AI shopping searches surged 200% in one year - and it's a top priority for commerce leaders now

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The use of agentic AI search as the first step in shopping online grew by 200% in the last 12 months, according to Salesforce 's State of Commerce report , a survey of 3,450 commerce professionals and 4,690 consumers, plus behavioral data from more than 1.5 billion global shoppers. AI is raising the bar for customer expectations, making the expansion of AI for e-commerce the No. 1 priority for commerce leaders. Here are the key takeaways from the report:

The top priority for commerce leaders is the implementation and expansion of artificial intelligence capabilities. The second-highest priority is improving data quality, accessibility, and management, followed by automating and streamlining processes. Eighty-six percent of commerce professionals believe that AI is raising the bar for customer experiences, and 61% say that meeting rising expectations is harder than ever.

Also: Google says AI agents spending your money is a 'more fun' way to shop

The top challenge for commerce leaders is the implementation and expansion of AI capabilities -- a top opportunity and challenge. Managing supply chain challenges, fragmented data across systems, evolving privacy and data regulations, and staffing gaps are also top challenges.

Businesses are no longer interested in AI pilots, so 2026 is the year to focus on operational scale over experiments. Thirty-five percent of agentic AI users are now focused on agentic expansion and are no longer working on proofs of concept. The report found that 71% of commerce leaders agree that AI is a core part of commerce operations.

The top five use cases for agentic AI in commerce include autonomous customer service resolution, AI shopping concierges, autonomous replenishment purchasing, autonomous fraud decision-making and intervention, and autonomous merchandising optimization. The challenge is not just scaling the adoption of AI agents but also knowing whether they're working as expected.

Also: How to shop with AI: 6 ways I find deals, price track, and let agents buy for me

More than 6 in 10 commerce leaders cite poor data integration, a lack of a defined AI strategy, and poor data quality as barriers to scaling AI. Security and trust, a lack of AI skills within organizations, and change management are also barriers.

Commerce leaders are seeing major improvements from AI agents. The top three outcomes for business-to-business organizations using AI agents are revenue growth, employee productivity, and organizational efficiency.