Adyen, the global financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, today published its 2025 Annual Retail Report that finds there’s been a 47% surge in people using AI to shop. In a poll of 41,000 consumers across 28 countries, more than one in ten (12%) said they had used AI for the first time over the past 12 months to help them with their shopping experience. And an impressive 55%2 of people said they would be open to making purchases using AI technology in the future.
Over a third (37%)1 of those polled said that they use AI to help them get their shopping done. Shoppers are positive about their experience, with 58%2 of consumers saying AI helps to inspire them when buying outfits, meals and other purchases. Almost one in ten (8%) said that they get their best ideas for new products when using the technology. Over half (56%)2 said that they wanted to find unique brands using AI, a development that highlights the chance for brands to combine partnerships and cross-selling to drive customer sales.
Boomers and gen X Lead AI adoption growth
Use of AI in the shopping experience is rising in popularity across all age demographics, but it’s the Baby Boomer generation (60 – 78 years) and Generation X (44 – 59 years) who recorded the biggest increases over the past 12 months, at 60% and 58% respectively. However, just 16% of those aged 60 and over say they currently use AI to support them making purchases1, while 57% of Generation Z (16 – 27 years) and 49% of millennials (28 – 43 years) do. Overall, 62%2 of consumers said that they understood retailers might be using AI to recommend products to them.
“Consumers are embracing AI at an unprecedented rate as they discover how this technology is transforming the shopping experience,” commented Roelant Prins, CCO at Adyen. “We’re likely entering an era where AI can act as our own personal stylist, curating outfits tailored to individual tastes and preferences. The demographic splits from our research showed some interesting results, especially seeing how older generations have been integrating AI into their shopping habits.”
Retailers look to AI for growth
When retailers were asked how they are planning to increase their revenues in 2025, deployment of AI and technologies was a popular strategy. 32% said they would invest in AI to support their sales and marketing activity and 30% would invest in AI to support product innovation.
“AI is no longer viewed as a future bet—it’s a current imperative for retailers and consumers alike,” commented Holly Worst, VP of Retail at Adyen. “Earlier this year we launched Adyen Uplift, our AI-powered payment optimization suite that helps businesses increase payment conversion, simplify fraud management, and reduce the cost of payments.
“By embracing AI in this way, we can help retailers offer an unparalleled customer experience as ‘good’ shoppers are able to speed through checkout whilst we can intercept fraudulent transactions. It is clear to see why AI has taken the top spot as the most-cited growth enabler for 2025.”
Beyond AI, unified commerce offering still key
While investment in new technologies is welcome, just 42% of retailers said they currently enable customers to shop and complete transactions easily across online and offline channels. A further 18% of business leaders planned to enable this over the next 12 months. A similar amount (17%) said they were planning to serve customers with exclusive in-store experiences.
Adyen’s 2025 Retail Report found technologies and online experiences to be opening new channels for brands to connect with customers, with 40%2 of people expecting to be able to shop with a business across multiple touch points including social media, apps and the online store. For example, almost a third of consumers said that they use social media to shop (32%)2.
But despite such high digital usage, physical stores remain the preferred destination for shoppers (38%) over those who prefer filling their baskets online (23%). People said that they wanted to see and feel the product before making a purchase (47%), try on items before purchasing (42%) and they also referenced the advantages of immediacy when in-store. Just over one third (34%) said that they like to walk out of the store with the product at the moment of purchase.
