Dive Brief:
- While nearly a quarter (23%) of consumers overall are likely to use chatbots and AI tools to shop this holiday season, millennials and Gen Z shoppers are leading the way in using the technology, according to an Epsilon Pulse report. Forty-four percent of millennials and 42% of Gen Z respondents said they are likely to use chatbots and AI tools for holiday purchase inspiration.
- Among the shoppers using AI to make their holiday plans, 72% said they planned they use the tool for gift ideas, followed by comparing prices (57%), receiving product recommendations (49%), meal ideas (49%) and clothing suggestions (43%), the survey of more than 2,100 people found.
- The majority (93%) of Gen Z who will use AI for their holiday shopping expect to use ChatGPT, per the survey findings.
Dive Insight:
Research continues to signal that consumers are open to engaging with AI as part of their holiday shopping journey.
More than half of consumers surveyed by Klaviyo said they will use AI to compare prices, look for products and receive personalized recommendations during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend. Meanwhile, UserTesting found that a third of shoppers in the U.K., the U.S. and Australia plan to use AI to help find gift ideas, compare prices, search for product links and assess whether deals are worthwhile.
Along with AI tools, shoppers are turning to social media platforms for gift inspiration, research suggests. Forty-four percent of Gen Zers and 36% of millennials are looking to social media influencers for gift inspiration this holiday season, a greater share than the 20% of overall respondents, per Epsilon’s report.
For Gen Z shoppers, TikTok remains the top social media platform for finding gift inspiration and making holiday purchases, followed by Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Facebook. Millennials, on the other hand, are turning to Facebook the most, followed by YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok, Epsilon found in its survey. Meanwhile, a JLL report released this month also found that Gen Zers are turning to TikTok for holiday shopping inspiration.
Epsilon’s research also builds upon previous reports indicating that shoppers will head to discount and department stores this holiday season. While Amazon will be the top retail destination for holiday shoppers, mass merchants will come in second, followed by department stores, discount retailers, and hardware and home improvement stores, Epsilon’s survey found. Another survey from ICSC stated that nearly two-thirds of consumers will shop at discount department stores and over a quarter will buy their holiday items at traditional department stores.
