Dive Brief:
- Social shopping and generative AI tools have failed to resonate with some consumers, KPMG’s summer 2025 consumer pulse survey of more than 1,500 U.S. consumers found.
- Nearly two-thirds of consumers have not used AI shopping tools and do not plan to, the data found. Similarly, over half, 56%, of survey respondents said they have not used social shopping tools and don’t plan to.
- When social shopping, respondents frequently purchase apparel, personal care products and groceries.
Dive Insight:
Part of the appetite for the tools, or lack thereof, comes from how consumers prefer to shop. Over half of respondents say they aren’t influenced by online ads and prefer conducting their own research for products, KPMG found.
But other research has shown more acceptance for generative AI and social shopping tools. Data from Capgemini revealed that both generative AI and social media are the top sources for purchase decisions. Nearly a third of shoppers reported using social media to buy products and identify new brands, while nearly 3 in 5 consumers say they’ve replaced traditional engines with generative AI search tools, according to Capgemini data.
One area of hesitancy KPMG found was around consumers’ reactions to generative AI analyzing their personal online data, which typically is used to create product recommendations among other use cases. Only 34% of respondents describe themselves as comfortable, while 43% say they are uncomfortable with the tech.
Sam Ganga, KPMG’s consumer and retail AI data and cloud leader, attributes the reaction to consumer concerns about privacy and trust in technology.
To address this, Ganga said that brands must up their transparency and privacy controls to show shoppers the benefits of sharing their data. The data on generative AI coupled with how consumers are responding to social shopping, further signals a need for brands to build trust and improve transparency surrounding data privacy, according to Ganga.
Where social shopping often resonates, with apparel, stems from the visual elements social shopping provides, according to Ganga.
“The visual nature of fashion makes it a perfect fit for platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where social influence and peer recommendations drive purchasing decisions,” Ganga said. “Apparel companies have created influencer kits that make it easy for individuals to express a fashion sense while monetizing it through social platforms.”
Social shopping is making strides among certain shoppers, especially for the younger demographic. Users on TikTok, a dominant social shopping platform, averaged $708 last year in spending on the social media app’s e-commerce offering.
Over half of Gen Z report they’ve made an online purchase while on social media, according to a Walmart and Morning Consult survey. Qurate even recently shifted its strategy to target social shopping and livestreaming across TikTok, Facebook and YouTube among other platforms.
