What did Salesforce's holiday shopping survey find?
Shoppers use AI to decide what to buy, then buy it themselves. In a Salesforce survey of more than 2,500 shoppers in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, 49% said they don't want an AI agent browsing or buying for them at all, and 73% aren't comfortable giving one their payment details. Salesforce published it on November 12, 2026.
According to Salesforce's release, almost 20% of shoppers now say AI is their first stop before a store, and 74% trust the recommendations it gives them. Of the 31% who have tried a personal AI agent, only 19% have let it handle checkout. Salesforce opens the release with a shopper who will ask AI for the best price on a stand mixer, then close the app and buy it themselves.
Country splits published by The IT Nerd put the US at 49% not interested, the UK at 50%, Canada at 53% and Australia at 42%.
What are shoppers using AI for?
Shoppers mostly use AI for research before they buy. The top jobs people give a personal AI agent are comparing prices, checking product specs and reviews, and brainstorming gift ideas. The agent narrows the list of options and the person still picks the store, makes the call and pays.
| Finding | Number |
|---|---|
| Shoppers who say AI is their first stop before a store | almost 20% |
| Trust the recommendations AI gives them | 74% |
| Have tried a personal AI agent | 31% |
| Agent users who let it handle checkout | 19% |
| Aren't comfortable giving an agent payment details | 73% |
| Not interested in an agent browsing or buying for them | 49% |
| Would skip a purchase if AI advised against it | 11% |
AI also changes who gets considered. 30% of AI shoppers say these tools frequently introduce them to brands they didn't know, and 11% say they'd skip a purchase if an AI assistant advised against it.
Why won't shoppers let AI agents pay?
Shoppers don't trust AI agents with their money yet. The biggest obstacles Salesforce found are unwanted sharing of their personal data and purchase history, and accidental or unwanted charges. People who already use personal agents report the kind of mistakes that keep that worry alive.
27% of personal agent users say their agent bought something too expensive, and 22% had their agent blocked from finishing a purchase. Just 9% give an agent unrestricted access to their financial details, and 36% set up a separate credit card only for the agent. Salesforce also found most shoppers will abandon an AI assistant after two or three mistakes.
Salesforce still projects AI will drive $75.8 billion in global Cyber Week spending, up 13% from 2025, and says shoppers who arrive from AI referrals are more than twice as likely to convert. That projection comes from Salesforce's own research, and Salesforce sells AI agents, so treat it as a vendor's number.
What does this mean for a business that runs ads and answers leads?
AI does the shortlisting and your business still does the selling. When a shopper picks you from an AI answer, they call, text or book with a person or with your own agent. That conversation decides the sale, so being easy to find, accurate and fast to answer is what wins it.
I've been running ads since 2013, and every new channel has worked the same way. The channel brings people to the door, and the business that answers first and clearly gets the sale. A shopper who already compared you against three competitors in a chat window shows up ready to buy, and they won't wait two days for a callback.
Caila Schwartz, who leads agentic commerce shopper insights at Salesforce, put it this way: "Be the brand that AI can find and humans can trust." For a local business, that comes down to four things:
- Keep your prices, hours and services accurate everywhere they're listed. AI tools pull from those pages, and a wrong price costs you trust before you ever speak.
- Get recent reviews coming in every week. Checking reviews is one of the top jobs shoppers hand to AI agents. Our free Google review link generator gives you a direct link customers can tap to leave one.
- Answer every call and text within minutes, including nights and weekends. A shopper who picked you from an AI shortlist will try the next name if you don't pick up.
- If you use an AI agent on your own line, test it until it gets the basics right every time. These shoppers drop an assistant after two or three mistakes.
KenjiAI covers the answering side. A Voice AI agent picks up your calls, Conversation AI answers texts and chats, and both book straight into your calendar. Review requests go out automatically after each job, so the next shopper who asks AI about you finds fresh reviews. Everything lands in one CRM, so you can see which leads booked and which went quiet.
What should you do before Cyber Week?
Search for your own business the way a shopper would. Ask ChatGPT or Google's AI who the best option is for your service in your city, then check whether you show up, what it says about your prices and hours, and which reviews it quotes.
Fix anything wrong at the source, meaning your website and Google Business Profile. Then call your own number after hours. If it goes to voicemail, you're losing the shoppers AI already sent you.
FAQ
What percentage of shoppers want AI agents to buy for them?
About half don't want one at all. In Salesforce's November 2026 survey of more than 2,500 shoppers, 49% said they aren't interested in an agent browsing or buying for them at all, and 73% aren't comfortable giving an agent their payment information. Only 19% of people who use personal agents have let one handle checkout.
Do shoppers trust AI product recommendations?
Most do. Salesforce found 74% of shoppers trust the recommendations AI gives them, and almost 20% say AI is their first stop before a store. That trust breaks easily, since most shoppers abandon an AI assistant after two or three mistakes.
How does a small business show up in AI shopping recommendations?
Keep your prices, hours and services accurate on your website and Google Business Profile, and keep recent reviews coming in, because AI tools pull from those sources. Checking product specs and reviews is one of the top tasks shoppers give AI agents.
Is the Salesforce AI shopping survey reliable?
It points in a useful direction, with limits. Salesforce sells AI agents, its release gives no fieldwork dates or per-country sample sizes, and the $75.8 billion Cyber Week figure is a projection from its own research. PPC Land and Superpower Daily reported the main number as 76%, but Salesforce's own release says 73% aren't comfortable sharing payment details and 49% aren't interested at all.
Originally published at kenjiai.com. Published by the Media Traffics | KenjiAI team.
