Artificial intelligence (AI) platforms are wielding increasing influence on where and how customers shop online — and as they do, retailers appear to be changing how they spend on marketing and ads.
The findings come from new research published by Northwestern University’s Retail Analytics Council and the AI-powered shopping assistant maker Minty. In their findings, published Sept. 16, analysts assessed that cashback apps, deal platforms and price-comparison tools have become the “most helpful” channels for shoppers when compared with traditional advertising, loyalty programs, retail media and creator marketing.
The responses in the report reflected perspectives from 150 senior commerce decision-makers at retailers, brand manufacturers and online marketplaces, according to Minty. Among those participants, 98% of those providing answers came from companies whose annual revenue exceeded $100 million.
Those companies agreed to share where they intended to spend their marketing budgets as they look ahead.
What are online retailers’ marketing priorities as shoppers turn to AI?
In the survey results, 79% of respondents indicated that they expect their primary customer base to be using AI tools in 2027. Moreover, 81% of participants checked cashback and savings tools as the most helpful form of marketing they saw shoppers using to make purchase decisions.et78
“This isn’t marketers tweaking a line item,” said Frank Dudley, associate director of the Retail Analytics Council at Northwestern University. “They’re responding to a fundamental shift in how products are discovered and chosen.”
Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights’ own survey results in 2026 found that finding better deals was the No. 1 reason that shoppers used AI tools.
Dudley sees marketing budgets following shopping behavior as AI technology adoption proceeds.
“As consumers increasingly rely on AI to compare prices, evaluate alternatives, and maximize value, brands are reallocating investment toward the channels and capabilities that influence those decisions,” he stated.
What AI adoption means for marketing spending
Also in the new survey results, two-thirds of marketers said they believed AI would be the primary way they would reach shoppers in 2027. More than half of those marketers are using AI in tandem with their savings offerings as a result.
In addition, half of the marketers surveyed noted that they were marketing directly to AI agents. The same answer sets showed that only 18% anticipated that traditional search would be their primary means of reaching shoppers in 2027. 13% said the same for social media channels.
Minty refers to marketing toward online shoppers at early stages of their journeys when they are using AI agents as “proactive commerce.”
“Buying decisions are moving earlier in the ecommerce purchase funnel,” noted Rodney Mason, chief marketing officer at Minty. “Proactive commerce, delivering total-value-messaging to shoppers and their AI agents before they search, click or abandon a cart, is already being practiced by the largest market leaders and the majority of respondents intend to do so in 2027.”
Importantly, the shift is already affecting budgets among many surveyed in the study. Among marketers who target shoppers in these early research stages on AI platforms, 61% said they have either increased marketing spending or reallocated existing budgets toward cashback and savings apps.
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