56% of Europe is already shopping with AI. Is your store ready?
The Human and the Agent Study: explore our latest study
AI adoption in European shopping behaviour is accelerating faster than any technology before it. We surveyed 13,500 consumers across 15 countries to understand how shoppers are really using AI, and what it means for retailers. The findings point to a new reality: retailers no longer serve one customer, but two. The human, and the agent advising them.
AI-powered shopping is already here
We tend to talk about AI adoption as something still coming. The data tells a different story. 56% of European consumers have already used AI to shop at least once. Crossing the 50% mark took just 18 months, against roughly five years for e-commerce and ten for smartphones.
This is not a gradual shift. It is the fastest technology adoption European retail has seen.
AI is moving through the entire customer journey
Increasingly, shoppers arrive at the retailer having already done much of their thinking with an AI assistant. This goes across inspiration, research, comparison, and even the purchase decision.
Search still owns research, and social media still owns inspiration.
AI is already the number one channel for comparing products: among shoppers who use AI, 57% use it to compare, ahead of marketplaces, retailer websites and the shop floor.
Traditional channels still lead at the point of purchase, but the momentum is clearly shifting.
Much of this activity happens before a customer ever reaches your website or store. That is the heart of the two-customer reality. To win the human, you increasingly have to win the agent first.
One size does not fit all generations
Perhaps the sharpest finding is how differently generations relate to AI in retail:
Gen Z: "Style me."
AI as identity and self-expression.
Millennials: "Save me time."
AI as practical, functional value.
Gen X: "Let me decide."
AI as a potential threat to personal autonomy.
The contrast is just as stark in-store. 21% of Gen Z would rather ask an AI assistant for help while standing in a physical shop, while 48% of Gen X still prefer a human. Same aisle, very different customer. Any AI strategy that treats these groups the same is already wrong for one of them.
Consumer trust in AI is rising
Trust in AI is now broadly comparable to other digital channels, particularly among younger consumers. At the same time, data privacy and security remains the leading concern for all shoppers (from 32% among Gen Z to 42% among Gen X), alongside worries about bias, manipulation and the loss of human touch.
The retailers who earn trust, through transparency and responsible use of data, will be best positioned to benefit from the shift.
What retailers should do now
As agents take over more of the shopping journey, staying relevant comes down to three things:
The agent finds you, the agent and the human choose you, and the human commits to you
The full findings, including country and sector breakdowns, generational analysis and the strategic implications for retailers, are available in Deloitte's AI Maturity Index 2026: The Human and the Agent.
Be the retailer the agent recommends
Agentic commerce is already reshaping how consumers discover, compare, and decide. The retailers who act now will define the next era of retail. Those who wait risk being filtered out before a customer ever sees them.
Let's talk about how these findings can shape your retail strategy. Get in touch with our Retail team.
