New Zeta Global Research Signals the Rise of Agentic Commerce

Zeta Global, the AI Marketing Cloud, unveiled new findings from its latest AI shopping behavior research, highlighting that consumers are increasingly willing to authorize AI agents to shop and buy on their behalf, signaling the early emergence of agentic commerce.

Based on a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults who reported using AI to make a purchase within the past three months, the study marks the second installment in Zeta Global’s AI shopping insights series. While fully autonomous shopping remains in its early stages, the findings suggest consumers are becoming more open to delegating portions of the purchase journey to AI-powered agents, with the strongest signals emerging among parents.

“There’s no question consumers are increasingly trusting AI with shopping decisions. The more important question now is whether brands are positioned to be discovered, recommended, and ultimately selected by AI,” said David A. Steinberg, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Zeta Global. “As consumers increasingly turn to AI to discover and evaluate products, brands need to know how they’re showing up. Zeta’s GEO solution gives marketers that visibility while helping optimize the context that drives discovery and recommendations. What we’re seeing among parents today may be an early indicator of where consumer behavior is heading.”

As consumers increasingly rely on AI to guide discovery and decision-making, brands may need to optimize not only for human attention, but also for AI recommendation systems. In an agentic commerce environment, relevance, trust, and first-party data become increasingly important determinants of whether a brand is surfaced, considered, and selected.

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Agentic Commerce May Change Discovery Before Transactions

Agentic commerce may reshape how consumers discover and evaluate brands before it reshapes where transactions occur.

While consumers are increasingly comfortable using AI to guide purchase decisions, they still prefer to complete transactions directly with brands. Seventy percent of AI shoppers prefer purchasing directly from a brand’s website rather than buying through AI, suggesting AI is taking on a discovery and decision role while purchase still flows through brand-owned channels.

Consumers also expressed a strong appetite for AI experiences built by brands themselves, with 54% of AI shoppers saying they would choose a brand’s personalized AI experience over a general-purpose AI tool. Among consumers ages 18-45, that figure rises to 58%.

“When we conducted our first AI shopping study in late 2025, consumers were beginning to invite AI into their purchasing decisions,” said Pamela Lord, President of Customer Relationship Management at Zeta Global. “Just a few months later, we’re seeing signs that invitation is evolving into authorization. Consumers are becoming more likely to allow AI to take action on their behalf. As AI becomes a more influential layer in the purchase journey, brands need to understand how they show up in AI-driven recommendations and create experiences that are useful enough to earn the next click.”

Parents Emerge as Early Leaders in Agentic Commerce

Parents with children under 18 are emerging as some of the earliest and most engaged adopters of AI-powered shopping experiences:

• 43% would allow AI to make purchases on their behalf within a set budget, versus 27% of non-parents
• 43% would let AI automatically reorder household essentials, compared with 31% of non-parents
• 74% say AI helped them discover a new brand they otherwise would not have considered, versus 66% of non-parents
• 60% would choose a brand’s personalized AI experience over a general-purpose AI tool, compared with 49% of non-parents

AI Shopping Is Already Changing Consumer Behavior

The survey also surfaced broader shifts across the full consumer base.

• 36% of AI shoppers now spend less time researching purchases
• Only 21% spend more money because of AI
• 59% say AI has reduced the likelihood they will return a purchase
• 29% say AI has made them less likely to shop in-store.

AI Use Varies Sharply by Category and Demographic

• Electronics is the leading category for AI-assisted shopping, with 33% of AI shoppers naming it their top AI category, but 45% among men
• Among women, beauty products are the most common AI shopping category at 20%, compared with just 4% among men
• Household items rank second overall at 21%
• Clothing, jewelry, and accessories rank third at 15%

The survey was conducted online in May 2026 among 2,000 U.S. adults who reported using AI to make a purchase within the past three months.