The news: Consumers vet product information and brand claims with AI to avoid buyer's remorse and report being swayed by its cautions or advice.

• Over one-third (37.7%) of US consumers who shop with AI use it to summarize reviews, 22.1% use it to understand tech specifications about products, and 18.3% ask about efficacy and ingredient safety, per Envision Horizons' 2026 AI Shopping Report.
• Half (50.1%) have switched from a brand they normally buy because of an AI recommendation at least sometimes.
• The stakes are high if AI negatively perceives a brand—half (50.9%) of AI shoppers have decided not to buy a product because an AI assistant raised concerns, with 12.1% saying this happens often.

Brand name and loyalty are no longer enough in an AI-driven shopping environment.

• Price is the most important factor when choosing a product for 34.7% of consumers, followed by star rating (26.2%) and familiarity (12.2%).
• Only 9.8% choose based on brand name alone. This adds weight to online presence and how public customer feedback is managed.

What it means: Consumers are treating AI like a brand gatekeeper. This raises stakes for brands—if product pages, reviews, and third-party information are incomplete, inconsistent, or negative, AI may steer shoppers elsewhere or fail to include a brand in consideration at all.

As more internet users turn to genAI for shopping—we expect more than one-third of them will use AI for that purpose by 2030—brands need to optimize for how AI models interpret and summarize their products. Growth in AI-driven shopping experiences mandates the availability of trustworthy, structured, and comprehensive online information on products and brand identity.

Recommendations for brands: Brands need to diversify how they build trust and develop a strong network of first- and third-party information about products across the web.

• Regularly audit how top AI models describe products, look out for inaccuracies or omissions, and update owned content accordingly.
• Ensure product pages include complete specifications, FAQs, certifications, and other readable data that AI can easily understand and surface.
• Encourage post-purchase reviews and work with user-generated content platforms, such as Bazaarvoice, to establish authentic customer feedback in non-owned channels.