Holiday Shoppers Let AI Hunt for Deals This Year

Holiday shoppers are about to let AI do the hunting — but not the buying. A new study released on October 8, 2026 finds that 55 percent of shoppers plan to use AI for holiday shopping this year, with Gen Z leading the charge at 71 percent adoption. Yet only a small fraction would actually let a bot complete the purchase.

The research, Simon-Kucher's holiday shopping study of 1,501 US consumers fielded in August, paints a picture of holiday shoppers who are optimistic about AI as a deal-finding assistant and skeptical of it as a buyer, according to PPC Land's summary of the findings.

How holiday shoppers use AI: research, not checkout

Among the shoppers who use AI, the top tasks are practical: 55 percent use it to find prices and deals, 51 percent to compare products, 37 percent to discover gift ideas, 30 percent to plan when and where to shop, and 29 percent to stay within budget, as reported by PPC Land. AI is a comparison engine, not a gift-giving guru.

The comfort level drops off a cliff at the checkout button. Only 16 percent of holiday shoppers would let AI complete a purchase on their behalf — 20 percent of Gen Z, 22 percent of Millennials, 11 percent of Gen X, and 6 percent of Boomers. Young shoppers are more open than their parents, but even among Gen Z, handing over the card is a bridge too far.

The hesitation has clear reasons. About a quarter of holiday shoppers do not trust AI with their personal information, 21 percent do not trust its recommendations, 18 percent think it would put the retailer's interests above theirs, and 14 percent worry it could charge the wrong amount. The deal-hunting is welcome; the delegation is not.

Tighter budgets, sharper intent

Budgets are tightening at the same time. The average planned holiday budget is about a thousand dollars per household, down five and a half percent from last year and roughly level with 2024, according to PPC Land. Middle-income households are making the largest cuts, a sign that the squeeze is landing on the shoppers with the least margin for error.

Partner Shikha Jain framed the mood as budgets being "reset, not abandoned" — shoppers are still spending, just with far more intention. Max Walter, who also worked on the study, said holiday shoppers are "shopping early and buying with greater intention," as reported by PPC Land. Fewer impulse buys, more spreadsheets.

The trust gap extends to the deals themselves. Only 22 percent of holiday shoppers say advertised discounts fully reflect true savings, down from 46 percent in 2025. And 77 percent say inflation changed how they shop. When fewer than a quarter of shoppers believe the sale price, "deal" becomes a word that needs its own fact-check.

TikTok Shop and the social checkout

Social commerce is part of the hunt. About 36 percent of respondents use TikTok Shop, and nearly half of those users have shopped major holiday sales on the platform. Among those event shoppers, 76 percent say it offers better drops, deals, and exclusives than other social platforms, according to the study's findings as reported by PPC Land.

That enthusiasm comes with a counterweight. The technology for AI-driven buying already exists — agentic checkout tools can buy tracked items automatically when prices drop — but consumer comfort has not caught up. Security researchers have also flagged TikTok Shop as a hotspot for scams and counterfeits, a reminder that the flashiest deal is not always the real one. For how AI shopping agents are wiring into retail itself, see RezolvePay Connects Any AI Shopping Agent to Retail in Business.

The playbook for holiday shoppers who want AI's help

So how should holiday shoppers actually use AI this season? The data points to a clear strategy: let the bot hunt, but keep the wallet. Use AI to compare prices across retailers, surface gift ideas you had not considered, and build a budget — tasks where most shoppers are already comfortable.

But verify the "deal" yourself before buying: check price history, compare across at least two retailers, and do not grant an agent the ability to purchase without a final human click. The study's biggest lesson is that holiday shoppers already intuit this balance — they trust AI to find the discount far more than they trust the discount itself.

This season's winner will not be the shopper with the cleverest chatbot. It will be the one who uses AI for research, trusts their own math at checkout, and starts early. The deals are out there — the bots just found them first.