PSE Consulting has released research showing that consumers prefer independent AI assistants over platform-embedded tools for product discovery.
The study, commissioned by SkyParlour on behalf of PSE Consulting and conducted by market research company OnePoll, surveyed 4.250 adults across the UK, the US, France, and Germany who use AI for online shopping. Data was collected between 5 March 2026 and 18 March 2026. Of those surveyed, 74% said they prefer an independent AI assistant: 41% favour universal tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini, which operate across multiple platforms, while 33% prefer specialist AI assistants focused on specific categories such as travel, finance, or healthcare. Moreover, only 10% said they want an AI assistant embedded directly within a retail, travel, or delivery platform.
Price comparison emerged as the primary driver of AI-assisted shopping behaviour, with consumers using AI chiefly to evaluate offers across multiple merchants rather than within a single retailer's ecosystem. The research suggests independent AI assistants are well-suited to this role, given their ability to search across multiple commercial environments. Platform-embedded AI, by contrast, may be more effective further down the purchase journey, where it can support personalisation, product evaluation, and transaction completion once a consumer has narrowed their options.
Marketplaces remain central to the purchase journey
Despite the growing role of AI in product discovery, the findings suggest marketplaces are not at risk of displacement. Around 90% of respondents expected their use of retail and travel marketplaces to stay the same or increase as AI adoption grows, with 88% saying the same for food delivery platforms. Only 10% anticipated reducing their marketplace use for retail and travel, a figure that rose slightly to 12% for food delivery.
Chris Jones, Managing Director at PSE Consulting, stated that the findings challenge the assumption that agentic AI will reduce the relevance of marketplace platforms. He noted that consumers are increasingly treating discovery and transaction execution as distinct stages of the shopping journey, turning to AI to navigate choice across the internet while still relying on established marketplace brands for fulfilment, payments, logistics, and customer service. It was also observed that the competitive focus for merchants and platforms is shifting into the AI discovery layer, where visibility before consumers enter a marketplace environment is becoming a key strategic consideration.
PSE Consulting described the study as part of a broader investigation into the commercial and structural implications of agentic commerce across four major Western ecommerce markets.
