How digital shopping and AI are shifting consumer spending

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How digital shopping and AI are shifting consumer spending

9 Jun 2026

Maddie Lambert

Maddie Lambert is a copywriter and editor from Joplin, MO. She graduated from Missouri Southern State University with a Bachelor of Arts in English – literary studies. When she’s not poring over the magazine or lost in the pages of a new novel, you can find Maddie exploring her local bookstores, spending time with her husband, or sharing her latest literary discoveries with fellow book enthusiasts.

ORLANDO, FL — In the age of AI, it’s easy for consumers to discover foods that meet their needs. AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Claude can whip up recipes in seconds, offering a grocery list full of new flavors and nutrition-forward formats.

As this happens, bakers are watching the sales rollercoaster as it moves quickly between soaring and plummeting. Despite this fluctuation, one thing is for certain: AI is here to stay.

At IDDBA 2026, being held June 7-9 in Orlando, FL, Jonna Parker, principal II and VP of fresh foods at Circana, and Matt Schreffler, sales director for Datassential, spoke to the use of AI across the industry in their respective sessions, “Metrics that Matter in the Era of Digital and AI,” and “How Winning Teams are Using AI for Dairy, Deli and Bakery.”

Parker shared that consumers are currently playing it safe with their budgets, opting for affordability over loyalty and nutrition over indulgence … often eliminating baked goods from the picture. According to Circana data, dollar sales for bakery snacks are down, and prices per unit are up.

It’s not all bad news, however.

Banking on e-commerce

There’s still space in shopping carts for commercial bakers, and one avenue that can help is e-commerce. Gen Z and millennial shoppers are utilizing AI to build their grocery lists and going online to shop, easily tracking their budgets in real-time and reducing impulse purchases. Grocers and retailers that offer delivery and curbside pickup are also winning with these consumers.

“E-commerce is here, and it’s massive,” Parker said. “And yes, it’s incremental in dairy, deli and bakery … maybe not for every retailer, maybe not for every item, but the ones who are doing it right are gaining new buyers and new sales. The total food and beverage market for e-commerce has hit $105 billion and grew at 20 percent last year alone.”

Bakery benefited from this surge. According to Parker, 100% of incremental growth in bakery came from online channels.

“Without e-commerce sales, that space would have shrunk,” she said.

E-commerce also bridges the gap between convenience and engagement. Consumers shopping online have brands at their fingertips, and this is also how AI enters the picture.

“Without e-commerce sales, the bakery space would have shrunk.” — Jonna Parker | principal II and VP of fresh foods | Circana

Tracking trends with AI

Bakers can use AI platforms to take a deep dive across social media and see which flavors or formats are making digital waves.

“We asked, ‘What flavors are trending on bakery menus?’” Schreffler said, explaining Datassential’s study on AI usage in dairy, deli and bakery. “Overwhelmingly, it’s your indulgent classics here that are growing: familiar flavors like peanut butter, brown sugar, sweet cream, maple syrup.”

Then, Datassential took it one step further, asking AI to determine, specifically among Gen Z, which flavors were gaining the most traction.

“Turns out, it was chocolate croissants,” Schreffler said. “It’s growing the most here, very closely with things like old-fashioned donuts, apple fritters, bananas … again, those indulgent classics that Gen Z is rediscovering or discovering for the very first time.”

AI is changing retail and foodservice sales and affecting how CPG companies market their products. By using AI to identify the right trends and then target the right customers, commercial bakers can reduce the guesswork on how to capture modern consumers’ hearts and carts.

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