Industry study finds shoppers increasingly open to AI aiding snacking selection

A fresh industry study has indicated shoppers are increasingly open to using AI to aid snacking choices – which are presently considered around twice as challenging to decide upon compared to other weekly groceries, reports Neill Barston.

The findings from Accenture’s 2024 Consumer Pulse Survey – presented in the report, “The Empowered Consumer,” quizzed a total of 19,000 consumers across 12 nations to examine their purchasing habits, and their favoured brands.

As the study noted, its key results showed that (67% of snack shoppers wish they could identify available options that suit their needs more quickly and easily, and just two per cent less than that figure said purchases should take less time than it presently does. Consequently, 40% of people are open to using AI in their shopping, and 45% actually using AI agents to arrange their groceries for them.

Intriguingly, seven in 10 snack shoppers walked away from purchases because they feel overwhelmed, with AI potentially able to assist in filtering out options, potentially boosting sales and increasing customer loyalty.

Early mover advantage will be especially important for consumer-facing companies intent on capturing value from gen AI across all parts of the business quickly, and at scale.

Oliver Wright, senior managing director and global lead for Accenture’s Consumer Goods & Services industry practice, believed that AI technologies would become increasingly influential.

He said: “We expect that in the next three years, the adoption of these gen AI technologies by consumers will bring the most significant reconsideration of what and how they decide to purchase that we have seen in decades.

“Why? Because consumers are telling us they will use conversational gen AI solutions to help them research and buy products and experiences, and these tools will cut through the traditional sales and marketing messaging that, to date, has been the dominant shaper of consumption. This will likely be the biggest opportunity to gain or lose market share that consumer companies have seen in recent memory.

“Gen AI has the potential to deliver the hyper-relevant recommendations to consumers in the moment, whether it is the snack bar that meets their dietary needs or that fits within the weekly budget for school lunchboxes.” Wright added.

According to the report, consumers themselves are increasingly seeking ways to lighten the workload and are starting to see how gen AI might take on some of the leg work. Accenture’s observation, based on conversations with executives across industries, is that consumers are on track to adopt generative AI-powered advisors rapidly and at scale over the next two years.