India is among the world's leading markets for AI-powered shopping, with 76 percent of consumers using artificial intelligence tools to search for products,
compare choices or make purchase decisions, according to a report by McKinsey, which highlighted the growing shift towards AI-led commerce. The survey, covering around 21,000 consumers across 11 markets, found that India ranked second after China, where 80 percent of consumers reported using AI for shopping. The global average stood at 53 percent. McKinsey said China and India were "about 29 percentage points ahead of the average of other countries" in AI shopping adoption. The report also found that 87 percent of Indian AI users trust AI chat and search tools, compared with the global average of 73 percent. India also recorded the highest use of Amazon's Alexa for shopping among surveyed markets, with 77 percent of its AI users reporting that they had used the tool. McKinsey said consumers were increasingly moving beyond using AI for product discovery and recommendations towards allowing AI tools to complete purchases. Globally, 14 percent of AI users said they had used an AI tool to complete a purchase. The report stated the shift from AI-assisted decisions to AI-executed transactions was beginning to emerge, with consumers increasingly relying on AI "from search through consideration to purchase." However, it cautioned that companies were not yet fully equipped to meet the rising demand. It found that standalone AI platforms were used more frequently than retailer-operated AI assistants during product discovery and comparison. However, the gap narrowed at checkout, where 15 percent of AI users used retailer assistants compared with 14 percent who used standalone AI tools. McKinsey said retailer assistants had an advantage at the purchase stage because they already had infrastructure for "live inventory, payments, and delivery." The report also highlighted the growing influence of AI in consumer decisions, finding that AI users were 3.2 times more likely to rank AI search tools as influential than traditional search engines. Around 81 percent of respondents said AI helped narrow down and filter choices, while 79 percent said it saved significant time. "Consumers are clear they want to do more with AI. The question for retailers and brands is whether they are ready to capture that demand," the report said. The study added that companies would need to improve product information, pricing and inventory data, while strengthening their AI capabilities to benefit from the shift. "Those that figure out how to strike that balance can turn agentic commerce from a source of disruption into a new engine of growth," the report stated. (With Inputs From ANI)
