FROM CURIOSITY TO COMPULSION: LIVED EXPERIENCES OF CONSUMERS ENGAGING WITH AI-POWERED SHOPPING PLATFORMS

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the global retail landscape has fundamentally altered the dynamics of consumerism, shifting the marketplace from a passive catalog of goods to a hyper-personalized, algorithmic ecosystem (Fan& Liu, 2022; Petrescu et al., 2024).This qualitative phenomenological study explored how consumers experience the transition from casual browsing to compulsive purchasing on AI-powered shopping platforms. Anchored on the Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm and Flow Theory, it examined how algorithmic stimuli such as personalized recommendations, flash sales, and targeted notifications trigger emotional and cognitive states that culminate in unplanned purchases. Twelve active users of AI-integrated e-commerce applications participated in in-depth interviews, sharing narratives of feeling subtly “pulled in” by hyper-relevant suggestions, losing track of time in immersive, infinite scroll environments, and later questioning their own agency after impulsive transactions. Thematic analysis revealed three core themes: the “siren call” of algorithmic prompts that initiate shopping episodes, the “digital trance” characterized by absorption and diminished self-regulation, and the “regretful awakening” marked by guilt, rationalization, and perceived manipulation. The findings highlight a tension between convenience and autonomy, suggesting that AI systems not only optimize commercial outcomes but also reconfigure consumer decision-making in ways that may compromise psychological wellbeing. The study recommends more ethical platform design, stronger transparency and protection mechanisms, and consumer digital mindfulness to mitigate algorithmically driven compulsion.