AI Shopping Adoption Hits Majority in U.S., Reshaping Consumer Decision-Making — NIQ Global Intelligence plc

Event summary

51% of U.S. consumers used at least one AI-powered shopping tool in the past month, per NIQ's Agentic Commerce Tracker.
AI-powered product recommendations (20%) and personal shopping assistants (16%) are the most widely adopted applications.
NIQ is expanding measurement capabilities to track AI's influence on category performance and purchase conversion.
Adoption has grown steadily over the past two quarters, signaling a shift from early-adopter behavior to mainstream use.

The big picture

NIQ's findings underscore the accelerating shift from search-driven to AI-driven commerce, with implications for how brands and retailers approach product discovery and decision support. As AI tools permeate the entire path to purchase, the ability to quantify their influence becomes critical for strategic planning. This milestone reflects broader industry trends where data-driven decision-making is being augmented by AI, reshaping consumer behavior and retail strategies.

What we're watching

AI-Driven Commerce: How brands and retailers optimize for AI systems will determine their success in the next era of commerce.
Data Quality Imperative: The growing importance of product content quality and structured product information for sales performance.
Measurement Evolution: The pace at which NIQ and other analytics firms expand measurement capabilities to isolate AI's impact on retail channels.