For years, digital tools have been changing the consumer purchase journey. Social media is now increasingly relevant across all stages of that journey and has become the most important channel for Gen Z, according to the 2026 McKinsey State of the Consumer Survey. For example, for the brand discovery and purchase stages, social media is Gen Zers’ most important source, whereas baby boomers continue to rely on stores. One factor that will influence the uptake of social media and gen AI for shopping is consumer trust, note McKinsey’s Anna Pione, Clarisse Magnin, Danielle Bozarth, Jessica Moulton, and Kari Alldredge. Despite Gen Zers’ widespread adoption of social media and gen AI, they are skeptical of both. In fact, across most channels used for product research, Gen Zers report lower levels of trust compared with baby boomers.
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Scatter plot comparing net trust in product research sources between Gen Z (n=929) and Boomers (n=1,448). Across both generations, offline sources are trusted most: friends and family recommendations, professional recommendations, and sales assistance rank highest, with Boomers reporting substantially higher trust than Gen Z. Traditional online search, brand websites, and online stores receive moderate trust, again with Boomers rating them higher. Among algorithm-driven channels, YouTube and online reviews are moderately trusted, while social media and generative AI responses receive the lowest trust scores. Gen Z reports slightly higher trust than Boomers in social media, while Boomers report higher trust in generative AI. Overall, despite increasing use of social media and generative AI for product research, consumers trust them less than other information sources.
This image description was completed with the assistance of Writer, a gen AI tool.
Source: McKinsey State of Consumer Survey, March–April 2026
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To read the report, see “State of the Consumer 2026: When tech acceleration and cost pressures collide,” June 22, 2026.