41% of Consumers Now Use AI for Product Discovery. A Third Have Ditched Search Entirely.

The shift from search to AI for shopping isn't a prediction anymore. It's measurable, accelerating, and reshaping how products get found and bought.

I've been tracking this data closely because it maps directly to what we're building at Paz. Every stat below points to the same conclusion: the discovery layer of commerce is being rewritten, and most brands aren't ready.

The PYMNTS Numbers Tell a Clear Story

41% of U.S. consumers have used dedicated AI platforms for product discovery as of January 2026, and a third say they've fully replaced their old methods.

PYMNTS Intelligence surveyed 2,439 U.S. adults between December 2025 and January 2026. The headline finding: 41% of consumers used native AI platforms (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) specifically for product discovery. Not as a complement to Google. As a replacement.

33% of those consumers say they have fully replaced their prior shopping discovery methods with AI. Not supplemented. Replaced.

Among power users, the replacement rate is even more dramatic. PYMNTS data shows that 51% of early adopters have swapped out their old discovery methods entirely. These aren't casual experimenters. Power users now average 27 distinct AI activities per month, up from 25 just three months earlier.

And the overall adoption ceiling keeps rising. Two in three U.S. consumers, and two in three millennials, used a conversational AI assistant by December 2025. Growth isn't coming from new users trying AI for the first time. It's coming from existing users doing more with it.

AI Referral Traffic Exploded During the 2025 Holidays

AI-driven traffic to retail sites grew 693% year-over-year during the 2025 holiday season, with those visitors converting at higher rates.

Adobe Analytics tracked the 2025 holiday shopping season and found that generative AI tools drove a 693% increase in referral traffic to retail sites compared to the 2024 holidays. That's roughly a 7x jump in one year.

The quality of that traffic matters even more than the volume. According to Adobe's analysis, AI-referred shoppers were 33% less likely to bounce immediately. They converted at higher rates. They generated more revenue per visit. This wasn't tire-kicking. People showing up from ChatGPT or similar tools arrived with intent and specificity that traditional search traffic rarely matches.

The total online holiday spend hit a record $257.8 billion. Consumers spent more than $4 billion in a single day for 25 days straight during the season, up from 18 such days in 2024.

Shoppers Are Using AI to Hunt for Better Deals

Over 70% of shoppers are either using or actively exploring AI tools to find better deals and promotions.

A 2026 shopper study from XCCommerce and SmartBrief, released at NRF 2026, found that more than 70% of shoppers are turning to AI specifically to uncover better deals and personalized promotions. The motivation is practical: consumers want AI to surface savings they'd otherwise miss.

This lines up with a broader pattern. Shoppers aren't adopting AI for novelty. They're adopting it because it delivers better outcomes. Better prices, more relevant recommendations, less time wasted scrolling through pages of search results.

Amazon Still Dominates, but the Discovery Layer is Up for Grabs

Amazon captures 48% of online clothing, 61% of electronics, and 75% of sporting goods purchases, but how consumers find those products is changing fast.

PYMNTS Intelligence data shows Amazon's dominance in online purchase completion: 48% of clothing and accessories, 61% of electronics, and 75% of sporting goods and hobby purchases made online happen on Amazon. Nearly two in every ten retail purchases now start and end online.

But here's the thing: owning the transaction doesn't mean owning the discovery moment. If a consumer asks ChatGPT "what's the best running shoe for flat feet under $150" and gets a recommendation with an Amazon link, Amazon still gets the sale. But the brand that got recommended won because it was visible to the AI, not because it won a Google keyword auction.

The discovery layer and the transaction layer are separating. That gap is where everything interesting is happening.

The Data at a Glance

What This Means for Brands

The pattern here is straightforward. Consumers are shifting their product discovery from search engines to AI platforms. The ones who shift first are the most engaged and highest-value shoppers. The AI traffic that reaches retail sites converts better than traditional channels.

If your brand's visibility strategy is still anchored to SEO and paid search, you're optimizing for a channel that a third of consumers have already abandoned for product discovery. The question isn't whether AI will become a primary discovery channel. It already is for tens of millions of Americans.

The brands that show up in AI recommendations today are building an advantage that compounds. The ones waiting for "more data" are going to find themselves invisible in the channel that matters most.

FAQ

How many consumers use AI for product discovery? As of January 2026, 41% of U.S. consumers have used dedicated AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini for product discovery, according to PYMNTS Intelligence research surveying 2,439 adults.

What percentage of consumers have replaced search with AI for shopping? 33% of consumers who use AI for product discovery say they have fully replaced their prior methods. Among power users, that replacement rate reaches 51%.

How much did AI referral traffic to retail grow in 2025? Adobe Analytics found that AI-driven referral traffic to retail sites increased 693% year-over-year during the 2025 holiday season, with those visitors showing higher conversion rates and lower bounce rates.

Related: 74% of consumers now use AI for shopping

Are AI-referred shoppers actually buying, or just browsing? They're buying. Adobe's data shows AI-referred visitors convert at higher rates than other traffic sources and generate more revenue per visit. They were also 33% less likely to bounce compared to other referral channels.

Why does AI product discovery matter for brands? Because the discovery layer is separating from the transaction layer. Consumers increasingly ask AI what to buy before they visit a retailer. Brands that are visible and well-represented in AI training data and retrieval systems get recommended. Those that aren't get skipped entirely.