The Mirror Effect: How AI Reveals Three Hidden Shopping Behaviors

According to data from Adobe, US consumers using AI to guide their holiday shopping choices will grow by 520% in 2025—with as many as 83% of all holiday shoppers using tools such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini to plan holiday shopping this season. But retailers preparing for this shift are making a critical mistake: they're treating AI like search, where explicit keywords reveal intent. AI doesn't work that way. Unlike search engines, where people literally type "best Black Friday laptop deals," AI is a conversational mirror, reflecting recommendations based on underlying motivations that users never explicitly state. The same query to ChatGPT from different shoppers yields distinct shopping journeys because the AI attempts to infer what people need, not just what they ask for. Recent analysis by Sooth reveals that without understanding these hidden motivations, many retailers optimizing for "AI shopping" are essentially invisible, because being found through AI requires knowing why someone shops, not just what keywords they use. Whether motivated by status or self-interests, these AI-led consumers are rapidly evolving the game of holiday shopping.

‍

ELI's Crystal Ball—5 Predictions for the Impact of AI on the Future of Retail and Shopping

1. AIO replaces SEO as motivation-driven commerce becomes standard in 2026. Search strategies evolve as AI shifts from keywords to understanding shopping intent, prompting retailers to focus on behavioral profiling. Product descriptions will emphasize personal outcomes within conversational contexts.
2. AI platforms launch "motivation match scores" by mid-2026. Major AI shopping tools display confidence ratings showing how well recommended products align with user motivations. ChatGPT and similar platforms explain their suggestions based on conversation, increasing transparency and changing how consumers compare AI recommendations with traditional search results.
3. Holiday ad spend splits 60/50 between motivation-targeted and mass market by 2026. Retailers testing motivation-specific creative boots conversion rates, prompting industry budget shifts. Brands using three Black Friday campaign versions for different needs outperform single-message approaches, driving agency specialization in motivation-based creative development.
4. Third-party AIO providers emerge as a six-figure marketing cost by 2027. As motivation understanding becomes a competitive advantage, consultancies will sell services mapping product catalogs to emotional outcomes and optimizing inventory data for AI discovery. This industry—like SEO agencies two decades ago—will charge premium rates to help brands become discoverable in conversational commerce.
5. Return rates drop as motivation-matched purchases stick. Within two years, retailers using AI-driven motivation profiling will report 15-20% lower return rates than traditional search-based purchases. Products recommended through conversational AI that accurately infers needs will have higher satisfaction and keeper rates than keyword-matched products, creating financial incentives for motivation-based commerce investments.

‍

The Three Tribes Leading the AI Holiday Shopping Evolution:

Deal Flaunters (23%) Proving intelligence through value.

Shoppers using AI to "win" deals like Black Friday and Cyber Monday by securing top prices on meaningful brands. Cultural identity shapes their choices—they favor premium brands but avoid full prices, seeing deal-hunting as a sign of taste and intelligence. Pragmatic about tech, they use AI to increase efficiency, not explore all platforms. Their media focus is on success and self-improvement. They seek not just discounts but also proof of being wise and community validation.

‍

First Finders (33%) Building identity through discovery.

These shoppers treat their purchases like investments, using AI to find products before they go mainstream. They explore indie culture, experimental tech, and financial education—curating their style and wealth. They welcome advertising as a sign of discovery and trends. Fashion-forward and strategic, they seek exclusive items that reflect their taste and may appreciate in value. For them, shopping means building a unique identity through smart financial choices.

‍

Me-Firsters (36%) Putting themselves at the top of the list.

The largest group treats the holiday deal season as personal shopping, buying gear and fashion for themselves rather than gifts. They plan trips, read adventure magazines, attend cultural events, and see holiday deals as chances to upgrade their lifestyle. Their shopping is guided b whether each purchase enables their next experience, focusing on self-expression, research, and funding their freedom, rather than traditional gift-giving. They view sale season as self-investment, not just gift shopping.

‍

About Sooth & ELI

Sooth is the predictive intelligence company decoding the 93% of human decisions driven by emotional, practical, and situational needs. Powered by ELI — Sooth’s exclusive Emotional Logic Interface — Sooth uncovers hidden signals, turning audience behavior into predictive foresight. Sooth’s patent-pending methodology uses artificial intelligence to cross-reference more than 100 million intent signals with data on 300 million individuals worldwide to predict buyer tendencies with 91% predictive accuracy. For more information, visit soothbetold.com and eliwashere.ai.

‍