VML has unveiled its ninth annual Future Shopper report, an expansive global study revealing that, despite years of digital acceleration, many brands are still failing to deliver on the basics of customer experience.
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Surveying over 25,000 shoppers across 16 countries, the 2025 edition exposes a gap between what consumers expect and what brands provide when it comes to value, speed, and trust.
In fact, 45 percent of global shoppers surveyed, and half of South Africans surveyed, often abandon their online shopping cart because the digital experience is too frustrating.
According to the report, brands must prioritise human-centric experiences and address consumer frustrations with current digital offerings, especially if they want to grow in an AI-first world.
Although in its infancy in the customer journey, AI’s high usage and trust indicates that it will fundamentally change how consumers shop, from discovery to purchase.
Despite marketplaces setting the benchmark for customer service, their market share has dropped since last year and search engines have seen a resurgence during the information and search phases of the journey, possibly fuelled by AI integration.
AI’s rapid emergence across the path to purchase
- 81% of South African respondents have used ChatGPT or an alternative.
- 30% of South African respondents have used AI tools like ChatGPT to create shopping lists or meal plans or find inspiration for what to purchase, while more than 18% have used these tools to find the best place to buy something.
- 59% are excited by the prospect of having their own AI agent to talk to brands or retailers on their behalf and get the products they want at the price they want.
Personalisation powers discovery but falls short for some
- 75% of South African consumers surveyed say personalised recommendations help them discover new products (significantly higher than the global average of 63%.
- 72% are more likely to buy from brands that remember their preferences.
- 46% think most brands do a poor job of personalisation.
A shift toward true omnichannel retail
Globally, marketplaces remain the dominant force throughout the shopper journey, with 22% using the lead marketplace in the region for inspiration, 15% using the secondary marketplace, and 9% using other marketplaces.
When it comes to search, 17% use the lead marketplace, 12% the secondary and 7% other marketplaces. However, marketplace share of wallet has slipped to 22%, down from 29% last year, signalling a shift toward true omnichannel retail.
In South Africa, 76% of respondents prefer to shop with a brand that has both a physical store and an online store and 66% wish brands communicated with them seamlessly across different channels.
Jade dos Santos, strategy director at VML South Africa, notes: “South Africans have always had incredibly high expectations and very high adoption rates, despite economic constraints. This stems from widespread digital adoption across all market segments, creating a wonderful dichotomy in our technological advancement; we're simultaneously early adopters and harsh critics.”
He sees this play out in the survey data: “We've readily adopted AI in our day-to-day lives; 81% use tools like ChatGPT compared to 68% globally, yet we're equally quick to abandon purchases when online experiences don't meet our standards, with 50% dropping off versus 45% globally. We demand compressed commerce, moving seamlessly between online and offline, expecting true omnichannel experiences while wanting them made specifically for us through intelligent use of our data. And we need it almost instantly, with a higher-than-global-average need for fast journeys and a massive dislike for poor digital experiences where brands get punished with abandoned baskets.”
More findings
Customer experience
- 47% of South African respondents are often amazed at the poor online shopping experience by major retailers.
- 54% think businesses have no idea what customers want from their digital channels.
“I want it right now or I don’t want it at all.”
- 32% of global shoppers surveyed expect delivery within two hours; 40% will not order if same-day delivery or scheduled delivery isn’t available.
- 71% of South African respondents want to move from inspiration to purchase as quickly as possible, a trend VML has coined “compressed commerce”.
“The South African consumer has evolved rapidly; we're AI-native, require personalisation, and demand omnichannel excellence above global standards,” concludes Dos Santos. “This might be because we need to be smarter and better with limited resources, but it positions us to leapfrog global competition by creating nothing short of world-class experiences.”
Download the full report here.
