In our previous perspective, How generative AI is changing brand discovery, we explored how AI-powered search is changing the way consumers find and encounter brands online.
That shift does not stop at discovery.
As generative AI continues to develop, it is starting to influence how people compare options and make decisions. Instead of moving step by step across different websites, consumers increasingly rely on systems that bring information together, interpret it, and present a direction.
For CMOs and digital leaders, this points to a broader change. The mechanics of how customers move from awareness to action are being reshaped.
THE AI-MEDIATED CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Customer journeys used to follow a fairly predictable path. A consumer would discover a brand, explore options acrossmultiple sites, and eventually decide what to buy.
That flow is becoming less visible in practice.
People now move between AI tools, social platforms, retail environments, and content ecosystems, often within the same session. In many cases, the journey feels like a continuous interaction shaped by the platforms involved.
Within this environment, three elements still matter:
- Discovery – where a brand first appears
- Evaluation – how it is compared and understood
- Action – how a decision is made
What is changing is how these elements connect. They increasingly happen in the same place or are influenced by the same systems.
For brands, this means the journey is now about staying present and credible wherever decisions are being formed.
SEARCH IS EVOLVING INTO A DECISION LAYER
The shift is easiest to see in search. Consumers are already using conversational AI tools to explore questions, gather context, and understand options. The role of search is changing along with that behaviour.
Deloitte’s Connected Consumer research shows that more than half of consumers are experimenting with or regularly using generative AI tools. That signals that AI-supported discovery is alreadymoving into the mainstream.
For organisations that depend on search traffic, this introduces a different kind of challenge. Visibility is how your brand is represented when information is summarised on your behalf.
A FRAGMENTED AND DISCONNECTED LANDSCAPE
At the same time, the number of placeswhere discovery happens continues to grow. Consumers move across social platforms, retail media environments, creator ecosystems, and AI interfaces. Each of these plays a role in how brands are encountered and evaluated.
This shift is happening in a market where attention is limited. Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends 2025 research shows that companies are competing for roughly six hours of daily media and entertainment time per person. That number has not meaningfully increased.
As a result, traffic patterns are becoming harder to predict. Acquisition costs are rising. Channel strategiesthat once worked reliably may deliver very different outcomes today.
The question is no longer which channel performs best. It is how different environments contribute to the same decision.
DISCOVERY, INFLUENCE, AND COMMERCE ARE COMING TOGETHER
The impact of generative AI does not stop at discovery.
As systems become more capable, they start to take on tasks that used to sit with the consumer. Researching products, scanning reviews, and narrowing down options. These steps are gradually being supported, or in some cases handled, by AI.
That shift extends into commerce.
There are already signs of this convergence. Deloitte Digital’s State of Social 2025 research shows that social-first brands generate a higher share of their revenue from socialcommerce than less-mature organisations.
Discovery, influence, and conversion are no longer clearly separated. They are happening closer together, often within the same environment.
THE STRATEGIC DECISIONS FACING CMOs
The shift toward AI-mediated discovery is already underway. It is changing how consumers research, evaluate, and choose.
For CMOs, this is less about adopting a new tool and more about adjusting how the entire system works.
Several decisions are becoming more immediate:
- How should brands ensure visibility within AI-generated responses
- This starts with how information is structured, maintained, and made accessible.
- How should marketing investment adapt to a fragmented landscape?
- Channel mix, measurement, and performance expectations may need to shift.
- How should digital ecosystems evolve?
- Product data, platform design, and integration will increasingly shape how brands are surfaced and selected.
As these changes continue to unfold, the organisations that move first will be in a stronger position to shape how they are represented in an AI-mediated world.
Mourad Bel Hadj
Senior Manager with 15 years’ experience across advertising, technology, and digital strategy. Specialises in integrated communications, search and performance optimisation, and data-driven growth. Leads cross-functional teams to deliver ROI-focused campaigns through advanced audience strategy, programmatic buying, CDPs, and robust measurement frameworks. Experienced in driving digital transformation by connecting media, data, and technology to shape effective strategies and navigate the evolving future of search and digital discovery. Passionate about mentoring talent and driving sustainable growth.
Matthieu Raverdy
Senior marketing leader with over 15 years of experience building digital marketing and ecommerce strategy, leading cross-functional teams, and scaling marketing operations across EMEA, NORAM and APAC. He helps brands bridge marketing strategy and execution — turning complex, multi-market challenges into simple, effective operations. He has led multiple marketing transformation projects in retail, consumer business and healthcare industries.
Kasia Blicharz
Kasia is a partner in Advertising, Marketing and Commerce practice with focus on Consumer and Retail. She has 20 years experience in digital, data and marketing. She has worked with some of the leading FMCGs around embedding tech, making sense of data, instilling digital first culture and helping to create robust marketing organizations. Her passion is helping to translate and elevate human experiences into daily work of organizations. Her leading role in AM&C is helping clients to elevate their customer experiences through defining and building digital capabilities and way of working to execute on this. Typically this involves new digital and marketing strategies, technology (customer data, marketing automation, ecommerce tooling), content (brand strategy, UX/UI design, campaign content) and operating model components (governance set-up, make/buy/partner decisions, skill building and organization restructuring).
Eefje Vogels
Eefje has over 12 years of experience in digital marketing, e-commerce projects, and large-scale customer-centric transformations. She is a natural problem-solver, operates quickly, and bases decisions on facts and insights. Drawing on her broad understanding of technology and user-experience, Eefje guides and inspires teams and companies through their transformations. Eefje has worked with various consumer-facing brands, incl. Coolblue, Nike, IKEA, Swinkels, Bol.com, and PLUS.