South African shoppers are using AI tools to look for products, but hardly any of what they buy is decided by them. In VML‘s 2026 Future Shopper report, 59% of South African respondents use ChatGPT and 41% use Google Gemini for shopping, yet AI tools account for only 1.9% of what influences their purchases. The figures were published by Bizcommunity on 21 September 2026 and are VML’s own survey findings. The report is the marketing agency’s tenth annual study of how technology and culture shape commerce.
## Who shoppers listen to
Family is the strongest influence on South African purchases, at 22%. Traditional creators follow on 20% and friends on 9.7%, with AI tools last at 1.9%. Parusha Partab, chief strategy officer at VML South Africa, says: “The race to adopt AI can distract brands from the harder question: why should someone choose them?” Partab adds: “AI can help a brand get discovered. It still has to give people a reason to care.”
Scepticism runs through the results. Some 61% of respondents cross-check AI recommendations before buying, compared with 58% globally. About 55.4% worry that AI shopping tools are commercially influenced. Half say they skip content they believe was created with AI, 52% say AI-generated product imagery lowers their trust in a brand, and 42% do not want AI involved in their shopping at all.
## Money is tight
Nearly 70% of South African respondents say they feel more financial anxiety than before, and many are cutting discretionary spending. Partab says South African shoppers “are under financial pressure and scrutinising what deserves their money and trust”. Some categories are protected as what the report calls “sacred luxuries”: clothing, coffee and beauty products remain priority purchases.
That pressure shows in how people judge search. About 45% say search quality has declined in the past year, and 59.7% say sponsored results make it harder to find quality products. Another 49% feel their favourite online platforms have got worse over time.
## Online is close to parity
According to the report, 51% of spending now takes place online, which puts it near parity with offline retail. That raises the cost of a poor digital experience: 54.4% of respondents will not shop with a brand that fails to meet basic digital expectations, and 48% regularly abandon purchases because the online experience is frustrating.
The 2025 edition pointed the same way. VML’s ninth report, which surveyed more than 25,000 shoppers in 16 countries, found that 50% of South Africans surveyed often abandoned online purchases because of frustrating digital experiences, against 45% globally, according to Bizcommunity’s coverage of that report. In that survey, 81% of South Africans had used ChatGPT or an alternative, compared with 68% globally, 75% said personalised recommendations helped them discover new products, 76% preferred brands that offer both physical and online stores, and 59% were enthusiastic about having a personal AI agent to deal with brands on their behalf. ContentGrip’s summary of the global 2025 findings notes that search engines were regaining prominence in product discovery and that marketplaces’ share of wallet had fallen from 29% to 22%.
## Data for income
The report also asked about privacy. More than 52% of respondents said they would exchange deeply personal information, such as location, shopping habits or health metrics, for a monthly income. Businesses in South Africa that collect data of that kind are bound by the Protection of Personal Information Act.
## What VML concludes
Neil Dawson, VML’s global chief strategy officer, says: “A decade of Future Shopper research tells us that commerce never stands still, but the foundations of great brands remain remarkably consistent.” For retailers, the survey suggests that the basics carry the sale: a checkout that works, a brand shoppers trust and a reason to choose it at a time when money is short.
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