Gen Z Loves AI Shopping but Will Dump Brands Over It

Gen Z is the generation most comfortable letting AI shopping shape what it buys, and also the generation most likely to punish a brand that uses AI badly. That contradiction sits at the center of SAP Engagement Cloud's 2026 Customer Loyalty Index, released September 16 in Indianapolis.

According to the index, Gen Z leads every generation in AI shopping adoption. Globally, 47 percent of Gen Z consumers have purchased products recommended by AI, and 44 percent say they would trust an AI assistant to make a purchase on their behalf. In the United States, 32 percent of consumers regularly rely on AI tools or assistants when deciding what to buy, 34 percent have bought products recommended by an AI assistant, and 32 percent would be comfortable letting an AI assistant buy for them.

Then comes the other half of the picture. Globally, 45 percent of Gen Z consumers say they have switched away from a brand they were once loyal to because of its use of AI, according to the research. Adoption and backlash are happening at the same time, in the same shoppers.

Gen Z trusts AI with its wallet, not its blind faith

SAP's own analysis frames the finding as a tightrope. The index shows that 31 percent of consumers say interactions with AI assistants make them feel more loyal toward a brand, while 30 percent have already switched away from a brand over AI use, a figure that rises to 45 percent among Gen Z.

What separates the brands that keep shoppers from the ones getting dropped is how the AI shows up. Among global Gen Z consumers, only 16 percent say they are more loyal to brands that use AI to improve the shopping experience, while 26 percent feel more loyal to brands that market to them in a personalized way. The numbers point to one complaint: shoppers do not object to the tool itself, they object to how it treats them.

The generational split is starkest in trust. The index found that 44 percent of U.S. shoppers now say they prefer recommendations from AI over advice from friends and family. In the United Kingdom, where the research surveyed 2,000 respondents, 48 percent of Gen Z consumers have purchased products recommended by AI, 37 percent would trust an AI assistant to make a purchase on their behalf, and 43 percent say they have switched brands because of how AI was used, reported Enterprise Times.

Transparency is what earns the sale

Writing on the index's results, 360 Magazine noted that younger generations tend to be savvier with new technologies while holding higher expectations of how they work, and that without clear policies and a demonstrated respect for personal information, bringing AI into customer experience can threaten the brand loyalty it was meant to build.

SAP's blog on the findings argues the sweet spot is what it calls earned autonomy. Shoppers want AI that helps them, remembers them, and acts for them when it makes life easier, but not AI that takes the steering wheel somewhere they cannot reach. The ask is practical: stay useful without quietly becoming the decision maker.

This matters because AI is moving past the experiment stage and into the checkout flow. The MACH Alliance separately reported that 42 percent of digital spend is already informed by AI search. Brands that treat AI as a feature to advertise will keep hitting the 45 percent who walk away. Brands that treat it as a relationship to earn may find that the generation everyone calls skeptical is actually the easiest to win over, provided the AI respects them.

The tension is not limited to shopping. AI voice clones beat human announcers by 26 percent in podcast ads, while separate research found workers lose roughly a month a year to AI troubleshooting. And Gen Z keeps outpacing its own stereotypes: the "Gen Z stare" is a myth, with the generation making more small talk than anyone else.

For now, the message from Gen Z is consistent across every market the index measured. Use AI to remember my size, surface what I actually want, and stay out of my way. Do it visibly, explain what is happening with my data, and I will stay. Hide it, overreach, or get it wrong, and I will leave and tell my friends why.

Reporting was based on SAP Engagement Cloud's 2026 Customer Loyalty Index, available at emarsys.com, SAP's companion analysis at sap.com, coverage from Enterprise Times and analysis from 360 Magazine.