When it comes to looking for the perfect Christmas present, most consumers would prefer to pound the keyboard rather than pavements. Traditionally, most have headed to marketplaces or Search for their information. But in 2025, AI looks set to eat a large chunk of SEO’s Christmas lunch.
New research from payments consultancy, PSE Consulting, reveals that nearly half of UK adults surveyed (49%)* now use AI tools regularly, and almost a quarter (22%) plan to use them for Christmas shopping this year. Among 18-34-year-olds, adoption jumps to 42%, reflecting strong uptake among younger, urban and more affluent consumers.
Most (85%) of those planning to use AI for shopping this festive season would trust it to place orders and execute payments on their behalf. This marks a significant shift in consumer behaviour, demonstrating how agentic AI is moving beyond recommendations to handle full transactional flows.
In the US alone, automated “agentic” shopping tools may influence up to $1 trillion in online spending by 2030, with worldwide estimates running into several trillion dollars. The shift signals how quickly AI could become a routine part of how people find, compare, and buy everyday products.
Early UK adopters – typically 18-34, affluent, and urban use AI daily or several times a week. They are almost twice as likely as the general population to plan AI-assisted holiday shopping, though they remain cautious about practical issues such as returns, incorrect items, and opaque checkout flows. At the other end, UK traditionalists, typically 55+, with lower digital exposure, remain hesitant. Over half never use AI tools, and 80% will not rely on them for festive shopping.
“The emerging ‘AI confidence divide’ is quietly reshaping shopping behaviour this Christmas,” says Chris Jones, Managing Director at PSE Consulting. “Early adopters are already turning to AI daily to hunt for deals and select gifts, while more traditional shoppers are taking a wait-and-see approach.”
Rebecca Edelman, Senior Director, Advisory Services at market insights agency, Similarweb, recently conducted search behaviour research around Black Friday to understand how consumers’ search journeys began. Since ChatGPT launched its new product research infrastructure, Edelman has seen strong growth in cross-browsing, where consumers search in one place then seek validation in another.
“In our data, the crossover of people on ChatGPT and Amazon on the same day, there’s a roughly 10-point increase in cross browsing.
“We don’t know specifically what they’re searching for in this data, but we can assume that there is a portion of people right now buying for Black Friday, buying for the Holidays, who start their research on ChatGPT.”
Search begins at ChatGPT. Source: Similarweb, 2025
While a boon for consumers, this is a concern for brands who find themselves on the back foot when it comes to their AI discoverability and measurement strategies.
“AI is drastically reshaping how customers discover, evaluate and choose brands”, says Mention Me CEO, Wojtek Kokoszka. UK consumers now turn to generative AI tools for product recommendations, brand discovery and comparisons, bypassing traditional search engines entirely. Businesses are under pressure to respond to this behaviour change.”
To respond to this challenge, Mention Me is just one of a number of companies launching tools to help companies improve their visibility in generative AI search, or Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). In December, it launched AI Discovery IQ, its free-to-use tool that helps brands reach target consumers in the new age of generative AI search.
AI Discoverability IQ gives brands an overall LLM (large language model) discoverability score, specific details on areas such as technical website elements, content and structured data, and actionable recommendations to improve their AI discoverability. The tool generates measurable, trackable outputs like AI Visibility Score, brands’ prompt-based results, and a side-by-side comparisons with their competitive set.
Generative AI shopping research looks set to disrupt brands’ long-established content and search strategies, but those able to master the new engagement are already reaping rewards.
Main Photo by erin mckenna on Unsplash
