AI, stricter safety rules, and new ad restrictions are reshaping the UK digital landscape as local sellers gain leverage, platforms face new friction, and advertisers adapt to a fast-changing regulatory environment.

Brands and retailers are struggling to keep up with changes to the shopper experience as consumers adopt genAI-powered “click-less journeys.”

OpenAI introduced a shopping research feature for ChatGPT that builds personalized buying guides based on user queries and past conversations. The feature is available to all ChatGPT users, including those on free plans; OpenAI is offering “nearly unlimited usage” throughout the holiday season. Making the feature widely available at no cost suggests that OpenAI is looking to get users to rely on ChatGPT for purchase decisions, which could eventually result in greater buy-in for its agentic checkout features. However, it faces stiff competition: Perplexity, Google, and Amazon have all rolled out advanced AI functions to help holiday shoppers.

As AI increasingly powers everything from holiday ads to product recommendations, retailers face a critical balancing act between efficiency and authenticity. "The question isn't if retailers will use AI, it's how they'll keep using it and maintain the human touch along the way," said host Suzy Davidkhanian on a recent episode of “Behind the Numbers.”

Amazon blocked several OpenAI-affiliated crawlers from accessing its site, a move first reported by ecommerce analyst Juozas Kaziukėnas. That marks the retailer’s latest attempt to keep third-party agents from encroaching on its turf and endangering ad revenues. Amazon’s insistence on keeping AI agents at bay is the right move for the company for the time being. Adoption is minimal for now, hampered by trust issues, clunky UX, and minimal merchant participation. However, the gates will have to open at some point—and the longer Amazon waits, the more ground it cedes to rivals like Walmart.

Google has officially begun showing ads in its AI Mode search engine after announcing a rollout earlier this year. Google’s early testing of ads in AI Mode suggests that AI-driven search placements are beginning to take shape and may ultimately unlock new revenue potential. But with performance still unproven, advertisers should track developments closely while resisting the urge to invest heavily before the format demonstrates clear value.

Future-proofing against—and capitalizing on—advances in consumer-facing AI will be the overarching theme for retailers in 2026.

Google is adding agentic checkout to its shopping capabilities in time for the holiday season, alongside other genAI tools. These updates defend Google’s core search ad business as shopping queries move toward conversational interfaces, even as the company still dominates the search journey. They also position Google to benefit from increased genAI adoption this holiday season.

Microsoft is turning to lifestyle creators to make Copilot a cultural player, not just a productivity tool. TikTok stars like Alix Earle, Brigette and Danielle Pheloung, and Brandon Edelman are showing Copilot in real-life contexts—beauty, fashion, and self-improvement—garnering millions of views and repositioning the AI assistant for Gen Z and women users. Consumer CMO Yusuf Mehdi calls Microsoft a “challenger brand” in AI assistants, with 150 million users compared with ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly. The influencer pivot signals a shift toward utility-driven marketing—content that demonstrates value in everyday life rather than selling aspiration.

Automation, new commerce models, and a fresh generation of consumers are transforming the rules of connection and creativity. Explore the 11 trends shaping the digital future.

OpenAI’s push into commerce took a major step forward with the launch of in-app shopping on ChatGPT, though it will take time to gain traction as a meaningful retail sales channel.

OpenAI may build its own consumer health tools, such as a personal health assistant or a product that aggregates users’ health data, per a Business Insider report. A range of healthcare and tech companies—from Verily to wearable makers like Oura and Fitbit—are developing AI-powered health coach and assistant tools. A comparable OpenAI product could immediately threaten existing solutions due to its massive scale, provided it gains access to patient data. However, makers of health-tracking devices and some digital health companies could also be strong partners for OpenAI in creating a product that combines advanced AI with user health data.

AI is reshaping how payment providers attract, serve, and retain customers. Those who act now to integrate AI across the life cycle—from discovery to checkout to support—will gain an edge, while those who wait risk losing loyalty and control.

Generative AI is transforming how consumers discover products and brands earn visibility. As usage of—and trust in—AI grows, brands must rethink how they optimize for discovery and measure success.

"[The oldest members of Gen Alpha are] turning 16 next year, so we are on the eve of them becoming pretty powerful consumers," said Dani Mariano, CEO at Razorfish. "[GWI found that] 30% of 12- to 15-year-olds said that they had used AI in the last seven days. I think it could be even higher."

ChatGPT now handles more than 2 billion queries daily from 190 million users, per MarTech. The chatbot has transcended novelty and become a decision-stage search companion. Nearly 80% of US ChatGPT users treat it like a search engine, per a new Adobe survey. Influence now hinges on how brands appear within genAI—not just in Google Search results or on social media. This adds another layer of complexity for brand managers while unlocking opportunities for real-time content optimization and risk monitoring.

From Ulta Beauty’s new marketplace to Gap’s creator platform, here’s what the eight most interesting retailers from October have been up to, as ranked on our “Behind the Numbers” podcast.

OpenAI detailed new ChatGPT mental health safety measure results on Monday, alongside an internal analysis that shows potentially millions of users’ conversations indicate emotional reliance on the chatbot. Marketers should educate parents of teens and young adults about safe AI use, and emphasize best practices like clinician collaboration, backup safety measures, and transparent data policies to build credibility and trust.

ChatGPT is less effective at converting shoppers than nearly all traditional channels except paid social, according to a working paper by researchers from the University of Hamburg and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. That finding is consistent with EMARKETER’s latest report on AI search, which shows that traditional search engines continue to dominate discovery. Retailers should certainly be thinking about how to optimize their websites and listings for discovery on generative AI engines—but those efforts shouldn’t come at the expense of SEO, since the vast majority of shoppers continue to surface products via Google and other traditional channels.