AI, especially generative AI, is rapidly gaining popularity with online shoppers.
Online consumers are adopting generative AI at a rapid rate.
New data from Adobe reveals the extent to which U.S. consumers are using generative AI to assist their e-commerce efforts. One of the major trends Adobe observed during the 2024 holiday shopping season was the usage of generative AI-based chat services and browsers.
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Data from Adobe showed a major increase in AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites, during the 2024 holiday season. New data tracking U.S. online shopping through July 2025, based on direct transactions online and covering more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, shows that generative AI traffic rose 4,700% year-over-year in July 2025.
Growth remained strong in the beginning of the year according to Adobe analysis, with generative AI traffic up 1,100% in January 2025 and up 3,100% in April 2025 as compared to July 2024, with Adobe determining generative AI traffic was too minimal to serve as a baseline before that time.
In an Adobe survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers, 38% reported having used generative AI for online shopping, with 52% planning to do so this year. The shopping tasks consumers are using AI for include conducting research (53% of respondents), receiving product recommendations (40%) to seeking deals (36%), creating shopping lists (30%), getting present ideas (30%), finding unique products (29%), and virtual try-on (26%).
Adobe analysis of digital consumer behavior also shows that shoppers who arrive at a n e-commerce site from generative AI sources are 10% more engaged than consumers from non-AI sources, with 32% longer visits and 10% more pages per visit).
Generative AI-sourced online shoppers are also less likely to leave immediately, with a 27% lower bounce rate. Of surveyed consumers who have used AI for shopping, 85% of respondents note it improved their shopping experience, with 73% citing it as their primary source of product research and 83% saying they are more likely to use AI for larger or more complex purchases.
