Talkdesk survey: 74% use AI to shop, 15% let it pay

Talkdesk's 2026 AI Holiday Shopping Survey says 74% of shoppers plan to use AI assistants this season, but only 15% would let an AI agent buy with their payment details even after reviewing the order first. Drop the review step and that falls to 10%. The release went out November 4. Meanwhile, 89% of retailers say they are preparing for agents that shop on a customer's behalf. The distance between those two numbers is the whole story.

What actually happened

Talkdesk commissioned Centiment to survey 1,048 U.S. adults who plan to buy online this holiday season and 312 retail decision-makers at director level or above, at companies with 50 or more employees that already use AI. Fieldwork was September 2026.

The shopper side is research-heavy and trust-light. 49% would buy from an unfamiliar brand on an AI recommendation. 77% want to know when AI is part of the shopping experience, and 37% of retailers admit they do not fully disclose it. Among the 74% who want stronger AI rules, 55% worry about unauthorized data collection, 41% about paid product placement and 41% about being charged a different price than another shopper.

The retailer side is already running agents. 93% are deploying AI agents in customer service this season, and 51% of those plan to use them for returns, refunds or exchanges. Then the number that matters: 31% of retailers using AI say the tool took an incorrect action on a customer's account in the past 12 months, "such as issuing an improper refund." Of the 58% that reported AI errors, 29% lost a customer because of one.

Michael Klein, who runs retail product marketing at Talkdesk, put it plainly: "trust is the ultimate currency. Earning that trust requires clear guardrails, not just new technology."

Last month's ETA and TSG study found 23% would let AI complete a purchase. Different sample, same shape: shoppers want the agent to find the thing, not pay for it.

Why it matters for your business

We build store agents, and this survey is a build spec.

• Ship the review step. The agent fills the cart and a human taps confirm. That screen moves willingness from 10% to 15%, and it is the difference between a sale and a chargeback. Walmart's Sparky does list-to-cart, not list-to-charge, for the same reason.
• Disclose, in one line. 77% want to know. A sentence at the top of the chat costs nothing and removes the 37% problem.
• Cap the refund agent. Half of retailers are pointing agents at refunds, and a third already had one do the wrong thing with money. Give the agent a per-ticket ceiling, log every action, and route anything above it to a person. A refund is a payment in reverse. Treat it like one.

Sources: Talkdesk 2026 AI Holiday Shopping Survey (GlobeNewswire).