New study reveals how AI is reshaping how people shop online but they still don't really trust it enough

Date:
Sat, 01 Aug 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Description:
Report claims around 20% of UK online shoppers use AI search to start looking for new products, but AI recommendations have not translated into increased sales.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter ChatGPT and Google Gemini have overtaken popular social media sites for discovering new products 55% of UK shoppers have made a purchase based on AI-powered product recommendations Privacy and advanced features like visual search could be holding back wider adoption New research has claimed that while AI is helping people to shop,
the technology is yet to contribute to any noticeable increases in revenue.

Figures from Vercel and the World Retail Congress found 20% of UK consumers use AI search platforms such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini over social media
to kick off their retail discovery, with Facebook on 19%, TikTok on 18%, and Instagram with just 14%. Meanwhile, 87% of UK shoppers find AI
recommendations useful, but only 55% have made a purchase following an AI recommendation. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: AI shopping assistants While AI recommendations and price comparisons are considered useful, retailers are yet to see any increase in buying. This
could be due to trust or privacy issues, with only 10% of shoppers admitting that they would spend more time with an AI shopping assistant than a human fulfilling the same role, a figure that is repeated across Europe.

In the UK, while AI is being increasingly adopted by storefronts, it is still some way from wider adoption as a replacement. 79% prefer to open a retailers website to start online shopping, and for high value purchases, 65% still prefer to pay a visit to the retailers bricks-and-mortar location and see the goods for themselves before parting with their cash. You may like AI shopping is changing discovery - but not consumer trust Why AI recommendations are becoming ecommerces most valuable source of traffic New study finds people
are becoming more accepting of AI - just about

Some of the resistance can be attributed to trust and privacy issues. The report found a third (33%) of UK customers are concerned that AI doesnt show them the best products, perhaps because they are inaccurate, or worse influenced by manufacturers or some other promotional tool. The challenge to retailers "For most of the web's history, we optimized storefronts for two audiences: people and Google," said Malte Ubl, CTO at Vercel. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get
all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
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"There's now a third: AI agents that discover, compare, and increasingly recommend products on a shopper's behalf. The retailers who win the next decade will be the ones who can iterate and ship quickly enough to keep up with how fast this consumer behavior is moving."

But challenges exist. While 43% are likely to prefer one retailer over
another due to a superior AI-powered experience, privacy concerns and
features like visual search need to be addressed. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/new-study-reveals-how-ai-is-reshaping-how-people -shop-online-but-they-still-dont-really-trust-it-enough


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