AI Is Beginning to Decide What Consumers Buy

NielsenIQ’s new report examines how Eastern-led commerce innovation and Western retail media monetization are colliding to reshape global consumer commerce. The report finds that live, social, and quick commerce—long scaled across Asia—now drives most incremental digital growth worldwide, while Western markets accelerate adoption as these formats localize.

At the same time, retail media networks (RMNs) have become one of the fastest‑growing advertising channels globally, with US retail media ad spend projected to reach $107.6 billionin 2026.  Beyond this, the report finds that previously siloed operational functions of sellers are beginning to blur boundaries. Payment platforms and rapid fulfillment models from the East are converging with the monetization models born in the West, setting the stage for a singular global commerce model that unifies digital channels, consumer markets, and operational functions.

The report emphasizes that emerging channels are scaling fast. Live, social, and quick commerce now drive most incremental digital growth globally. In the US, social commerce (+62.9%) and quick commerce (+62.2%) are outpacing traditional e‑commerce growth. In APAC, nearly 60% of consumers shop via social and quick commerce. In Western markets, discovery is accelerating, with nearly one‑third of consumers purchasing after discovering products on social platforms.

In India, quick commerce now represents about 80% of FMCG sales, while China’s network of roughly 10,000 dark stores enables 30-minute-or-less delivery at a national scale. Retail media reached $184 billion in global spend in 2025, with more than 270 networks worldwide. APAC accounts for nearly 55% of global e‑commerce, driven by integrated platforms that unify content, commerce, payments, logistics, and AI models, increasingly influencing Western markets. AI agents are beginning to autonomously discover, evaluate, and purchase products on consumers’ behalf, accelerating the shift toward AI‑driven decisioning and fundamentally changing how brands compete for visibility, relevance, and growth.

“The convergence of Eastern formats with Western monetization models isn’t a future scenario—it’s already reshaping the marketplace in real time,” said Marta Cyhan-Bowles, Chief Communications Officer & Head of Global Marketing COE at NIQ. “Global commerce is accelerating faster than at any point in retail history. The future won’t belong to a single region, channel, or model, but to the brands and retailers who can best understand and act on consumer demand across platforms. In this new era, commerce intelligence, connecting brands, consumers, and platforms through a unified, data-rich view of the ecosystem, will define the next phase of growth for our clients.”