What: Research-led consumer journeys and AI-driven discovery have shifted the terms on which brands earn visibility, trust, and relevance — before a consumer ever reaches a store.

Why it is important: For department stores, where multi-category discovery and brand trust are structural advantages, the rise of AI-mediated journeys creates both a competitive pressure and a genuine opportunity to own the research phase.

The consumer journey has evolved from a straightforward, linear process into a fragmented, research-intensive path shaped by digital discovery, comparison, and evaluation. Today's consumers — especially Gen Z and millennials, but increasingly all age groups — rely on a growing array of digital touchpoints, often more than fifteen per journey, to inform their decisions. Social media and AI-powered tools such as large language models have become critical sources of information and influence, with a significant portion of consumers trusting these channels for their objectivity, clarity, and personalised guidance. Brands must therefore ensure they are discoverable, desirable, and trusted across both human and AI-mediated touchpoints. The rise of generative and answer engine optimisation is pressing brands to rethink their content strategies, focusing on machine-readable, factual, and emotionally resonant messaging. The role of the brand now extends beyond traditional marketing to building credibility and differentiation in a marketplace where algorithms and digital agents increasingly shape consumer choices.

IADS Notes: The consumer shift toward research-led, AI-mediated purchase journeys is altering the fundamentals of retail marketing. WWD (May 2026) found that AI integration is pushing retail toward experience-focused engagement, requiring brands to optimise both their narrative and operational models. Liontree and Bain & Company (April–May 2026) confirmed the mainstream adoption of AI-driven shopping, identifying accurate, transparent, and agent-ready product data as a baseline competitive requirement. BCG and Journal du Net (January and June 2026) point to GenAI's objectivity and personalisation as the primary drivers of consumer trust — placing data quality at the centre of brand visibility. Bain & Company (March 2026) detailed the structural migration from conventional SEO to generative and answer engine optimisation, and the new rules of discoverability this creates. Harvard Business Review and the Financial Times (October 2025 and April 2026) addressed the broader implication: in AI-mediated markets, brands must build trust and desirability as the active basis for consumer choice, not as a fallback when traditional marketing loses reach.

Future of influence