AI is helping holiday shoppers empty their wallets at an unprecedented speed. American consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online on this black Friday, according to Adobe Analytics, and are expected to fork out another $14.2 billion on Cyber Monday. Driving this shopping frenzy is the growing reliance on AI systems to recommend gifts, track prices and place orders.
Consumers are turning mainly to chatbots to research products and hunt for deals. On Black Friday, AI-driven traffic became sales sites – measured by consumers clicking on links provided by AI-sperts tools revealed 805 percent. This traffic was strongest in categories such as video games, appliances, toys, toys, personal care and baby products. Consumers who found marketing sites with AI services were also 38 percent more likely to make a purchase compared to visitors who came from non-ai sources.
“For every product, there are unique features or types of products,” Luca Cian, a professor at the University of Darden School of Business who focuses on consumer behavior, told Speculator. “AI is simplifying many of our decisions.”
The rise of AI-assisted shopping comes with a broad surge in holiday e-commerce, and even economic pressures. In the first 23 days of November, American consumers spent $79.7 billion online—a 7.5% increase from last year. Adobe predicts online spending for the entire holiday season will reach $253.4 billion.
Adobe first saw an AI-driven spike in holiday sales last year, when E-commerce sales grew 1,300 percent in November and December. Consumers who arrived with AI tools not only converted at higher rates but also spent more time, viewed more content and had lower bounce rates.
The continued growth of AI-powered shopping can be chalked up to an improvement in the past,” according to Cian, who added that tighter budgets could prompt consumers to cut deals. The technology is also gaining steam as younger consumers enter the market—about 61 percent of Gen Z and 61 percent of millennials are already using AI tools to shop, according to the latest MasterCard.
Shop assistants appear
Adobe isn’t the only growing AI influence on marketing. Salesforce, which also concludes holiday shopping, says AI tools like independent lawyers influence $22 billion in online sales worldwide and Black Friday.
And these tools are faster. Openai recently introduced a quick checkout feature that allows users to purchase products from Etsy or retail sellers like Glossier and Spanx without leaving ChatGt. Amazon’s advanced assistant can automatically activate when prices fall within a set budget. Last month, Google launched a feature that can call local stores to check if a product is in stock.
Products are joining as well. Walmart’s Sparky AI Assistant provides personalized recommendations, compares options and syncs reviews. Target has launched similar tools to help holiday shoppers find special gifts through targeted servers.
As AI increases the efficiency of shopping, questions remain about how model developers will ultimately save money on these tools — and whether consumers will overindulge in them, said Cian, who noted that AI can also reduce the joy of navigating stores or browsing online.
“Shopping can also be fun and enriching,” she said. “If we move everything using AI, we can lose that joy.”
