Adobe Says Retailers’ AI-Driven Traffic Will Leap 3,200% During Prime Day

Adobe said Monday (July 7) that during Amazon’s Prime Day sales event that runs from Tuesday (July 8) through Friday (July 11), it expects the amount of traffic to all U.S. retailers that comes from generative artificial intelligence (AI) chat services and browsers to leap 3,200% year over year.

“And while AI-driven traffic remains modest compared to other channels such as paid search or email, the growth shows the value consumers are seeing in leveraging AI to quickly find information on deals and product details,” Vivek Pandya, director, Adobe Digital Insights at Adobe, said in a Monday blog post.

Adobe saw the first material surge in this kind of traffic to U.S. retail sites during the holiday shopping season, from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024, when generative AI traffic saw a year-over-year increase of 1,300%, according to the post.

The company found that 92% of U.S. consumers said generative AI enhanced their shopping experience as they used the technology for shopping tasks like conducting research, receiving product recommendations, seeking deals, getting present ideas, finding unique products and creating shopping lists, per the post.

PYMNTS reported in December that generative AI tools like ChatGPT played a big role in holiday shopping, helping consumers find products and deals more efficiently.

Retailers reported traffic growth from AI-powered searches, marking a shift from traditional search engines.

Amazon highlighted its own AI shopping tools in a June 18 press release, saying they can be used during Prime Day and year-round. These include Interests that finds deals on items that match the user’s interests, Shopping Guides that help users find the right product for their needs and budget, Hear the Highlights that synthesizes product summaries and reviews, Rufus that performs several shopping tasks, and Amazon Lens that uses images, screenshots and barcodes to find visually similar products.

In the Monday blog post, Adobe also predicted the during the Prime Day event, U.S. retailers will see online spend increase 28.4% year over year to reach $23.8 billion; shopping on mobile devices hit an all-time high as it drives 52.5% of online sales; and buy now, pay later (BNPL) usage experience a slight uptick as it increases its share of overall online spend from 7.6% last year to 8% this year.