Price comparisons and narrowing down gift ideas are some of the ways consumers are using AI this season. But maintaining autonomy in the buying process remains important to shoppers.

Consumers this holiday season might use AI tools to help inspire their gift purchases and compare prices — but they won’t be giving up all the decision making to technology.

While AI adoption throughout the shopping journey still has a ways to go, consumers' interest and experience with it has improved since last year.

Many people's discovery journeys are continuing to change this year as they become more comfortable with AI, Gartner Senior Principal Analyst Emily told Retail Dive, adding that “people are using AI tools at the beginning of their shopping journey as a source of inspiration.”

One-third of consumers are very or extremely willing to use generative-AI-backed tools or chatbots for holiday gift recommendations, according to data from Gartner’s 2026 Holiday Advertising and Consumer Trends report. Currently, just 13% of shoppers use AI tools or chatbots to inspire their holiday shopping.

Big retailers — such as Walmart — are investing in agentic across the buying journey, both on-site and externally. But it will take time for consumers to broadly utilize it to finalize purchases.

Consumers don't want AI tools to take over the final stages of the purchasing journey, “especially when it comes to holiday shopping, because they want to maintain autonomy over choice,” Weiss added.

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