11% of Consumers Think They've Already Shopped with AI — Here's Why That Changes Everything

This week, I'm sharing snippets of a conversation from The Watson Weekly, one of my favorite podcasts, where host Rick Watson sat down with Holden Bale, Global Chief Strategy Officer at Merkle. One statistic mentioned completely stopped me in my tracks: 11% of consumers believe they've already purchased products directly through AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini. Even though, in most cases, that simply isn't possible.What fascinated me wasn't that consumers are wrong: it's why they're wrong. We explore what this tells us about the future of AI-powered shopping, why perception may matter more than transaction data, and how today's "halo effect" could shape tomorrow's commerce landscape. We also dig into one of the biggest challenges facing AI assistants: building enough personal context to become truly useful shopping companions.This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoopTimeline00:00 – Why one surprising AI shopping statistic immediately caught my attention01:26 – The "misunderheard" consumer: why 11% believe they've already shopped through AI02:18 – What social commerce teaches us about consumer perception versus actual transactions04:49 – Why consumers believing they shopped with AI may be more important than whether they actually did06:45 – The missing ingredient for AI commerce: personalization, memory, and shopping context09:30 – Why marketplaces and order history could determine who wins the AI shopping race10:46 – A preview of my own experiment using Amazon purchase history inside an LLMLinks & ResourcesListen to the full Watson Weekly episode: 88% Have Deployed AI. 6% Can Prove It WorkedSubscribe to Watson Weekly on Apple PodcastsFollow Rick Watson, Founder, RMW Commerce, on LinkedInFollow Holden Bale, Global Chief Strategy Officer at Merkle, on LinkedInRead my related articles:ChatGPT Ads Are Here. I'm Not Panicking.AI-Enabled Shopping Hits 74% AdoptionMaybe Ads in AI Don't Have To Suck?Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop. The latest episode dropped last weekI'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclubSubscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletterFollow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn