Adyen, a global financial technology platform, has published its 2025 Annual Retail Report which has found a 47 per cent surge in people using AI to shop. In a poll of 41,000 consumers across 28 countries, more than one in ten (12 per cent) 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 per cent of people said they would be open to making purchases using AI technology in the future.
Over a third (37 per cent) of those polled said that they use AI to help them get their shopping done. Shoppers are positive about their experience, with 58 per cent of consumers saying AI helps to inspire them when buying outfits, meals and other purchases. Almost one in ten (8 per cent) said that they get their best ideas for new products when using the technology. Over half (56 per cent) 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 per cent and 58 per cent respectively. However, just 16 per cent of those aged 60 and over say they currently use AI to support them making purchases1, while 57 per cent of Generation Z (16 – 27 years) and 49 per cent of millennials (28 – 43 years) do. Overall, 62 per cent2 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 per cent said they would invest in AI to support their sales and marketing activity and 30 per cent 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 optimisation 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 per cent of retailers said they currently enable customers to shop and complete transactions easily across online and offline channels. A further 18 per cent of business leaders planned to enable this over the next 12 months. A similar amount (17 per cent) 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 per cent of people expecting to be able to shop with a business across multiple touchpoints, including social media, apps and the online store. For example, almost a third of consumers said that they use social media to shop (32 per cent).
But despite such high digital usage, physical stores remain the preferred destination for shoppers (38 per cent) over those who prefer filling their baskets online (23 per cent). People said that they wanted to see and feel the product before making a purchase (47 per cent), try on items before purchasing (42 per cent) and they also referenced the advantages of immediacy when in-store. Just over one third (34 per cent) said that they like to walk out of the store with the product at the moment of purchase.
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