New ECESR Findings: AI Recommendations Help Consumers Save Time, but Financial Savings Remain Less Convincing
- Mar 25
- 1 min read
ECESR in cooperation with MNFORCE agency conducted a survey among employees in March 2026, which concerns aspects of the using of AI tools in the context of online consumer shopping behaviour.
The findings suggest that consumers perceive the strongest benefit of AI mainly in convenience and efficiency. More than half of respondents agreed that AI-driven recommendations help better match products to consumer needs and make the search process faster and easier. Similarly, around one half also positively evaluated AI features such as image recognition or voice search, which streamline the customer journey.
A more cautious picture emerged in the area of financial savings. Only a minority of respondents clearly agreed that AI tools reduce the cost of online shopping, while a substantial share remained neutral or skeptical. The results therefore indicate that consumers currently associate AI in e-commerce more with comfort, personalization and time saving than with direct price advantages.
At the same time, the data show that AI-driven notifications and targeted advertising may also contribute to impulsive purchases, which points to the more ambivalent side of personalization technologies in online retail.