Guide
UserTesting’s 2026 State of AI in Retail Experiences
Stop guessing where AI will move the needle—and start investing where shoppers will actually feel it.
Retail teams are moving fast to add AI into shopping journeys. But the data shows a hard truth: most AI experiences still need major fixes after they go live, and retailer priorities don’t always match what shoppers value most.
The 2026 State of AI in Retail Experiences is a research-backed benchmark report designed for leaders responsible for growth, conversion, and customer trust. It combines perspectives from 89 senior retail leaders (director+ across ecommerce/CX/UX) and 1,107 shoppers across the US and key EU markets, to show what’s working, what’s breaking, and what to prioritize next.
In this report, you’ll be able to benchmark your AI maturity against other retail CX teams, learn top investments and priorities for 2026, and understand exactly the kind of AI-powered shopping features that shoppers want.
Key findings inside:
- 69% of retail CX teams report that at least half of their AI-powered digital experiences require substantial revision after launch.
- Retail teams use AI most for summarizing research/insights (66%), far less for creating prototypes/visual assets (36%).
- Testing declines as work progresses: 49.4% validate early concepts vs 20.2% validating UX flows.
- Retailers’ top 2026 priority is AI-driven customer support (44.9%), but shoppers’ top ask is AI-powered search (49.1%) and recommendations (40.0%).
- Product discovery still starts with search (54.7%) and retailer sites/apps (36.1%)—AI assistants are cited by 14.9%.
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