McKinsey survey: AI shopping tools outrank search engines as top purchase influence
What this answers
- Do AI search tools influence shopping more than Google?
- In McKinsey's June 2026 survey of about 21,000 consumers in 11 markets, 29% of AI shoppers said AI chat or search tools had the biggest influence on their most recent purchase, versus 9% who named traditional search engines.
- How many people buy products through AI tools?
- McKinsey reports 14% of AI users globally, equal to 9% of the general population, had used an AI tool to complete a purchase.
McKinsey & Company published a survey of about 21,000 consumers across 11 markets, fielded in June 2026, on how people use AI to shop. Among AI shoppers, 29% said AI chat or search tools had the biggest influence on their most recent purchase, three times the 9% who named traditional search engines, per McKinsey as reported by Retail Technology Innovation Hub and ANI. McKinsey also says AI users are 3.2 times more likely to rank AI search tools above search engines as an influence.
On buying, 14% of AI users globally (9% of all consumers) had used an AI tool to complete a purchase. At checkout retailers’ own assistants edged standalone tools, 15% to 14% of AI users. The “biggest influence” figure is the shoppers’ own ranking, not measured behavior.
Why it matters: Self-reported, but it is the first large cross-market survey to rank AI tools above search engines as the stated influence on a purchase, which makes AI-answer visibility a purchase-stage question and not only a discovery one.
Via McKinsey & Company ↗ · Retail Technology Innovation Hub ↗
Posted to the wire October 31, 2026. Edited by Joe Balewski.