Vendor reportMcKinsey, 22 Jun 2026

AI-powered search is used most at the very start of a purchase: 73% use it to learn about a category, against roughly 60% at consideration and decision stages

Channel validation

AI-powered search usage by purchasing journey stage: share of respondents using AI-powered search — by purchasing journey activity, Aug 2025 (%)

AI-powered search usage by purchasing journey stage: share of respondents using AI-powered search — by purchasing journey activity, Aug 2025 (%)
Activity	Share of respondents (%)
Awareness: "Learning broadly about a category, or about brands, products, or services"	73%
Awareness: Planning for a trip or special occasion	53%
Consideration: Explaining features or technical specifications	60%
Consideration: Generating personalized recommendations	57%
Decision: Comparing specific products and/or services	61%
Decision: Summarizing reviews for specific products or features	60%

Reader Note:: From Exhibit 1, built on the AI Discovery Survey rather than the marketer surveys the article also cites. The stage-by-stage shares are read off the exhibit; the article gives no table of exact values.
Evidence:: Self-reported behaviour
Vendor interest:: High — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Mixed source. The article combines several McKinsey surveys and case examples, including an AI Discovery Survey (August 2025, n=1,927), a McKinsey Global Survey on marketers (March 2026, n=521), and a McKinsey Global Survey on marketing executives (May 2026, n=26). Selection details are not disclosed in the article.

Good for

A rough sense of size and direction, and deciding what to look at first.

Not for

Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source says how much it looked at, but not how any of it was chosen.
The source never says how this number was measured.

4.4x

How much better an AI search visitor converts compared to an organic search visitor, on average

of Google searches that showed an AI summary ended with a click on a link inside that summary (US, March 2025)

20% of Gen Z and 17% of Millennials discover new brands through influencer endorsements, vs 12% of Gen X and 5% of Boomers

Share of each generation who discover new brands via influencer endorsements
Generation	Share who discover brands through influencers (%)
Gen Z	20%
Millennials	17%
Gen X	12%
Baby Boomers	5%

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11.4%

of shopper sessions in the US involved an AI tool as of June 2026, up 2.3 percentage points from a year earlier

is the short-term ROI index for influencer campaigns in the UK, right on the market average with 4.5% of short-term sales (excluding campaigns that produced no result)

21–26%

of consumers in the US, UK, and Germany report using AI tools to research products online, per Statista's 2026 Global Survey (Jul 2025–Jun 2026).

AI-powered search is used most at the very start of a purchase: 73% use it to learn about a category, against roughly 60% at consideration and decision stages

Good for

Not for

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