This post was sparked by an article in this week’s UK’s Campaign feed titled, ‘Fighting for the cart: new rules for the path to purchase.’ [1] The latter is actually a teaser and backgrounder for a Campaign-sponsored panel discussion on the topic later this month. The gist of that upcoming discussion appears to be that online shopping has profoundly changed retail and here are the tools to help marketers navigate that new reality.

But two lines in particular caught our attention:

“

Retail is at a crossroads. Consumer expectations have never been higher—and brand loyalty never lower.”

“

“Today’s shopper isn’t searching for you,” says Sophie Neary, managing director, retail and FMCG at Google. “They’re searching for solutions…” ”

Neither of these two thoughts are exactly on the assumed topic of the panel discussion. They are a description of what has changed with the consumer and the marketplace. We are more interested in knowing why brand loyalty has declined and what the implications and/or resolution of that might be for marketers.

How AI is hurting brand loyalty

Currently in North America, 16% to 17% of FMCG retails sales is being transacted online [2]. That’s a significant proportion, but some suggest online retail penetration in North America is maturing. What’s more significant is how many consumers are using AI and AI-powered search to research product and brand choices, whether they proceed to purchase online or not:

  • In the U.S., around 30–40% of consumers report using generative AI for online shopping, including researching products.
  • AI summaries and overviews are increasingly trusted—80% use them often, albeit many still cross-check via traditional search.
  • AI is rising to be one of the top influences on consumer purchase decisions (for active users), second only to in-store experiences. [2]

For the consumer, brand loyalty is emotional. A brand we know and like makes us feel good and we will pay a premium for that feeling. AI (at least in its current form) does not make emotional FMCG brand decisions. The brands it recommends objectively meet the consumers needs, based on subsets and summaries of all available data on the Internet.

For humans, our brand decisions can be our badges. We wear our brands, even in the FGMG categories. But online, no one sees what you’re putting in your virtual shopping cart and having anonymously delivered to your door. This makes it psychologically easier to move away from brands we have loved for years when AI (who we trust in this context) tells us there’s an objectively better choice.

How AI is helping marketing

If AI is serving up brand recommendations based on non-emotional benefits, then your brand had better be designed well, priced well, shipped well or merchandised well and positioned well. You will also need to review your fundamental marketing elements regularly and update as necessary. No resting on your brand loyalty laurels.

That challenge is good for the marketing role and the people in it who have been spending too much time on marketing communications. It is also good for small brands that can’t compete with big brands in media spend.

AI on the Salience vs Relevance/Differentiation debate

This debate seems silly, like much in the marketing media. The otherwise erudite Byron Sharp started the most recent round by suggesting all that matters is brand awareness/name recognition (rebranded as salience) [3]. The equally erudite but painfully loquacious Mark Ritson [4] calmed things down a bit with bothism (salience and some relevance/differentiation) [5].

AI is firmly on the relevance end of the spectrum. That is also good for marketing. Maybe the AI-powered marketing glass is half full.end-of-post-symbol

Notes and references:
  1. “Fighting for the cart: new rules for the path to purchase“, campaignlive.co.uk, August 28, 2025.
  2. Source: ChatGPT, September 11, 2025.
  3. Byron Sharp, “How Brands Grow”, Oxford University Press, March 1, 2010.
  4. If so inclined, you can learn more about Mark Ritson in the sidebar here.
  5. Mark Ritson, “In the battle between salience and differentiation, Bothism wins“, marketingweek.com, October 25, 2022 .