BOSTON – Gen AI platforms are becoming the front door to commerce, though they’re not yet the checkout lane.
That’s a key takeaway from a survey assessing consumer intent to leverage Gen AI platforms for holiday shopping, sponsored by Cimulate and Future Commerce.
The researchers surveyed 1,000 consumers to glean insight into a central question swirling around Gen AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity: Will they alter shopping as we know it by cutting out retail and brand middlemen?
The answer is, “not necessarily,” says Jess Iandiorio, chief marketing officer at Cimulate, a generative AI company that optimizes customer journeys in digital commerce. “To earn high-intent traffic through a reshaped funnel, retailers and brands need to be discoverable in the platforms during research, inspiration, and price comparison,” she says. “They need to earn this new high-intent traffic through content plus an agentic commerce strategy.”
Such a strategy is crucial given the ubiquity of ChatGPT, which has 800 million users, with 20 million paying,” Iandiorio says. “We expect it to do everything. Instantly. Find me gifts, compare these beauty products, tell me what to make for dinner, plan my vacation, and above all else, find the best price.”
Among other conclusions from the research:
· Gen AI is a decision accelerator, not a transaction destination (yet). Awareness and usage are very high across generations (88% of respondents are familiar with this category of artificial intelligence, if not already using it (69%). But intent to purchase through Gen AI is low, with most respondents opting to conduct further research and make transactions on the brand's or a retailer’s website.
· Gen AI platforms are quickly becoming a shopping starting point. While 52% of consumers are already using Gen AI platforms for shopping research, 49% plan to start their shopping journey in Gen AI platforms. The value is incredibly high for so many users to quickly adopt Gen AI platforms as a starting point for shopping and other research.
· AI platforms don’t steal traffic; they send it. One standout data point is that when a Gen AI platform makes a recommendation, 77% of consumers are more likely to go to the brand or retailer site for further research and purchase, compared to the 23% who are willing to check out via the Gen AI platform. This means there's still a strong preference for validating information and buying from trusted brands and retailers. However, after doing some research, these shoppers are extremely high-intent, so brands and retailers need to be on their digital game to convert them.
· Gen AI Trust concerns are easily overcome if the price is right. Respondents not using Gen AI platforms cited concerns about security and safety, and distrust of recommendations as accurate and unbiased. The reluctance is evident across all generations. About one-quarter of survey respondents aren’t using gen AI platforms to shop and aren’t interested, but 31% of respondents said they’d buy through a gen AI platform for the right deal.
· The most surprising data point is the impact Gen AI shopping has on in-store shopping. When asked how leveraging Gen AI platforms to plan holiday shopping would impact in-store visits, 30% of respondents said they’d visit stores less frequently. In terms of online shopping, only 10% said they’d visit the website of a retailer or brand less regularly. About one in seven said they’d make fewer visits to the marketplaces where they might otherwise go to hunt deals.
Economic Efficiency Might Become AI’s 'Killer Feature'
“It appears to be a very real scenario that AI’s ‘killer feature’ may become economic efficiency, so having a competitive pricing strategy is as important as ever,” Iandiorio says.
“But the game to be won is through earning recommendations from Gen AI platforms. The best way to do this is deep product detail plus authentic content, especially customer generated,” she concludes. “When you combine the right pricing strategy with deep, authentic, authoratative traffic, and those consumers are well-researched and ready to buy.
“Then, your digital experience needs to be on-point with modern search, conversational shopping assistant capabilities to ‘continue the conversation’ from ChatGPT, and context-aware recommendations. It’s a level playing field for brands and retailers to fairly compete to earn this new high intent.”
