Why It Matters
Understanding AI’s impact on the shopper funnel is crucial for marketers, brands, and retailers seeking to stay competitive as consumer decision‑making becomes increasingly conversational and personalized. The rapid rise of platforms like TikTok Shop and ChatGPT signals a shift in where and how purchases are made, making early adoption of AI strategies a key growth opportunity.
Key Takeaways
- •AI transforms shopper funnel from search to conversational discovery
- •TikTok Shop shifted product discovery to algorithmic suggestions
- •ChatGPT sessions grew 225% to 151 billion in 2025
- •Generative AI delivers personalized recommendations and review summaries
- •Brands must adapt to AI‑driven recommendation control
Pulse Analysis
The retail landscape is rapidly leaving the classic keyword‑search funnel behind. Global online sales rose from 18% of total retail in 2020 to over 24% in 2025, and projections show nearly 30% by 2030. Amazon overtook Walmart as the world’s largest retailer in 2025, while South Korea became the first market where more than half of purchases occur online. TikTok’s 2022 launch of its shop feature introduced algorithm‑driven product surfacing, turning passive browsing into a swipe‑based suggestion engine that reshapes discovery and consideration stages.
Generative AI platforms are accelerating this shift. Between 2024 and 2025, ChatGPT sessions surged 225% to 151 billion, placing the tool among the top ten e‑commerce destinations alongside Walmart and Amazon. Unlike traditional grids of thousands of items, AI chat interfaces condense the entire journey into a single conversation, leveraging user‑provided context—skin type, budget, past purchases—to curate a handful of highly relevant products. Shoppers cite more relevant recommendations (28%) and personalized assistance (second most common) as primary reasons for using generative AI, while AI‑summarized reviews replace the need to scan thousands of individual comments.
For brands, this evolution presents both risk and opportunity. As AI agents become the new shelf, control over product placement and messaging diminishes, making visibility in AI‑generated answers a critical concern. Marketers must develop strategies to feed accurate data into these models, monitor algorithmic recommendation patterns, and devise measurement frameworks that capture AI‑driven influence. Early disruption signals—rising TikTok commerce share, explosive ChatGPT usage, and shifting trust toward AI‑curated insights—indicate that businesses that integrate conversational AI into their go‑to‑market plans will secure a competitive edge in the next decade.
Episode Description
AI is beginning to facilitate decisions and shape purchases before shoppers even reach a retailer. From AI-assisted search and recommendation engines to emerging agent-led discovery and checkout journeys, a new commerce model is forming—streamlining the funnel, redefining shopper trust and impacting visibility for brands and retailers.
Play this audio version of our webinar with Semrush to understand how consumer intent, AI interfaces and digital behaviour are converging to reshape e-commerce and where the earliest disruption signals are appearing.
Listen now to learn:
The shift from search-led funnels to agent-led commerce and how AI is beginning to drive discovery and purchase
The acceleration of AI-led discovery, revealed through early signals in AI-driven referral traffic and digital behaviour
Where FMCG disruption is emerging first and why beauty, health, pet care and food are early movers
What makes a category agent-ready, from trust and claims to comparison-led and problem-solution journeys
How roles are being reshaped across the ecosystem and the strategic questions brands, retailers and marketers must address in 2026
FMCG markets are entering a new phase of digital transformation. Understanding how quickly this shift is happening, and where it will hit first, is critical for brands, retailers, marketers and platform leaders preparing for the next wave of commerce.
Download the slides and watch the video recording of this webinar.
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