If you’ve ever strolled up to a hotel concierge with no idea what to do with your day – where to go, what to see, and what to eat – you probably found yourself talking to an incredibly knowledgeable human who had you sorted out with reservations in minutes – et voilà! All you had to do was ask for help. All they had to do was learn about your interests. What could have taken you days to research and plan was condensed into one short productive conversation.
Is it not exactly the same when you approach ChatGPT? It’s like having a personalized concierge that retains everything you tell it, and will only get more helpful to you the more it learns.
So that’s why, after working with Future Commerce to conduct research on the massive shift to AI shopping – we went for it. Yes, it’s another “economy” term, but this one is earned. Every human who uses ChatGPT (or Perplexity or Gemini) has gained a personalized concierge, contributing to massive time savings, whether it’s shopping, researching, price & product comparing, or even getting inspired when you don’t know what to do.
If Amazon brought us the convenience economy, ChatGPT has brought us the concierge economy.
Download the full report reflecting 2,000 US consumers AI shopping behaviors.
AI isn’t replacing commerce. It’s reshaping the funnel upstream.
About the survey: We worked with Future Commerce on a 2-part survey. First, we surveyed 1,000 consumers to understand their awareness & current usage of Gen AI platforms, and intent to leverage for holiday 2025 shopping. Second, we surveyed 1,000 Gen AI users to understand what they actually leveraged AI platforms for, and what it meant for their shopping behaviors moving forward.
Across two surveys and 2,000 U.S. consumers, a few conclusions were clear:
1. The upstream funnel is forever changed. How products, brands and retailers are discovered – and how they earn traffic – has been fundamentally reshaped. The economic equation of paying Google to be discovered and deliver traffic has changed forever. In our second survey pulsing Gen AI users only, 80% said they asked AI first when researching gifts. AI is now the front door to commerce, but not the checkout.
2. AI isn’t the checkout lane (yet) but it is a decision engine. In both surveys, 77% of consumers said that they were more likely to continue to the brand or retailer site for further research and purchase, over the 23% who were likely to take a recommendation and check out within the AI platform. This high-intent “golden goose” traffic arrives informed, confident, and ready to convert. Retailers + brands will need to compete via Commerce AEO strategies to earn this referral traffic, and employ AI search, personalization, and conversational commerce strategies on-site to convert.
3. AI value anchors on deal hunting but is expanding. We think AI’s killer feature is economic efficiency, but the next order use cases of comparison, inspiration, research, and finding the perfect gift are closing in on deal hunting. It is becoming a multi-purpose concierge. Here’s a look at popularity of these use cases from the first and second surveys:
5. Physical retail discovery is an unexpected casualty. The data showcases – across both phases – that if consumers use Gen AI for research, they will visit physical stores less. In Phase 1, 30% would visit stores less, and in Phase 2 for an exclusive audience of Gen AI users, it ticked up to 40% visiting physical stores less. AI is very much absorbing some of the physical discovery & comparison process. Brand sites are becoming for confirmation and conversion. If AI removes the need to wander, stores must earn visits by offering something worth the trip.
6. Retailers and brands need to design experiences for humans and machines alike. The data was clear: Humans are using these machines for research & product/price comparisons, so providing machine-readable content that explains product details, combined with transparent pricing, is extremely important. This will earn consideration and give brands + retailers the best shot at AI referral traffic. And then as the concierge economy takes hold, so will personalized conversational expectations on-site. Retailers need to be ready to “continue the conversation” with natural language chat on their site, built into their search.
The report has A LOT more detail, including interesting breakouts where usage differed by generations. Download it now.
Our takeaway thinking about 2026 and beyond is: The Concierge Economy is here, and competitive advantage will come from earning discovery in AI platforms and converting it.
While AI is cementing its position as the front door to commerce, discovery is only the beginning. The brands and retailers that win will be the ones prepared to earn and convert when the concierge sends a customer through their door. Meet Cimulate at NRF 2026 in the Innovation Showcase – Booth #8007 – to see how brands can earn & convert AI referral traffic.