Nearly two in three shoppers now lean on AI tools before they buy. For a retailer that isn't showing up in those answers, that's a customer who never sees the shelf.
That's the headline finding from Ryder's 12th annual E-Commerce Consumer Study, which surveyed 1,160 online shoppers earlier this year. Sixty-four percent said they now use AI-assisted shopping tools to make buying decisions.
Where AI Shopping Actually Shows Up
Among that 64%, search and shopping assistants lead adoption at 45%. Customer review summaries follow at 37%, then visual search at 33%.
Voice assistants and virtual try-on tools each sit at 31%. Expectations are shifting throughout the entire buying cycle, not just at checkout.
"Industry-wide data echoes our findings, reinforcing that AI is fundamentally changing online shopping behaviors," said Jeff Wolpov, Ryder's senior vice president of e-commerce and Ryder Last Mile. He cited a separate study finding nearly three in five consumers have started replacing traditional search engines with generative AI search.
"If products are not optimized for AI-powered search results, brands may lose consideration in the consumer buying journey," Wolpov said.
The Miami Firms Already Chasing This
That warning describes exactly the business a cluster of South Florida marketing agencies has built around. Miami-based Absolute Web is long known for ecommerce and web development work. It has now moved into technical AEO for local Shopify and Magento retailers.
White Shark Media operates heavily across South Florida and Latin American markets. It uses generative AI to produce and test bilingual content for clients. The goal is getting Miami brands surfaced inside AI-generated answers, not just traditional search rankings.
For a Miami retailer, that distinction is no longer theoretical. It is the difference between being the answer an AI shopping assistant gives a customer. Or not existing in that conversation at all.
Price Still Matters, But Differently Now
Price remains a major factor in purchase decisions, but its influence is softening in specific categories. Among apparel and beauty shoppers, price's role in purchase decisions fell 12% and 13% year over year.
Product materials, environmental impact and ethical sourcing picked up the slack, gaining 13% for each group. Fulfillment habits shifted too.
Remote locker and pickup location use jumped 14% this year, passing curbside pickup as the leading ship-to-home alternative.
Free shipping still leads purchase decisions at 62%. But its influence dropped 14% year over year, while fast delivery expectations nearly doubled.
What This Means for Local Retailers
"The retail landscape is becoming increasingly complex, but also more opportunity-rich," Wolpov said. "Brands that succeed will balance price with customer experience, deliver seamless omnichannel fulfillment, and leverage AI and data-driven insights to meet rising expectations."
For Miami's retail and tourism-driven economy, that opportunity runs both ways. A shopper researching where to eat, shop or stay in Miami increasingly asks an AI assistant first. Typing a search query is starting to feel optional.
Whether that assistant recommends a Miami business or a competitor elsewhere depends on work most retailers haven't started yet.
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