Agentic AI Gains Consumer Acceptance as Shoppers Embrace AI-Assisted Purchasing
RTB House survey of over 1,800 consumers across four countries finds growing trust in AI for shopping, with 44% trusting AI tools versus 59% trusting friends and family. U.S. millennials are open to AI agents making purchases within a $250 budget if returns are allowed. Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT lead as top AI shopping tools.
Key Findings from the Survey
According to a survey conducted by performance marketing firm RTB House, which polled over 1,800 consumers in the U.S., U.K., Japan, and France, approximately four in ten (42%) U.S. consumers report that AI tools extend the time it takes them to decide what to buy because AI presents a wider array of options for consideration. Additionally, nearly six in ten (59%) U.S. consumers credit AI platforms with highlighting brands they were previously unaware of.
Among American millennials, 42% indicated they would allow AI agents to make purchases on their behalf within a $250 budget, provided they could return the items within seven days. Without that safeguard, roughly one-third of U.S. millennials would permit such purchases, the survey found.
Human Oversight Still Valued
While consumers are increasingly open to delegating some purchasing tasks to AI agents, many still prefer a human element in the process. Over a third (35%) of survey respondents across all generations said they would prefer a human to review transactions before AI agents complete purchases on their behalf. This preference rises to 44% among baby boomers, according to the survey.
Shifting Trust Hierarchy
As consumers turn to AI tools for product discovery and purchase decisions, these tools are reshaping the hierarchy of trust in shopping. The survey reveals that while 59% of consumers trust opinions from friends and family when making purchasing decisions, 44% trust AI tools. Notably, AI has surpassed other information sources—including influencers, newspapers, major media outlets, TikTok, and Instagram—in terms of perceived trustworthiness.
“For more than a decade, e-commerce growth was driven by buying attention on social feeds and optimizing for instant checkouts,” said Jaysen Gillespie, vice president of product marketing and analytics at RTB House, in a statement. “This research proves that era is coming to an end. Consumers are turning to AI as an analytical powerhouse, using it to evaluate and discover brands, conduct price comparisons, and conduct deeper research before they buy.”
Trust Varies by Platform
Although consumers rely more on AI than on traditional information sources, not all AI platforms are trusted equally. In the U.S., Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT are the top two AI shopping tools, each cited by 43% of respondents, followed by Claude (23%) and Grok (21%), the report noted.
Retailers Invest in AI as Market Booms
With the agentic AI market projected to experience significant growth, retailers are investing in their own AI capabilities. In a recent second-quarter earnings call with analysts, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated that more than 350 million customers had used agentic AI shopping assistant Alexa for Shopping in the past year. Interactions with the tool surged fivefold year over year.
By 2030, the U.S. agentic commerce market is projected to reach $1 trillion, according to a report from McKinsey & Company and ICSC. The RTB House survey also found that nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents have relied on AI tools to compare prices, brands, models, and reviews, while 68% said they had used at least one AI platform in the past three months for shopping.