TL;DR

AI is reshaping holiday shopping, with Salesforce projecting AI-driven purchases will account for 21% of global holiday orders totalling $263bn. In the UK and Ireland, 61% of consumers have used AI tools whilst shopping, primarily to find products or locate best deals. Major retailers including Walmart and Target are racing to partner with OpenAI for direct in-chat purchasing.

The First AI-Powered Shopping Season

Technology analysts are calling 2024 the first holiday season genuinely shaped by AI-powered shopping. Consumers are increasingly turning to chatbots like ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Gemini for personalised gift recommendations, price comparisons and product discovery.

A Coresight Research survey found more than half of US consumers would probably or definitely use AI to help with shopping. In the UK and Ireland, a CI&T survey of 2,000 consumers revealed that 61% have used AI tools whilst shopping—most commonly to find where to buy an item or locate the best deal.

Retail Partnerships Accelerate

OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature, announced in September, allows shoppers to purchase items without leaving the ChatGPT interface. Major retailers have rapidly signed partnership deals: Etsy and Shopify led the pack, followed by Walmart in October and Target in November.

Walmart described its partnership as allowing “customers and Sam’s Club members to plan meals, restock essentials, or discover new products simply by chatting.”

However, analysts note that OpenAI controls which retailers are listed and when. “The smaller ones will be left out for the time being, until they’re able to convert their data and get approved,” noted John Harmon of Coresight Research.

Looking Forward

Despite 61% of UK consumers using AI shopping tools, more than two-thirds couldn’t identify an AI-powered retail experience that impressed them—suggesting significant room for improvement. For UK retailers, the message is clear: building robust product information and exploring AI platform partnerships is becoming essential for visibility in this rapidly evolving landscape.

Source: BBC News