Consumers Are Turning To AI For Shopping—and Brands Are Racing To Keep Up

Consumers are turning to AI for shopping—and brands are racing to keep up

BY Sophia Feona Cantiller

Sophia Feona Cantiller

Sophia Feona Cantiller, a cum laude graduate in Computer Science from the University of the Philippines, swapped coding bugs for content buzz.

Her true love? Writing stories.

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All Articles by Sophia Feona Cantiller

Published 19 Aug 2024

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A new survey by Storyblok, a content management system (CMS) company, shows that more consumers are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT to make purchasing decisions. This shift in consumer behavior is pushing businesses to rethink how they market and sell products online.

The survey, titled “The Impact of AI: The Content AI Brand & Consumer Report,” which included responses from 200 businesses and 200 frequent online shoppers, found that 40% of consumers now regularly use AI to research products, with 17% even naming AI as their top source of information—just behind Google at 45% and marketplaces like Amazon at 26%.

This trend is making waves in the business world, with 63% of companies reporting that AI is already influencing their marketing and SEO strategies. Nearly half of the businesses surveyed believe that AI and large language models (LLMs) will significantly change how they approach SEO, and 20% expect a complete overhaul.

Companies are responding to this shift in different ways. Many are investing in new technologies, forming partnerships with AI providers, and training their employees to better understand and use AI.

But there’s still some uncertainty—27% of businesses admit they’re not sure how to integrate AI into their strategies, and 17% have yet to take any action.

Thomas Peham, VP of Marketing at Storyblok, commented on the rapid pace of change: “The speed at which consumers are adopting AI in their everyday lives is unprecedented. In less than two years, 40% of consumers now use AI regularly to help with their online shopping, with close to one in five using it as their primary source of information. This is a remarkable change in consumer behavior and one that requires a rapid response from marketing teams.”

As AI continues to shape online shopping habits, businesses need to keep up by learning more about how consumers interact with their brands. The real challenge lies in using AI not just to create more content, but to produce high-quality content that truly adds value for customers.