65% of holiday shoppers will use AI. Indie brands can win.
Shopify’s 2026 holiday report says shoppers who use AI lean toward indie brands. What an agent needs before it can pick yours.
- Will use AI for a shopping task65
Shopify calls this the first holiday season of the agentic era. Its 2026 Global Holiday Retail Report, published Oct 6, has two numbers every independent brand should read twice.
Two numbers
- 65% of shoppers say they will use AI for at least one shopping task this season.
- 71% of regular AI users are more likely to choose an indie brand this year than last.
Shopify adds that shoppers who use AI tools are also the most open to independent and niche brands.
Why AI helps the smaller brand
A search engine needs the shopper to know the right word. An AI does not. Cottonique, a hypoallergenic clothing brand, puts it plainly in Shopify’s report: nobody with eczema types "hypoallergenic bra". They describe the problem, and the AI finds the brand that solves it.
AI channels are the first search interface that has ever spoken our customers’ language.
Shopify also reports that 81% of shoppers who use AI regularly are choosing more products this year because they feel personal, intentional or considered.
Brands already see it in sales
These are the brands’ own results, as published by Shopify.
Research with AI, buy by hand
Only one third of shoppers say they trusted an AI agent to buy on their behalf. So this season AI builds the shortlist, and a person makes the final click.
That makes the shortlist the whole game. If AI describes you wrongly, or not at all, the person never sees you.
What an agent needs to pick you
Shopify puts the test in one line: can an agent understand what you sell, who you are selling it to, and whether your brand can be trusted? In practice that means four things AI can read on your own pages.
- What you sell: current titles, sizes, colours and stock.
- Who it is for: the problem it solves, in your shoppers’ words.
- Why it is worth it: 35% of shoppers pick the best version for their needs, even when it is not the cheapest.
- Why to trust you: reviews, shipping and returns, stated plainly and the same everywhere.
How Shopthru.ai helps
Shopthru.ai is an AI agents team for consumer brands on any platform. It asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI, Perplexity and Copilot what they would recommend in your category, finds what they get wrong about you, and drafts each fix into an approval inbox. Nothing changes until you say yes. Then it measures again. Instagram and Amazon are next.