July 2026
PYMNTS Data Books

Digital Shopping Becomes an Everyday Event

Retailers are investing in digital shopping, but the shopper is moving faster than the store. The 2026 Global Digital Shopping Index finds that consumers now average 55 digital shopping days per month, while ChatGPT’s use for product search jumped from 2% to 30% in just two years. Based on a March 2026 survey of 5,241 consumers and 1,185 merchants across the United States, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, this report shows where mobile, AI and payments are reshaping retail, and where merchants risk falling behind.

Header image for the July 2026 Global Digital Shopping Index Data Book. PYMNTS Intelligence reports AI, mobile and payments are reshaping shopping as consumers average 55 digital shopping days monthly.

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    Consumers are shopping more often, using mobile phones deeper in the journey and turning to AI for help before they buy. “The AI-Powered Shopper Has Arrived,” the June 2026 edition of the 2026 Global Digital Shopping Index, shows a retail market in which discovery, payments and trust are becoming increasingly connected. Shoppers do not see separate channels. They see one journey, and they expect merchants to keep up.

    Consumer Shopping Habits

    Daily Shopping

    Shopping is no longer an occasional online activity. Consumers now average 55 digital shopping days per month, up from 51 in 2024. Consumers now browse, buy, pick up orders or use digital tools in stores on nearly every day of the month. The increase shows that digital shopping has become a daily habit, not just a checkout channel.

    Browsing Converts

    Consumers who window shop more than once a week buy 3 times as much across all channels. Browsing isn’t passive, it’s one of the strongest signals of future buying. Frequent window shoppers make more remote purchases, more pickup purchases and more digitally assisted in-store purchases than infrequent browsers.

    Mobile Research

    Mobile has moved from a buying device to a research engine. Thirty-nine percent of consumers now use mobile devices to decide which product to buy, up 8 percentage points from 2022. Consumers use phones to compare products, read reviews, check availability and guide in-store decisions. The phone is becoming the shopper’s default tool before, during and after the purchase.

    Payment Choice

    Payment acceptance can decide where consumers shop. Sixty-six percent of consumers say knowing their preferred payment method was accepted influenced their choice of retailer. The effect is strongest in the UAE, where 86% say preferred payment acceptance influenced their choice of merchant. The finding shows why payment strategy cannot be treated as a back-end function.

    AI Discovery

    AI is becoming a shopping gateway. ChatGPT’s use for product search rose from 2% in 2024 to 30% in 2026 Google remains the top product search platform, but ChatGPT has quickly moved into the discovery layer, pushing Amazon from No. 2 to No. 3. That shift suggests AI is already changing how shoppers find products and merchants.

    Methodology

    This Data Book is based on the June 2026 edition of the 2026 Global Digital Shopping Index, a collaboration with Visa Acceptance Solutions. The report is based on a March 2026 survey of 5,241 consumers and 1,185 merchants across the United States, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates. Country samples were weighted to reflect the national adult population. The report compares 2026 results with prior survey waves from 2022, 2023 and 2024.

    About

    Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, sellers, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.

    PYMNTS INTELLIGENCE

    PYMNTS Intelligence is a leading global data and analytics platform that uses proprietary data and methods to provide actionable insights on what’s now and what’s next in payments, commerce and the digital economy. Its team of data scientists includes leading economists, econometricians, survey experts, financial analysts and marketing scientists with deep experience in the application of data to the issues that define the future of the digital transformation of the global economy. This multilingual team has conducted original data collection and analysis in more than three dozen global markets for some of the world’s leading publicly traded and privately held firms.

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