Dive Brief:
- About 2 in 5 consumers say they are already using AI tools in their holiday gift-buying journeys, according to a Mastercard survey released Thursday. Mastercard, in partnership with The Harris Poll, surveyed more than 4,000 consumers in the U.S., U.K., Canada and United Arab Emirates.
- Younger generations are more likely to turn to the technology, with about 3 in 5 Gen Z and millennial consumers using AI in the gift-buying journey.
- Half of Gen Z and millennials say they would let AI handle all their gift purchases if it meant avoiding holiday stress, while about half of Gen Z and 55% of millennials trust AI to recommend unique and thoughtful gifts.
Dive Insight:
Consumers do a lot of research before making their holiday purchases, and some see AI as a helpful tool for this process.
The grand majority of holiday shoppers say they read reviews — 84% — and regularly compare prices across retailers — 86% — according to the Mastercard survey.
These are two areas where some consumers are turning to AI to simplify the shopping process. The survey found that one-quarter are using the technology to confirm the best deal before making a purchase, while the same number are using it to summarize multiple reviews at once.
AI’s aggregation capabilities are becoming more popular among consumers. Consumers list AI’s ability to confirm the best deal and to summarize reviews as the technology’s most appealing features.
The technology can cut through generic comments to highlight product features that matter to the customer, according to Julie Geller, principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group. However, there is still work to be done for gift shopping in particular.
“When AI begins to consistently remember what you’ve bought for different people and anticipate needs before you start searching, that’s when emotional intelligence in AI starts to feel human, and product research becomes proactive, not reactive,” Geller said in an email.
While consumers are open to AI-powered research, studies have found that they are still starting their shopping journeys in more traditional ways. Nearly one-third of shoppers still start with a search engine, and nearly one-quarter look to Amazon or another marketplace when they start looking for a product or gift, according to a Coveo study from September.
And while third-party AI tools are popular, few companies have rolled out their own options. Only 7% of multibrand retailers offer AI-powered review summaries on product detail pages, according to Gartner Digital IQ research.
AI will truly break into the mainstream once customers can use it to power their full journey, not just to assist with inspiration or advice, according to Geller.
“The real breakthrough will come when AI evolves from an idea generator to a true shopping companion that learns preferences, tracks behaviors, and curates choices across moments and not just transactions,” Geller said.
