AI assistants are becoming the place shoppers ask what to buy, and the next step, letting an AI agent buy for you, is already live for US shoppers in Gemini, Meta's Muse and Microsoft Copilot.

Research published by Human Forward, a startup based out of London, shows most of Britain's best known brands are not ready for this brave new world.

Human Forward asked six AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google's Gemini, DeepSeek and Meta's Muse) the questions shoppers ask about 75 leading UK retailers and direct to consumer brands, and checked each brand's website for the standards AI agents use to find products and complete a purchase. It found:

Most brands can't be bought by an AI agent. Of the 50 sites it could check, 35 were not set up for an AI agent to buy from, including Marks and Spencer, Dunelm and Moonpig. The 15 that were ready all run on Shopify, which builds it in for its merchants. Brands on their own technology have been left to work it out alone.

One in five is never recommended. Asked for the best brands in their own category, no assistant named 15 of the 75 brands. Among the big retailers it was 12 of 50, including boohoo, New Look, Matalan, River Island, Schuh and AO.

The assistants disagree. When one assistant recommends a brand, on average 39% of the others leave it out. ChatGPT is the hardest to get into: it named a brand unprompted 40% of the time, against 60% for Claude.

Everyday names get lost. Ask an assistant “What is Iceland?” and all six describe the country, not the supermarket.

Being recommended is not being ready. Moonpig tops the table for AI answers at 99 out of 100, yet no agent checkout was found on its site.

Peter Abidi, Founder at Human Forward and formerly Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Director at Rapha, says: "AI shopping is arriving faster than most brands realise, and the brands most at risk aren't the small ones. They're the big names running their own technology, who have been left to work it out alone. Some of the most recommended brands in Britain still can't be bought by an agent."

"Some brands will decide they don't want agents buying for their customers, and that's their call. Being forgotten isn't. If your brand has an everyday name, assume the AI doesn't know it's you. Ask what Iceland is and you get the country. These are fixable problems, and most of the fixes are boring, but nobody fixes what they haven't measured."

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

Check out our 2026 shortlists and finalists here.

The awards, which celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world, have now closed for entries. Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

The event will consist of a drinks reception, three course meal, awards ceremony presided over by award winning stand-up comedian, presenter, actor and broadcaster, Aurie Styla, and after party until 1am.

Click here to book your place at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, 4th November.