89.9% of U.S. AI shoppers check an AI recommendation elsewhere before buying, up from 85.7% in June 2026

Buyer behaviour

89.9%

of AI users on the online-shopper trend base said they verified the assistant’s recommendation before buying

Reader Note:: Among 517 U.S. online shoppers who used AI for product research in the past 90 days (the trend base used to compare with the June 2026 edition, n=623). 41.0% always verify, 48.9% sometimes verify, 10.1% never do. On the full base of 550 AI users the total is 89.6%. The 4.2-point rise meets the report's pre-registered 4-point threshold for a real change. The figure describes AI users only, not all shoppers. Verification is a socially approved answer and may be over-reported. Self-reported online survey of U.S. adults (Aug 27 – Sep 1, 2026), unweighted; Product.ai sells verification products for commerce.
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:: Survey of 1,493 U.S. adults who shop for products, online or in stores, from a general-population panel; unweighted with quotas on age, gender, and region. Trend comparisons use 1,247 online shoppers; AI-user findings mostly use 550 respondents who used AI for product research in the past 90 days.

Good for

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

Exact numbers, or saying that one thing caused another.
This was measured in one market. It may not hold where you are.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.

Gemini and ChatGPT lead AI shopping research in the U.S.; 64.0% of AI shoppers use two or more assistants

Share of AI shoppers using each AI assistant in the past 90 days
Assistant used in the past 90 days	Share of AI users (%)
Google Gemini	63.5%
ChatGPT	60%
Amazon's shopping assistant	27.5%
Walmart's shopping assistant	22.5%
Microsoft Copilot	22.4%

38%

adoption increase in older populations after Dubai Smart ID used a calming tone and simpler biometric explanations in 2021

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

Only 36% of Gen Z call themselves price-conscious, vs 40% of Millennials, 45% of Gen X and 55% of Boomers

Share of each generation who describe themselves as price-conscious
Generation	Share who describe themselves as price-conscious (%)
Gen Z	36%
Millennials	40%
Gen X	45%
Baby Boomers	55%

60%–90%

of consumers’ value perception was explained by price perception across multiple subsectors in Deloitte’s regression analysis

86% of both Gen Z and Millennials say a smartphone is their most important device

Share of each generation calling smartphone their most important device
Generation	Share saying smartphone is most important device (%)
Gen Z	86%
Millennials	86%
Gen X	82%
Baby Boomers	58%

AI made people 11.7 points more confident even though about half its answers were faulty