The decline of the impulse buy
Agentic AI in retail describes AI assistants that go beyond answering questions. They compare products, filter options against a shopper's stated needs, and increasingly take action on the shopper's behalf. The result is a holiday path to purchase with more steps, not fewer.
Our research found that 59% of U.S. consumers use AI tools to discover brands they were not previously familiar with. At the same time, 43% of U.S. consumers, and 48% of Gen Z shoppers, say they take longer to reach a final purchase decision because of AI-driven choices. AI opens the door to new brands, but it also widens the consideration phase. A person who might once have bought the first suitable product now has an AI shopping assistant shortlisting alternatives and weighing factors like price and delivery terms.
For brands, that means a larger pool of shoppers willing to consider an unfamiliar name, but also shoppers who are harder to close in a single session.
How agentic AI in retail extends the holiday path to purchase
Among the most visible Black Friday trends of the past few years, the growth of generative AI in retail stands out because it changes the structure of the shopping journey rather than just the channel. Three shifts matter most.
Discovery is increasingly starting inside AI environments. 59% of U.S. shoppers say AI tools are good for finding new brands. Baby boomers and Gen X consumers are the most receptive, with 62% and 61%, respectively, saying they discover new brands with the help of AI. Many begin the holiday path to purchase by brainstorming with an AI tool, which means brands need to be visible there before the shopper ever reaches a search results page or a retailer app.
Evaluation takes longer. Because AI makes comparison cheap and fast, shoppers are comfortable weighing more options over more days. The window between first interest and checkout stretches, and each additional day is a chance for a competitor to win the sale.
Shoppers are open to delegating purchasing itself. Agentic commerce, where an AI shopping agent completes a transaction within limits set by the shopper, is still young, but consumers are already telling us the conditions under which they would allow it.
Why trust shapes holiday conversions
The longer path to purchase is held together by consumer trust in AI, and that trust is currently concentrated in a small number of platforms. In our research, Google AI Overviews were trusted by 44% of U.S. consumers and ChatGPT by 43%, ahead of traditional discovery channels such as social media and influencer recommendations.
This is also not a Gen Z story alone. In the U.S., 62% of baby boomers and 61% of Gen X shoppers use AI for brand discovery. Any assumption that AI-guided shopping only affects younger audiences is not supported in our research, and holiday campaigns now need to account for AI-guided discovery across the full age range of a customer base.
Converting AI-guided shoppers
Even as shoppers lean on AI to discover and evaluate, many want to keep a hand on the final decision. In our study, 35% of U.S. consumers said they would require human approval before an AI completes a purchase, and 32% said they would use an AI agent only if clear return policies or a way to reverse a transaction were in place.
Those guardrails also show where agentic commerce is heading. 42% of American millennials said they would authorize an AI shopping agent to spend up to $250 on their behalf, provided a seven-day return policy was in place. The spending cap and the return window do the same job, lowering the perceived risk enough for the shopper to let the agent act.
For brands, the implication is that trust signals are no longer a nice-to-have on the product page. They are the conditions under which AI-guided shoppers, and eventually AI agents themselves, are willing to convert.
A strategic action plan for performance marketers in 2026
The practical agentic AI use cases in retail on the marketing side come down to three areas of focus for the coming holiday season.
Maintain sustained engagement beyond the first touchpoint:
With a longer consideration window, a single click rarely leads to a sale. Retargeting across the full evaluation period, with creatives that reflect where the shopper is in that process, keeps a brand fresh while an AI tool keeps showcasing alternatives. Our guide to Black Friday marketing covers how to structure that engagement across the peak period.
Optimize product information for AI environments:
Understanding how to optimize product pages for AI search is now part of holiday readiness. That means structured, complete product data, clear specifications, up-to-date pricing and availability, and content that answers the comparison questions shoppers put to Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT.
Make trust signals visible on site:
Easy returns, spending control caps, and trusted merchant badges should be prominent on product and checkout pages rather than buried in policy documents. These are some of the features shoppers cited as conditions for letting an AI agent act, so they belong where both the shopper and the agent will see them.
Preparing for an AI-guided holiday season
Agentic AI in retail has not removed the urgency from Black Friday, but it has redistributed it across a longer path to purchase. Brands that stay present throughout the consideration window, show up inside the AI tools shoppers trust, and make the purchase feel reversible are well placed to capture peak-season demand.
Download the full report to unlock global benchmarks and generational adoption data to fuel your strategy this holiday season.
