How AI shopping can quietly erode brand loyalty – and what it means for luxury

June 3, 2026

Consumers want AI to help them decide, not decide for them – so far. Image credit: Shutterstock

AI has made shopping faster – but it hasn't made it more trusted.

New research from Horizon Media finds that while consumers have broadly adopted AI for product research and price comparison, they remain deeply skeptical of AI making purchases on their behalf. That skepticism can cost brands.

“The instinct is to chase efficiency — show up in more AI recommendations, automate more of the funnel,” said Laura Sammartino, senior vice president for the future of consumer and culture at Horizon Media. “The data says that's the trap.

“Consumers want AI to help them decide, not decide for them: 70 percent are comfortable letting AI hunt for deals, but only 33 percent will let it complete the purchase,” she said.

Horizon Media is the largest U.S. media agency and the No. 1 independent globally. It is based in New York.

The report, “Agentic Commerce: Building Trust in the New Era of AI Shopping,” was developed by Horizon Futures in partnership with Horizon Commerce, Blue Hour Studios and Horizon SEO. The findings are based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted in March 2026, supplemented by behavioral data and cultural analysis.

Conflicted interests
In its latest research, the agency found more than half of consumers (68 percent) already believe an AI shopping agent may not be acting in their best interests.

When those consumers have a negative experience with an automated purchase, which happens 40 percent of the time, their brand loyalty is directly at risk.

Researchers at Horizon call this compounding effect the "Trust Tax": a quantifiable threat to the long-term loyalty of more than 27 percent of a brand's customer base.

"The premise that brands might trade short-term conversion gains for long-term loyalty isn't just a theory – it's a number," Ms. Sammartino said. "Twenty-seven percent of your customers are already at risk. That's not a rounding error."

Based on a survey of 1,000 AI-active consumers, the report identifies a new behavioral and emotional landscape emerging as shopping shifts from human-led decisions to AI-assisted – and increasingly AI-executed – transactions.

Agentic commerce isn’t just a technology shift—it’s a psychological one, and while the industry has focused heavily on what AI can do, there is a broader implication to how consumers feel, the research shows.

“Our research provides a clear financial warning for brands rushing into autonomous commerce,” Ms. Sammartino said. “The premise that brands might trade short-term gains for long-term loyalty is not just a theory – it’s a quantifiable risk.

“This ‘Trust Tax’ is the direct financial consequence of prioritizing automation over authentic consumer trust,” she said.

Laura Sammartino

Key findings

The Control Paradox: Consumers want help – but not a handoff. While 70 percent of consumers are comfortable using AI for deal-hunting, only 33 percent are comfortable allowing AI to complete a purchase on their behalf.

The Automation Hangover: Efficiency comes with an emotional cost. Even when AI delivers a successful purchase, 40 percent of consumers say they expect to feel anxious or frustrated, and 23 percent anticipate feeling disconnected from the experience.

The Trust Gap: AI loyalty is under scrutiny. A significant 76 percent of consumers believe AI shopping agents should work for them – but only 27 percent believe they actually do.

Shift from browsing to optimization
The report finds that AI is quickly becoming the front door to commerce.

82 percent of consumers have used AI for product research or comparison

64 percent have used AI for price tracking

62 percent have used AI for research

90 percent report satisfaction with AI-assisted shopping experiences

“AI is turning shoppers into optimizers,” Ms. Sammartino said.

“The implication is profound: brands are no longer just competing for attention,” she said. “They’re competing to be selected by an algorithm.”

Implication for brands
The report posits that success in the agentic era will not be defined by conversion alone, but by a brand’s ability to preserve trust, control, and emotional connection.

Horizon outlines a strategic framework for brands navigating this shift:

Optimizer: Win in AI-driven environments where price, performance and efficiency dominate

Curator: Guide decision-making with tools that simplify choice and build confidence

Guarantor: Reduce risk and anxiety through transparency, safeguards and post-purchase reassurance

Hands-on, not hang-on
How exposed are luxury brands to this trust-tax phenomenon?

“Luxury is exposed in a counterintuitive way,” Ms. Sammartino said.

“The categories most associated with luxury are exactly where consumers refuse to hand the decision to AI — only 15 percent are comfortable letting an agent fully automate a fashion purchase, with similar resistance across high-consideration goods,” she said.

“So, luxury isn't likely to be disintermediated by autonomous commerce.

“The risk is subtler: luxury's equity is built on the part of the journey AI is most eager to compress — the discovery, the deliberation, the act of choosing.

“The right response is a "Guarantor" or "Curator" posture: white-glove support, expert guidance at decision moments and a refusal to let the brand become a logistics outcome.”

Build trust, not only tech
The brands that win won’t just be the ones that show up in AI recommendations, per the Horizon analyses. They’ll be the ones that prove – consistently and visibly – that they are working in the consumer’s best interest.

“The brands that retain loyalty will empower the consumer rather than replace them, prove visibly that the agent works for the shopper — not the platform — and build in tangible escape hatches like one-click returns and human support to mitigate the emotional cost of automated decisions,” Ms. Sammartino said.

What's the risk of doing nothing?

“For luxury, the stakes are higher and more specific,” Ms. Sammartino said.

“Luxury purchases are emotional, not optimized,” she said. “Consumers buy into heritage, craftsmanship, meaning — the inputs that an AI weighing price and performance is structurally blind to.

“Brands that don't take an active position on how they show up in agentic environments risk being filtered out of consideration entirely, losing not just the sale but the direct relationship with the consumer that makes luxury a category in the first place.”

Please click or tap here to access the report, “Agentic Commerce: Building Trust in the New Era of AI Shopping”

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How AI shopping can quietly erode brand loyalty – and what it means for luxury

How AI shopping can quietly erode brand loyalty – and what it means for luxury

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