Retailers Gear Up for AI-Powered Holiday Shopping Season

The holiday shopping season is poised to be more AI-driven than ever, with shoppers relying on generative AI for discovery, exploration, and verification. According to Google's VP of Retail, Courtney Rose, this marks a turning point in retail, where consumers are no longer just experimenting with AI but using it as a key part of their purchasing decisions.

Research from BCG found that shopping is now the third-most popular reason people use AI, and shoppers are interacting with nearly 3X as many touchpoints as non-users. This shift has led to 70% of Google Search's shopping queries focusing on discovery, exploration, or product research.

To win in this environment, retailers need to prioritize three key strategies: enriching their product listings with conversational attributes and detailed product descriptors, activating AI-powered campaign formats that provide direct answers to consumers' questions, and practicing demand-led growth by setting budgets based on profitability and margin targets rather than arbitrary daily spending caps.

By meeting the new wave of shoppers with relevance, speed, and confidence, retailers can turn this first AI-powered holiday shopping season into their most successful quarter yet. To learn more, Google offers a holiday playbook for download.