The key facts
- 59% of shoppers consider AI chatbots useful for online shopping, and 51% are comfortable with personalized offers
- According to DHL, 44% have already used AI to compare prices, and another 44% plan to; AI users shopped more actively — 50% versus 42% for traditional deal seekers
- 46% trust AI recommendations, and almost half worry about unreliable information
Shoppers no longer compare prices manually
Until recently, hunting for discounts looked simple: a person would open several stores, compare prices themselves and choose where it was cheaper. In 2026, this scheme is breaking down — a shopper may start their search on a marketplace, continue in a search engine, ask a neural network for advice, check the price in another seller's app, and only then place an order from their phone. This picture emerges from a new global Criteo study conducted among 10,500 shoppers, as reported by Life.ru.
Artificial intelligence becomes the intermediary
Almost nine out of ten respondents switch between websites, apps, devices and other channels at least sometimes before making a purchase. Online stores and marketplaces remain the main place to discover new products — 51%, followed by search engines (41%) and social media (39%). But a new intermediary is quickly wedging itself in between them: 59% of shoppers consider AI chatbots useful for online shopping, and 51% are already comfortable with artificial intelligence personalizing offers. Among the AI services used for shopping, Criteo specifically highlights ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
Other studies confirm the shift
Other major studies also see the trend. According to DHL, 44% of Black Friday shoppers have already used AI to compare prices, another 44% plan to do so in the future, and overall 47% of sale participants used neural networks when searching for or buying products. Moreover, AI users turned out to be more active than classic bargain hunters: during Black Friday, 50% of AI-assisted shoppers made purchases versus 42% of traditional deal seekers. Boston Consulting Group adds that in 2026, 56% of shoppers plan to use generative AI, while the role of social media as a source of shopping inspiration has dropped by a full nine percentage points.
What this changes for stores and shoppers
Black Friday is gradually turning into a competition not only of discounts and advertising banners. Stores have to fight to ensure that it is their product that the algorithm understands best, that it makes it into the comparison, and that it looks more advantageous than competitors' offers. BCG explicitly advises retailers to monitor how well AI can see their prices, product characteristics and promotions; Criteo frames the same problem differently — it is no longer enough for a brand to look good on its own website. There is a paradox in this model: it is easier for shoppers not to compile a price table manually, but the choice increasingly depends on what data the algorithm managed to match. At the same time, people are not yet ready to fully switch to 'autopilot': 46% of shoppers trust AI product recommendations, while almost half still worry about potentially unreliable information — the neural network becomes a filter, but the person keeps the final decision for themselves.
