AI Gets Shoppers to the Door. The Store Closes the Deal.
Shoppers have always done some version of pre-trip research — a quick price check, a friend’s recommendation, a glance at a product page before heading out. What’s changed is the scale and sophistication of that research.
According to our latest consumer survey conducted with Suzy Market Research, 57% of shoppers now regularly use AI tools or online platforms to research products before they shop. They’re arriving at the store with a shortlist already built, a price point in mind, and in many cases, a specific product they’ve already decided to buy. As far as they’re concerned, the decision is made before they ever walk through the door.
But that confidence doesn’t hold up once they’re inside. The same data shows that eight in 10 shoppers modify their purchase plans in-store, meaning the gap between what shoppers intend to buy and what they actually buy is wider than most brands realize. Research informs the consideration set, but context shapes the final decision, and that context plays out entirely in the physical store.
The Counterintuitive Truth: Plans Don’t Survive the Store
When shoppers do change course, 61% move toward a lower-priced option, 42% choose a different brand entirely, and 37% pick up something that wasn’t on their list at all. These cases happen because the physical store introduces variables that algorithms can’t fully anticipate, such as pricing and availability, which can alter behavior in ways that aren’t captured during the research phase.
Two-thirds of shoppers say in-store elements are influential in their final purchase decision, with 22% calling them very influential. That’s not shopper indecision. That’s the store working exactly as it should.
A recommendation algorithm operates on what a shopper told it last week. The store operates on what’s in front of them right now — the price on the shelf, the display at the end of the aisle, the audio overhead, the product they didn’t know existed until they turned a corner. Pre-shopping research narrows the consideration set. What happens inside the store determines what leaves in the basket.
What’s Actually Driving Switches
The switching behavior observed in our research is influenced by specific in-store factors that consistently affect shoppers’ decisions:
- Price or promotion is the top trigger, influencing 77% of in-store switchers.
- Product availability drives switching for 60%.
- Seeing products in person influences 46% of shoppers.
- In-store displays drive 31% of purchases.
Every one of these factors is within a brand or retailer’s control. Promotional placement, shelf positioning, display creative, and contextual audio at the point of decision are the execution details that determine whether a shopper who arrived thinking about a competitor leaves with your product instead.
That dynamic also has real implications for how brands measure campaign performance. If AI shapes consideration but the final purchase decision gets made in the store, a measurement approach that only tracks digital engagement will consistently overstate the role of pre-trip research and understate the in-store touchpoints that actually drove the conversion. Attribution needs to account for both phases of the journey to reflect what’s actually happening.
AI tools did their part earlier in the journey. They helped the shopper build a consideration set, compare options, and walk in with some version of a plan. Getting a brand from that consideration set into the basket is a different obstacle entirely, and the data shows that it gets solved in the physical store.
The Takeaway for Brands and Retailers
None of this is an argument against AI. Shoppers are using these tools, and that behavior is only going to grow. Brands that ignore the pre-trip research phase are missing a real opportunity to get into the consideration set before the shopping trip even starts.
But consideration and conversion are two different things. A shopper who researched your product at home still has to choose it at the shelf, and that choice is shaped by everything they encounter between the entrance and the checkout. Price, placement, packaging, displays, and in-store media all have a say in that moment. To succeed at the point of purchase, brands don’t need the most sophisticated digital presence; instead, they must recognize that the store operates as a media environment and invest accordingly.
Our in-store media solutions are built around exactly that reality, connecting the intent that digital research creates with the in-store experience that converts it. If your strategy accounts for how shoppers research, but not for how they actually decide, there’s a gap worth closing. View the full research here, or reach out to our team to explore how in-store media can turn shopper consideration into conversion.
