AI shopping help has reached a majority in NIQ's U.S. research, with recommendations leading the way. Its Agentic Commerce Tracker found that 51% of U.S. consumers reported using an AI tool to assist with shopping during the past month. Product recommendations had 20% adoption, while personal shopping assistants followed at 16%. The practical finding is about help choosing what to buy.
NIQ published the findings on September 24, 2026, at 11:02:55 a.m. ET, 8:02:55 a.m. PT and 15:02:55 GMT. Its method is ongoing Quick Question research, drawing on approximately 500 U.S. consumers each month in 2026. The headline percentage describes consumers reporting use of at least one tool during the previous month.
NIQ Measures Shopping Assistance Through Monthly Research
NielsenIQ, which describes itself as a consumer intelligence company, produced the findings through its proprietary tracker. The monthly study follows adoption of shopping tools powered by AI, alongside consumer attitudes and emerging behavior. Its stated purpose includes helping retailers and brands understand how shopping changes as consumers use these tools.
The tracker's broader scope includes the U.S. and Canada, while the release identifies the research behind these figures as a monthly U.S. series. That distinction keeps the population attached to the finding: the 51% result is for U.S. consumers. The methodology describes approximately 500 consumers sampled monthly in the United States.
NIQ says adoption increased over the previous two quarters and describes this result as its first crossing of the halfway point. The company interprets that progression as movement into mainstream use. For a reader assessing the headline, the concrete benchmark is the 51% reporting shopping assistance within the past month.
AI Assistance Extends Across Shopping Decisions
The useful detail is what respondents did with that assistance. NIQ's explanation says they used AI to compare alternatives, assess value and reduce their choices. Those activities put the finding in the context of deciding what to buy, with help evaluating products as well as discovering them during a shopping journey.
Recommendations were the leading application in the release, with adoption of 20%. Personal shopping assistants came next at 16%. Keeping those categories separate makes the result easier to understand: NIQ is tracking several forms of shopping assistance, and its most widely used application is recommendations, followed by tools described as personal assistants.
NIQ also reports use across the buying process, stretching from discovering products to making final purchasing decisions. For shoppers, that gives the headline a broader meaning than a single moment at checkout. The reported activity includes the earlier work of finding options and deciding which ones deserve further consideration before a purchase decision.
There is a retailer side to that change, too. NIQ argues that the quality of product content, its discoverability online and structured information about products are becoming as important to sales performance as traditional search visibility and merchandising. That is the company's explanation of why shopping assistance matters to the businesses presenting products.
Use the Findings to Identify the Help You Want
If you are considering AI shopping help, start with the activity NIQ describes: comparing alternatives, assessing value or narrowing a selection. Use those reported purposes to frame what you want from a tool. For example, a request to compare your options fits the decision support respondents described in the research.
Next, distinguish a product recommendation from the personal shopping assistant category. NIQ gives them separate adoption figures, 20% and 16%, respectively. When assessing a shopping feature, check which kind of assistance it offers. That keeps your expectations connected to the specific applications in the report, rather than the broad label of AI shopping.
You can also place that assistance within the buying process NIQ describes. Decide whether you want help discovering products or evaluating a selection before making a final purchasing decision. Those are stages covered by the reported adoption, so they provide concrete ways to think about where assistance would fit into your shopping.
For follow-up research, NIQ says it intends to release findings on an ongoing basis. The tracker runs monthly, and the company says it is expanding measurement of AI's role in commerce. When reading a later update, keep this release's reference point in view: reported use during the past month among U.S. consumers.
The Figures Measure Adoption and Shopping Support
The 51% measures reported shopping assistance; it does not establish how many consumers let AI complete purchases. The 20% and 16% figures likewise describe adoption of particular applications. They do not establish savings or recommendation accuracy.
