UK shoppers frustrated by AI retail personalisation

Quickfire Digital has published UK research showing widespread consumer frustration with AI-driven online shopping. The study also found that most retailers have delayed planned eCommerce improvements.

Nearly half of consumers surveyed (45%) said they were frustrated by AI-powered shopping experiences, citing generic recommendations, poor search results, and suggestions for out-of-stock products.

A similar share, 44%, said they were frustrated by personalisation more broadly. Complaints included repeated recommendations, irrelevant product suggestions and a sense that brands did not understand their preferences.

Among retailers, 84% said eCommerce improvements had either been delayed or not delivered in the past year. The survey found that 40% blamed budget pressures, while 25% cited security requirements and 23% pointed to fragmented data.

Another pressure point was the cost of maintaining older systems. Two in five retailers said they were spending more than a quarter of their eCommerce budgets on existing platforms, leaving less for changes to customer-facing services.

Retail gap

The findings suggest a mismatch between retailers' spending priorities and shoppers' experiences. Quickfire Digital argued that legacy technology and heavily customised eCommerce systems are making it harder for businesses to respond to customer demands, even as more retailers increase their use of AI.

The agency also pointed to separate research published earlier this year showing that 52% of retailers were adopting more AI to drive revenue. That sits alongside the new consumer findings, which indicate dissatisfaction with how the technology is being applied in online retail.

Martin Harper, Co-Founder at Quickfire Digital, set out the agency's argument in response to the data.

"Right now, as retailers continue to invest heavily in AI and customer experience tools, most of the industry narrative we're seeing is 'AI personalisation = good'. But our data is actually challenging that and revealing something no one is talking about: mid-market and enterprise brands are stunting their own growth because they refuse to abandon their legacy or custom-built tech stacks.

"If retailers' existing systems cannot support the pace of change they need to keep up with consumer expectations, AI may instead be actively putting consumers off.

"It's also interesting to see a significant amount of the eCommerce budget being spent simply to keep legacy and heavily customised platforms running. Retailers know they need to make meaningful improvements for their consumers, but this hidden 'Growth Tax' being paid by retailers who prioritise owning their infrastructure over commercial agility is trapping them.

"This is one of the biggest challenges facing retail businesses, because without the right infrastructure in place, even the best customer experience strategy and AI tools will struggle to deliver results."

Owned channels

The research also looked at how shoppers prefer to find products online. It found that 45% preferred to search directly on retailer websites, compared with 16% who preferred discovery through social media and content creators.

That finding runs counter to the idea that social commerce and third-party platforms are replacing retailers' own digital storefronts as the primary destination for browsing and buying. For retailers weighing investment choices, it suggests their own websites remain central to the customer journey.

Harper also commented on that trend.

"Despite all the industry noise around social commerce, marketplaces, AI shopping assistants, discovery on TikTok, Instagram, etc, consumers are still saying the retailer's own website is the main and most trusted place they use to find and buy products. For retailers who've over-invested in social or marketplace channels at the expense of their own site, this insight is a real wake-up call."

The surveys were conducted among 2,028 UK adult consumers and 201 eCommerce retailers with at least 10 employees.

With consumers reporting frustration with both AI shopping tools and broader personalisation efforts, the research points to a more basic problem than the adoption of any single technology. Many retailers appear to be struggling to fix search, stock visibility and relevance on their existing sites before adding further layers of automation.

Retailer responses also suggest operational constraints are slowing that work. Budget pressure was the most common barrier to planned eCommerce improvements, but security demands and fragmented data also featured prominently, indicating that many businesses face overlapping obstacles.

For mid-sized and larger retailers in particular, the findings illustrate the cost of maintaining complex eCommerce estates while trying to meet rising customer expectations. Forty per cent said they were using more than a quarter of their eCommerce budgets simply to keep existing systems running.