Key Takeaways
- Deloitte Netherlands published 'The Human and the Agent,' a survey of 13,500 consumers across 15 European countries, finding that 56% have already used AI to shop at least once
- AI shopping crossed the 50% adoption threshold in roughly 18 months, dramatically outpacing e-commerce (about 5 years) and smartphones (about 10 years) to become the fastest technology adoption European retail has ever seen
- Retailers now serve two customers at once, the human and the agent advising them, making structured product data and earned trust the new conditions for competing
AI Shopping Is Not Coming. It Is Already Here.
AI shopping is no longer the future, it is now. 56% of European consumers have already shopped with AI at least once. Reaching the 50% threshold took just 18 months, compared to roughly 5 years for e-commerce and 10 for smartphones.
www.deloitte.comWe tend to talk about AI adoption as something still on the horizon. The data tells a different story. In its 2026 report The Human and the Agent: The state of Agentic Commerce in Europe, Deloitte Netherlands surveyed 13,500 consumers across 15 countries and found that 56% of European consumers have already used AI to shop at least once.
What stands out is the speed. AI shopping crossed the 50% usage mark in roughly 18 months. Given that e-commerce took about five years to reach the same level and smartphones took about ten, this is the fastest technology adoption European retail has ever recorded. It is less a gradual migration than something closer to a structural shift.
| Technology | Time to reach 50% adoption |
|---|---|
| AI shopping | About 18 months |
| E-commerce | About 5 years |
| Smartphones | About 10 years |
AI Is Seeping Into the Entire Journey
The moments where AI shows up are no longer confined to the point of purchase. Deloitte finds that consumers are turning to AI assistants across inspiration, research, comparison, and even the buying decision itself. Much of that thinking now happens before a customer ever reaches your site or store.
Comparison is where AI's presence is most striking. Among shoppers who use AI, 57% use it to compare products, making it the single most-used comparison channel ahead of marketplaces, retailer websites, and the shop floor. Social media still owns inspiration and search still owns research, and traditional channels still lead at the point of purchase. The direction of momentum, though, is unmistakable.
This is what Deloitte calls the two-customer reality. To win the human, you increasingly have to win the agent advising them first. The party a retailer must persuade has doubled: the buyer, and the AI gathering and comparing information on the buyer's behalf.
Same Aisle, Very Different Customer
One of the sharpest findings is how differently generations relate to AI in retail. Deloitte distills it into three phrases. Gen Z says 'Style me,' treating AI as a tool for identity and self-expression. Millennials say 'Save me time,' looking for practical, functional value. Gen X says 'Let me decide,' viewing AI as a potential threat to personal autonomy.
That divide plays out plainly in physical stores. When standing in a shop, 21% of Gen Z would rather ask an AI assistant for help, while 48% of Gen X still prefer a human. Same aisle, very different customer. Any AI strategy that treats these groups the same is already wrong for at least one of them.
| Generation | What they want from AI | Prefers AI help in-store |
|---|---|---|
| Gen Z | 'Style me' (identity and self-expression) | 21% |
| Millennials | 'Save me time' (practical, functional value) | Middle ground |
| Gen X | 'Let me decide' (a threat to autonomy) | 48% still prefer a human |
Trust Is Rising, Yet Concerns Remain
Confidence in AI is climbing steadily. Deloitte reports that trust in AI is now broadly comparable to other digital channels, and especially so among younger consumers. That accumulated trust is arguably the foundation beneath the unusual 18-month adoption curve.
Concerns have not disappeared, however. The leading worry across every generation is data privacy and security, ranging from 32% among Gen Z to 42% among Gen X. Alongside it sit fears about bias, manipulation, and the loss of the human touch. Retailers who earn trust through transparency and responsible use of data, Deloitte argues, will be best positioned to benefit from the shift.
This pattern is not unique to Europe. In the United States, BigCommerce found that around two-thirds of consumers are ready to try agentic shopping, yet many still want human approval before an AI completes a purchase. Trust as the gating factor for adoption looks consistent across regions.
Three Ways Retailers Can Prepare Now
As agents take over more of the shopping journey, Deloitte frames staying relevant around three things. Be found, which means winning a place on the agent's shortlist. Be chosen, which means offering clear advantages. Be trusted, which means winning the final conversion.
Translated into practice, that ordering sets the priorities. To be found by an agent, your product information has to exist as machine-readable structured data. If price, availability, specifications, and reviews are ambiguous, a product will not even survive the AI's comparison shortlist. Deloitte's fuller findings sit within its AI Maturity Index 2026, and analysts estimate that agentic commerce represents a 240 to 320 billion euro opportunity for European retail. Whether a retailer reaches that value comes down to how well it prepares.
For e-commerce operators in Japan and elsewhere, none of this is a distant concern. Once an 18-month curve has been observed in Europe, there is ample room for a similar shift to reach other markets. The first step is auditing whether your own product data is legible to AI agents. The next is articulating, in terms both humans and agents can parse, why your products deserve to be chosen. The last is building trust through transparency about how data is handled. Getting agent-ready product data in order is where that work begins.
Conclusion
Deloitte's study confirms, with data from 13,500 consumers, that AI shopping is no longer a forecast but a present market condition. A majority of European consumers already shop with AI, and adoption is moving faster than any technology before it. Retailers must now be chosen by two customers at once, the human and the agent, which calls for three forms of readiness: structuring product data, articulating advantage, and building trust. The retailers who move will define the next era of retail, and those who wait risk being filtered out before a customer ever sees them. What this report signals is the quiet, fast sorting that has already begun.
