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Adyen survey finds 22% would let AI buy groceries unprompted, 13% flights

Adyen survey finds 22% would let AI buy groceries unprompted, 13% flights
Image: Adyen Press

Only 7.5% of 11,000 consumers polled for Adyen would let AI buy luxury goods automatically, though younger shoppers are far more willing.

10:01 am ET

Source: Adyen Press

Adyen published consumer research, conducted by Censuswide among 11,000 nationally representative consumers aged 16+ globally, on what shoppers would let an AI assistant buy automatically without asking first. Standard weekly groceries and household essentials led at 22% each, followed by regular takeout orders (20%) and routine pet supplies (16%).

Willingness falls for pricier purchases: 13% would let AI book flights, hotels or holidays, and 7.5% would allow automatic luxury purchases. Among 20-29 year olds the figures are higher, according to Adyen: 30% for groceries, 30% for household essentials, 28% for takeout, 19% for travel and 14% for designer apparel and homeware.

The release's summary says 72% of twenty-somethings are comfortable letting AI buy for them, against 21% of shoppers over 70. Its body says nearly 72% of shoppers over 70 refuse to let AI buy on their behalf. Karan Katyal, Global Head of Agentic Commerce at Adyen, said consumers "are starting to treat AI as a digital personal assistant, but trust must be built from the ground up."

Read the full article at Adyen Press

Our take

The category data points to where agent purchases may start: low-value repeat buys, not travel or luxury.

  • Prioritize clean product data and reorder flows for staples if you sell them.
  • Treat the 72% headline cautiously: Adyen's summary applies it to twenty-somethings who are comfortable, its body to over-70s who refuse, and it gives no country breakdown or fieldwork dates.
  • Remember the source is a payments company selling agentic commerce infrastructure.

Was our take useful?

Key takeaways

  1. Adyen: 22% would let AI buy groceries or household essentials without approval
  2. Only 13% would let AI book travel and 7.5% buy luxury goods, per Adyen
  3. Adyen's summary: 72% of twenty-somethings comfortable; its body: nearly 72% of over-70s refuse