Nearly half of UK adults (48%) have either used an AI agent to shop or would consider it within the next year, up sharply from 31% a year ago, according to research from Global Payments.
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The firm projects that AI agents could influence around £99 billion of UK retail spending a year by 2031 if adoption holds, with shoppers now expecting bots to make roughly 16% of their purchases within five years, more than double last year's estimate.
The appetite is strongest for the legwork rather than the final call. More than two-thirds (69%) would use an agent that reliably found the best prices, but most want to keep control of the wallet: at least 95% would set a spending cap of £500 or less. Security is the main brake, with 54% worried about payment safety and 48% about how their data is used.
"Consumers are increasingly comfortable letting AI find the right product and the best price, but handing over the final purchasing decision is a much bigger leap," said Harsh Mehta of Global Payments.
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