A recent ecommerce report identified four distinct AI shopping personas and mindsets, which highlight how consumers are using AI in different ways in their shopping journeys. In addition to these useful insights, the report includes data about the use of AI in general, how merchants are moving to agentic commerce, and more.
The Report Outlines Four AI Shopping Personas
Recently, Metapack and Retail Economics released the Ecommerce Delivery Benchmark Report 2026, which is based on survey responses from over 8,000 consumers and more than 400 senior decision makers at ecommerce businesses from around the world.
While it includes several useful insights and data about AI, ecommerce, delivery, and more, arguably the most important highlight for ecommerce brands is the four AI shopping personas that the research identified. These four personas are AI Delegators, AI Collaborators, AI Selectors, and AI Skeptics.
AI Delegators
AI Delegators are shoppers with high trust and comfort level with AI, and often use it multiple times each day. They’re often younger and confident, trust AI to handle most of their shopping journey, and value things like convenience, speed, and the fact that AI reduces the effort required to shop.
AI Collaborators
AI Collaborators have mid-to-high trust and comfort with AI, and use it most days. They’re a relatively even mix of young and old, and are active AI users who often turn to it for help exploring and comparing options, but always stay in control of all decisions.
AI Selectors
AI Selectors have mid-to-low trust and comfort with AI, and may use it around once a week or less. Like collaborators, selectors are a mix of old and young shoppers who are generally more cautious and price-led, and may only use AI periodically. When they use it, it’s only when it provides value or add reassusrance to a purchase.
AI Skeptics
AI Skeptics have low trust and comfort with AI, and rarely or never use it. These shoppers are generally older and traditional, who actively distrust AI and prioritize things like reliability and cost over speed and automation.
AI Collaborators and AI Selectors make up 30% of shoppers each, while 23% are AI skeptics, and the remaining 17% are AI Delegators. This shows that while some people are all-in on AI and others avoid it entirely, most people fall somewhere in the middle.
The report also outlined some major differences between the personas, outside of simply their use of AI for shopping. For example, willingness to pay for faster delivery varied greatly across the personas, as 86% of delegators are willing to pay for faster deliveries, while the number is only 27% for skeptics.
Being aware of these distinct AI shopping personas can also help ecommerce brands improve the experience their customers have. The opportunity lies in determining which category your customers generally fall into and responding accordingly.
For example, if your customers are generally older and more skeptical of AI, focus on building confidence and clarity to earn their trust over time as they become more comfortable and assured.
On the other hand, if your audience is young and tech-savvy, you may want to prioritize accelerating convenience and making the shopping process as fast and simple as possible.
Use of Generative AI is Skyrocketing
In addition to this valuable breakdown of AI shopping mindsets and personas, the report also includes several important stats for ecommerce brands to know. First, the report highlights that the use of generative AI in general is climbing. In fact, nearly 80% of consumers surveyed in the report have used generative AI in the past year.
30% of those between 18 and 24 years old use it several times a day, the highest of any age group, but even 15% of those 65 years and older use it multiple times a day, as well. This shows that while AI usage still trends younger, the older generation of consumers isn’t ignoring it altogether.
The report also breaks down the biggest benefits of using AI for shopping assistance according to consumers, which include:
- Saving time and effort (48% of respondents)
- Finding better deals (47%)
- Clarifying and comparing information (36%)
- Discovering products (34%)
- More personalization (22%)
- Improving purchase confidence (21%)
Many Merchants Moving Towards Agentic Commerce
In addition to consumers using AI for shopping, many ecommerce brands are also moving towards a deeper involvement with AI.
In fact, 80% of large retailers, 57% of mid-size retailers, and 45% of small retailers are actively building or expanding AI integrations. Conversely, only 7% of large retailers, 10% of mid-size retailers, and 12% of small retailers have no current plans for AI.
This massive focus on AI makes sense, as some stats show that agentic and AI-powered commerce are expected to take a major share of online sales by 2030. In addition to companies being all in on agentic commerce, over 75% of consumers are open to certain agentic commerce features, as well.
Preparing for Agentic Commerce
As a result, it’s more important than ever for ecommerce brands to dial in their plans and strategies for using AI. However, keep in mind that you need to get the fundamentals right before scaling AI too much.
If you dive right into AI without improving your data quality when it comes to pricing, products, inventory, and more, it won’t provide the same benefit as if your data were consistent and accurate.
Also, with agentic commerce potentially moving people away from purchasing in online stores to AI interfaces, you need to find unique ways to stand out. While things like branding and site performance are crucial if people are shopping your online store, if people are making entire purchase journeys in AI interfaces, you need to use other strategies to beat the competition.
This may include offering better delivery pricing or speeds than your competition, providing strong pricing, ensuring your product content is optimized, and making sure you have strong images and videos showing your products and what they do and/or look like.
