McKinsey: 17% of US AI Users Have Bought Through an AI Tool, Up From 10%
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17%
of US AI users have bought directly inside an AI tool, up from 10% a year earlier, McKinsey reports.
McKinsey's June 2026 consumer survey covers about 21,000 people in 11 markets. Globally 14% of AI users have bought through an AI tool. Retailers' own AI assistants trail stand-alone tools at discovery but are marginally ahead at checkout (15% against 14%, though the two questions were worded differently). That is likely because retailers already hold live stock, payment and delivery data.
The week in three lines
- McKinsey finds 17% of US AI users have bought directly in an AI tool, up from 10% a year earlier. Retailer assistants are marginally ahead of stand-alone tools at checkout (15% against 14%, though the questions were worded differently), likely because retailers already hold live stock, payment and delivery data.
- Deloitte and McKinsey describe the same gap. Of Deloitte's respondents, 81% report faster decision-making and execution but only 25% are deeply transforming the business, and in McKinsey's procurement survey only 2% have AI embedded at scale.
- McKinsey offers a simple test of agent readiness: could a retailer's systems accurately state what a product costs, whether it is in stock, when it could arrive and whether the agent can buy it now?
The papers
McKinsey: over half of consumers now use AI to shop, and retailers' own assistants catch up at checkout
A June 2026 survey of about 21,000 consumers in 11 markets finds 53% used AI for shopping in the past three months, and 17% of US AI users have bought directly in an AI tool, up from 10%. Retailer assistants trail stand-alone tools by up to two times earlier in the journey but are marginally ahead at checkout (15% against 14%, though the two questions were worded differently).
McKinsey · Supply chainMcKinsey: agentic AI in sourcing pays when aimed at sourcing decisions, and requisitions stay with simple automation
McKinsey cites a survey of procurement leaders in which 80% plan to invest more in AI but 2% have it embedded at scale, and says agents aimed at sourcing decisions can add 3% to 6% savings on external spend. The examples are anonymous and the value comparison is McKinsey's own calculation.
Deloitte AI Institute · Value gapDeloitte: AI makes work faster, but only 15% report a significant shift in who decides
A survey of 3,500 director to C-suite leaders in 25 countries (May to June 2026) finds 81% report faster decisions, 60% have redesigned jobs to at least a moderate degree and 15% report a significant shift in decision-making authority. 40% let AI act without human approval at least moderately, and 23% say accountability is unclear when it goes wrong.
BCG · ChatbotsBCG: CPG brands face AI agents across the whole funnel, and most have no capability yet
BCG says 41% of CPG companies have begun building agentic capabilities and 59% report none, and that 87% of retailers do not share customer data with agents at all. Its revenue gains from pilots are BCG's own figures, with no sample sizes shown.
Forrester · ChatbotsForrester: customers' AI agents won't give up, so hidden service demand will surface
An analyst argues that personal AI agents will chase problems customers used to abandon, so contact volumes may rise and containment metrics will mislead. The post is opinion with one adoption figure and no original survey data.
Also published
- Gartner Survey Shows 47% of Supply Chains Reduced Headcount by an Average of 10.5% Over the Past Two Years Primarily Due to the Impact of AI — Gartner, 28 Oct 2026
Headline figures only. Sample and method not confirmed.
- AI In Procurement: Experiment Like A Teenager — Forrester, 30 Oct 2026
Analyst opinion promoting Forrester's own supplier value management Wave, which reportedly favours augmentation over autonomy. No figures on the page.
- AI Search Is Growing Faster Than Its Business Model — Forrester, 30 Oct 2026
Marketing-focused opinion. One Forrester trust figure (70%) with no method shown.
- DoorDash + Instacart: A Good Idea But Not For The Reasons They Say — Forrester, 30 Oct 2026
Opinion on a DoorDash deal for Instacart, as reported by Forrester. Forrester advises retailers to review their contracts with both firms. Not AI research.
What nobody is saying
BCG and McKinsey put the AI shopper at very different levels, and the figures don't measure the same thing. BCG's 4% is the share of US consumers who say they would let an agent complete a purchase alone (December 2025). McKinsey's 14% globally, and 17% in the US, is the share of AI users who report having completed a purchase directly inside an AI tool (June 2026). One measures stated willingness among all consumers, the other reported behaviour among AI users. McKinsey also relays two platform claims without method: Amazon says Alexa for Shopping users are 60% more likely to buy, and Shopify says AI searches using its structured catalogue convert at roughly twice the rate of searches on scraped or stale data. Both come from companies selling the tools.
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