI’s influence to be?
- And what can AI do to make people “better” shoppers?
How AI Tools are Influencing Shopper Purchase Decisions
According to recent research by Acosta Group, AI tools have become routine, with 70% of consumers using them to help with shopping, primarily to save money and time and to compare and learn about products. Here’s a category breakdown:
- 36% of consumers use AI for grocery shopping
- 28% for health and wellness
- 27% for electronics
- 25% for beauty
Trust, however, is a barrier to purchase. At least for now. Only 12% trust AI to actually make purchases. This is similar to the early days of TV shopping and, now ubiquitous, Internet shopping, when people were very nervous about sharing their financial information and other personal data. (And we know what happened there.) According to Acosta, 53% of younger shoppers – Gen Z in particular – find generative AI more trustworthy than traditional tools. A view to future adoption?
Based on These Findings, We’re Exploring a Few Hypotheses
Following are some of the trends we already are seeing in How America Shops® research, and some of our hypothesis:
1: AI is not new territory – shoppers see it.
While most shoppers recognize AI tools, they might not necessarily acknowledge or think about the delivery systems and motivation behind them. However, they are intuitively getting smarter about how to use it best.
Takeaway: Retailers and brands will be tasked to be more transparent in how their AI tools work, and inform shoppers about ways they can use AI to their shopping advantage. Pay attention to demographics! If younger shoppers trust AI more, they could be a good testing ground for new AI shopping tools.
2: AI can alter where and how people shop.
AI tools potentially could influence fewer in-store visits, but they also can trigger different types of trips, such as better-informed visits. The trick is accurately gauging how much and the kind of influence shoppers want, since they are already using AI.
Takeaway: Individual brands and retailers that are not tracking their AI’s purchase influence – segmented by age groups – should start doing so in 2026.
3: Still, many shoppers don’t know how to be more proactive when using AI.
This is an opportunity. Even though many shoppers understand that AI is facilitating their price comparisons or product information, they might not think to experiment with ways to optimize their AI use to become better, smarter consumers.
Takeaway: Shoppers could be receptive to conversations with retailers and brands on how to better use AI and improve its functionality. Retailers and brands can, for example, share tips on how to use AI for price transparency.
4: Brands and retailers will be required to build trust and value in their AI tools.
In 2026, chaos and uncertainty will likely persist, meaning shoppers have strong psychological as well as economic vulnerabilities. When they shop, they not only are looking for value, they are seeing a safe haven. This is essential to earning and maintaining trust.
Takeaway: Assume your shoppers do not trust you. Then program AI technology to assess behavioral patterns to detect areas that need trust-building, such as brand quality, marketing and merchandising. AI programs can measure shopper reactions to trust prompts, such as posing clarifying questions to better understand their queries, to refine trust-building and identify opportunities.
5: Retailers and brands must envision what the emotional connection looks like, and shape it.
People already are emotionally engaging with AI through conversations that involve relationships, travel, finances and personal interests. It’s just a small step for them to be emotionally engaged with retail and brand AI tools.
Takeaway: AI potentially has a greater opportunity to emotionally engage shoppers because it requires more focused conversation and prompting. Retailers and brands can assess where their shoppers engage more in person, and incorporate AI as a visible tool in those settings.
AI is Smart Technology. Brands and Retailers Must Be Smarter
WSL Strategic Retail always digs deeper into the hot trends that matter to retailers and brands today, and tomorrow. Stay tuned to learn more about what your shoppers expect from AI in our upcoming study. Visit our How America Shops® shopper research website here.