Artificial intelligence isn’t just rewriting the rules of retail—it’s rewriting shopping lists. According to a new Acosta Group shopper study, 70% of U.S. consumers have already used AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini to browse, compare, or even buy products. Grocery is leading the way, but the message is clear: the AI revolution has officially left the novelty stage.

“Generative AI tools are becoming the new gatekeepers of the shopper journey,” said John Carroll, President of Connected Commerce at Acosta Group. “Retailers and brands have to rethink how they show up in AI-powered environments.”

From Novelty to Norm

Of the 1,074 shoppers surveyed, nearly every respondent (99%) was aware of AI, and 70% had already used it for shopping-related tasks. Saving money and time ranked as the top benefits. Interestingly, while retailer-specific tools like Walmart’s Sparky and Amazon’s Rufus are live, fewer than 15% of consumers have tried them—suggesting traditional retail AI assistants are lagging far behind open platforms.

Gen Z is setting the pace: over half (53%) of young shoppers say they trust generative AI more than traditional sources, signaling a sharp generational shift in trust dynamics.

Grocery Takes the Lead

No sector is feeling this shift faster than grocery. Thirty-six percent of shoppers say they’ve used AI tools to guide their grocery purchases, from recipe recommendations to in-cart substitutions. Other categories are catching up—health and wellness (28%), electronics (27%), and beauty (25%)—but grocery is the frontline battleground for AI adoption.

Kathy Risch, SVP of Shopper Insights at Acosta Group, puts it bluntly: “AI is transforming the way consumers shop, and grocery is where it’s happening first.”

The AI Shelf Is Shorter

One of the starkest changes: AI isn’t showing shoppers 25 options on a digital shelf or 100 items in a physical aisle. It’s surfacing two or three choices, often based on trust signals and contextual fit. That means if your brand isn’t ranking in an AI model’s shortlist, you may as well not exist.

Brands and retailers need to crack the new “AI shelf algorithm” by optimizing content for conversational queries, ensuring product detail pages are rich and trustworthy, and embracing agent-friendly ad strategies that prioritize substance over spend.

Trust Is Still the Hurdle

Despite heavy adoption, AI still faces a trust gap. While 58% of shoppers trust AI to find the best deals and 50% trust it for product reviews, only 12% are ready to let AI purchase autonomously. Privacy, fraud, and lack of approval remain top concerns. Still, nearly a third of shoppers said they’re open to letting an AI agent buy groceries on their behalf—suggesting the shift from assistive to autonomous is closer than many expect.

Key Opportunities for Brands

Acosta highlights several strategies for surviving—and thriving—in AI-powered commerce:

• Shift from keywords to conversations – Optimize for natural-language queries, not just search terms.

• Treat product detail pages as currency – Rich attributes, shopper context, and quality visuals now matter more than ad spend.

• Design agent-friendly ad strategies – Because tomorrow’s customer may not be human—it’ll be a bot shopping on their behalf.

• Audit your AI presence – Prompt ChatGPT, Gemini, or others to see if your brand even shows up in recommendations.

• Strengthen retailer collaboration – Share AI-driven demand signals to fine-tune joint forecasting.

The Bigger Picture

If AI really does become the “new gatekeeper” of shopping, then the next decade of retail won’t be defined by shelf space or SEO, but by AI discoverability. Brands that can’t secure a slot on the algorithm’s shortlist risk becoming invisible, regardless of how many endcaps or digital banners they buy.

Carroll summed it up best: “In the near future, AI agents will be making at least some of our purchase decisions. The winners will be those who build trust, show up in AI-powered environments, and make it easy for shoppers to say ‘yes.’”

For retailers and brands, the clock isn’t just ticking—it’s already in overtime.

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