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AI Is Rewriting the Customer Journey - And Your Marketing Measurement Needs to Catch Up

  • By: Brendan Abbott, CLMP™
  • Posted on August 4, 2026

Over the next few years, we’re going to witness one of the biggest behavioural shifts in consumer commerce since the rise of mobile. And it won’t happen on Google.

Consumers are increasingly delegating their shopping journeys to AI assistants like Copilot, ChatGPT and Gemini - simply asking:

“Find me the best deal… and buy it.”

And the numbers already show how mainstream this behaviour has become. Almost 60% of consumers have used AI to shop, with 58% using generative AI instead of traditional search to get product recommendations. Meanwhile, 61% of UK & Ireland consumers have used AI while shopping, with 53% doing so often.

For brands across Retail, eCommerce, Automotive, Travel and Hospitality, this is both a huge opportunity - and a serious measurement challenge.

AI Has Entered the Funnel - and It’s Flattening It Fast

When consumers ask AI to do the heavy lifting, discovery, comparison and decision collapse into a single conversation.

This isn’t theory - it’s already happening:

  • 72% of shoppers using AI say it’s now their primary tool for researching products and brands.
  • 53% use AI for product research, 40% for recommendations, 36% for finding deals, and 30% for generating shopping lists and ideas.
  • 77% say AI helps them make faster decisions.

This compresses the traditional funnel from multiple touchpoints into a streamlined AI‑mediated journey - where visibility depends on structured data, product attributes, availability feeds and API accuracy.

At the same time, consumers expect much more from the experience: 71% want AI integrated into their shopping journeys, and 58% have replaced traditional search engines with generative AI tools for finding products and services.

Demographic Differences: Not Everyone Uses AI the Same Way

While adoption is growing across the board, consumer trust and usage patterns differ by age:

Younger consumers (18–24) are the most open to AI

  • 34% trust AI in retail - far higher than older age groups.
  • Gen Z and Millennials are driving the personalisation trend, with nearly two‑thirds wanting hyper‑personalised AI shopping experiences.

Older consumers still lag in trust — but adoption is real

  • Only 14% of consumers aged 55+ trust AI in retail.
  • Yet nearly 45% of Baby Boomers have used AI in the past six months, and 11% use it daily.

Consumers trust AI for research… but not for full decision-making

  • 66% trust AI to compare prices - the highest comfort use case.
  • But just 11% trust AI to place an order on their behalf.

This underscores a key message for brands: AI will influence the journey well before the checkout - even if consumers aren’t ready to hand over full control just yet.

Product Categories Where AI Is Already Gaining Serious Traction

AI adoption isn’t happening evenly across retail — some categories are surging ahead, while others are seeing more gradual behavioural shifts. Here’s where AI‑assisted shopping is already making its mark:

Grocery: High Convenience, High Adoption

Grocery is one of the fastest‑moving categories for AI usage. Over 57.8% of shoppers now expect AI to help them find deals and coupons, and nearly 48.8% say they’re comfortable with the idea of automated, AI‑led grocery shopping. This category is primed for AI because consumers prioritize speed, savings and routine convenience.

General eCommerce: AI Is Everywhere

Across wider eCommerce, exposure to AI is now near‑universal. More than 92% of consumers have encountered AI during an online shopping journey - whether through recommendations, chat interfaces or product discovery tools. This makes eCommerce one of the most AI‑mature retail environments already.

Social Commerce: A New AI‑Driven Discovery Layer

AI is also amplifying discovery and personalisation across social platforms. In the UK, 70% of consumers have purchased something directly or indirectly through social commerce channels, where AI‑curated product suggestions increasingly guide browsing and buying behaviour.

Across these categories, a clear pattern is emerging: consumers are growing more comfortable with AI‑led discovery and decision support - but they still expect accuracy, transparency and trust.

Trust Is Still a Barrier - And That Matters for AI‑Assisted Journeys

Despite rapid adoption, trust issues remain:

  • 68% of UK consumers cannot name a single AI shopping experience that impressed them.
  • 55% express distrust for AI chatbots.
  • Over half worry about data mishandling when AI is involved in purchases.

This highlights why brands must focus not just on AI presence - but AI quality.

What This Means for MMM

If AI is becoming the intermediary in the customer journey, then MMM needs to evolve to capture the real drivers of AI‑influenced demand:

1. Structured product data as a measurable input

AI assistants rely on clean, rich, structured product feeds. Better data increases AI visibility — and therefore conversions.

2. API readiness as an operational performance driver

Real‑time pricing, stock and fulfilment APIs now influence whether AI recommends your product.

3. AI‑driven channels must become their own MMM line item

Conversational commerce is no longer a website chatbot - it’s a genuine demand‑generation channel.

4. Quantifying incremental AI‑assisted sales

MMM must measure how much sales uplift comes from AI‑mediated journeys vs. traditional search, SEO or retail media.

How TransUnion Supports Brands in This Shift

At TransUnion, we’re already helping brands model these new dynamics by:

  • Incorporating structured data scoring into MMM
  • Using API performance metrics as inputs
  • Treating AI‑driven discovery as a distinct channel
  • Measuring incremental uplift from AI‑assisted journeys
  • Providing sector‑specific modelling frameworks for Retail, eCommerce, Auto, Travel & Hospitality

Our goal is simple:

Help brands understand what makes them recommendable in an AI‑led market - not just what makes them clickable.

The Bottom Line

AI assistants won’t replace marketers. But they will replace parts of the customer journey you’ve always relied on - especially search.

Consumers are already using AI to research, shortlist and compare products, and MMM must evolve now to keep pace. The brands that optimize their data, APIs, and measurement frameworks today will dominate AI recommendations tomorrow.

If you’d like to explore how your organisation can adapt its measurement strategy for this shift, I’d be happy to share more.

About the Author — Brendan Abbott

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