In just six months, American shoppers have nearly doubled their willingness to let artificial intelligence handle transactions, according to a new survey by Omnisend. The numbers tell a clear story: generative AI is no longer just a shopping assistant; it’s on the cusp of becoming the cashier.
Yet behind this rapid adoption lies a paradox. While 59% of consumers already use AI tools like ChatGPT for product research, personalized recommendations, and deal-hunting, as many as 85% still voice strong concerns about privacy, accuracy, and AI fatigue. This tension between convenience and trust is shaping the next era of ecommerce—and it offers invaluable lessons for product builders everywhere.
The Right Time to Launch
Shoppers are overwhelmed. Between ads, endless SEO content, and too many open tabs, traditional online shopping often feels more like work than convenience. Generative AI solves this by delivering “distilled answers from a knowledgeable friend,” as Marty Bauer, Ecommerce Expert at Omnisend, puts it.
- 65% of consumers prefer ChatGPT as their shopping assistant.
- 1 in 4 say its recommendations outperform Google’s.
- Openness to AI-led checkout has jumped from 34% to 68% in just five months.
The market is moving fast. With OpenAI developing built-in checkout features, and giants like Amazon, Walmart, and Mastercard investing heavily in agentic AI, the opportunity is no longer about if AI will enter checkout—it’s about who consumers will trust to lead the way.
Survey Highlights
The survey highlights three primary user segments:
- Convenience Seekers (29%) – Use AI to make shopping less overwhelming.
- Deal Hunters (40%) – Rely on AI to find better offers and discounts.
- Explorers (57%) – Turn to AI for faster, smarter product research.
For these users, AI is solving one core problem: decision fatigue. The endless scrolling, comparing, and filtering is replaced with direct, personalized guidance.
Building Products on Trust
What makes this moment interesting for product leaders is not just adoption, but the barriers that remain. User research surfaces four recurring concerns:
- Privacy and Data Security (43%) – Who owns my data? How is it used?
- AI Misinterpretation (37%) – Will it understand my actual needs?
- Irrelevant Suggestions (35%) – Is this really better than existing tools?
- AI Overuse (26%) – Where’s the line between helpful and intrusive?
These insights reinforce that trust is not a byproduct of adoption—it is the product. Building transparency, permission, and human fallback into every interaction is not optional; it’s the key differentiator.
Designing AI with Consent
For India’s growing product community, Omnisend’s findings are not just about ecommerce—they’re about designing AI experiences responsibly. The lessons apply to anyone building products in fast-adopting, high-skepticism markets:
- Give users control. Opt-in/out should be seamless. Empower, don’t dictate.
- Design for approval. Build checkpoints—before AI adds to cart, before it checks out.
- Keep a visible human touch. AI should assist, not replace, when trust is critical.
The Next Chapter
With over 800 million internet users and growing digital literacy, Indian consumers will soon face the same trade-off between AI convenience and AI caution.
The future of ecommerce—and perhaps India’s path to becoming a product powerhouse—will be shaped by how well we design AI not just to transact, but to earn trust.
