Adobe reports that this past July, traffic to US retail websites from generative AI browsers and chat services surged by 4,700% year-over-year, as more consumers are turning to channels like ChatGPT as their first stop for planned shopping.
Adobe first noticed the spike in AI-driven clicks to retail sites during the 2024 holiday season, when it tracked a 1,300% year-over-year increase in AI-powered traffic between November 1 and December 31. This year, that share has continued to climb each month.
“The last holiday season was the first time we really saw this traffic blossom, from AI platforms to retail sites,” Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in an interview. He added: “Since then, it’s been growing and it’s been growing strong.”
The data, along with consumer survey feedback, suggests shoppers “have a lot of trust in the results and feedback they’re getting from AI platforms,” Pandya said. “We found over 90% of respondents trusted the results they were getting from AI platforms,” he said.
“What it does is it allows for, facilitates and supports that highly optimized, urgent, efficient journey that consumers want,” Pandya said. “They want to be able to input all of the criteria around their needs and then get refined guidance against meeting all of that criteria.”
Using Gen-AI to Boost Engagement and Lower Bounce Rates
Because consumers trust AI platforms, Adobe is not only seeing more traffic, “but we’re also seeing them stay longer on the website,” with lower bounce rates, Pandya said. Bounce rates are 27% lower for shoppers who visit via AI platforms.
Adobe data shows a 10% increase in engagement and 32% longer visit times among shoppers who arrive at sites via gen-AI sources. The conversion gap between AI-driven and non-AI-driven traffic—i.e., the number of consumers who make a purchase when visiting a site—is also narrowing, according to Adobe data.
In July, the conversion rate for traffic from generative AI sources was 23% lower than that of non-AI sources, down from 49% in January and 38% in April. The conversion gap points to greater usage of AI in the research and consideration phase of the shopping journey, before consumers are ready to “click to buy,” Adobe reports. But the narrowing gap this year “signals that consumers are increasingly more likely to complete the transaction following an AI-driven interaction,” Adobe’s report concludes.
AI-Driven Revenue Grows 84%
Adobe reports that revenue from AI-driven traffic grew 84% between January and July compared to non-AI sources.
That figure is expected to rise “as consumers use generative AI tools on mobile, which is more prone to impulse purchases,” Adobe reports. In July, 26% of generative AI traffic came from mobile devices (vs. desktop), up from 18% in January.
Adobe’s report is based on insights from Adobe Analytics across more than 1 trillion visits to US retail sites. Adobe also surveyed 5,000 consumers this month about their use of AI.
It found that 38% of consumers have used AI for online shopping, and 52% of consumers plan to use it this year. Shopping tasks for which consumers use AI include: conducting research (53%), receiving product recommendations (40%), finding promotions (36%), creating shopping lists (30%), finding unique products (29%) and virtual try-ons (26%).
Among those who use AI for shopping, 85% said AI has improved their shopping experience and 73% use it as a primary source for product research.
