AI-Powered Shopping Assistants Set to Transform Prime Day 2025

GenAI as a shopping assistant set to explode during Prime Day sales | TechCrunch

A new report estimates that AI will be a larger-than-ever part of the online shopping process during Amazon's Prime Day sale, which began Tuesday morning. Amazon's annual sale, which this year spans four days (July 8-11), is predicted to drive $23.8 billion in online spending across U.S. e-commerce retailers, as other businesses run their own competing sales alongside the popular shopping event. Adobe, whose e-commerce division regularly releases estimates for online shopping events like Black Friday and others, offers a view into online commerce by tracking transactions online. The firm's analysis encompasses over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, including 100 million SKUs across 18 product categories. This year, Adobe forecasts that Prime Day will be the equivalent of "two Black Fridays." The $23.8 billion spent over the four-day period will represent 28.4% year-over-year growth and $9.6 billion more than the comparable period last year. Mobile will be a large part of that equation, accounting for more than half (52.5%) of sales, but this year, generative AI will also play a role. During the Prime Day event, Adobe estimates that traffic from generative AI sources will increase 3,200% year-over-year. This is still a much smaller source than other channels, like paid search and email, but Adobe believes it will continue to grow as consumers see the value in using AI for shopping. The company noted that gen AI-powered chatbots and browsers saw an initial surge in use during the 2024 holiday season, when traffic from those sources jumped 1,300% compared with the prior year from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024. The company also cited a survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers, which indicated that people were using gen AI for research (55% of respondents), product recommendations (47%), finding deals (43%), getting gift ideas (35%), finding unique products (35%), and creating shopping lists (33%). Of those who used gen AI, 92% said it enhanced their purchase experience, and 87% said they are more likely to use AI for larger or more complex purchases. AI providers have been capitalizing on this trend by integrating AI into shopping, as Google has with Gemini-enhanced product search, and OpenAI has with the addition of shopping features in ChatGPT, for example. Adobe's forecast says that consumers this Prime Day will be focused on discounts, with apparel having the biggest deals. Back-to-school needs will also drive sales this year.

Prime Day event drove over $24B in U.S. e-commerce sales, gen AI traffic was up 3,300% | TechCrunch

Amazon's Prime Day, which leads to an overall boost to U.S. e-commerce thanks to competitive sales, saw a significant increase in retail traffic driven by generative AI products, including chatbots and browsers. According to a post-Prime Day analysis by Adobe Analytics, gen AI traffic to U.S. retail sites increased by 3,300% year-over-year -- which was more than the firm had originally forecast. Adobe's e-commerce division provided an analysis of the U.S. retail landscape encompassing over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, including 100 million SKUs across 18 product categories. During the Amazon Prime Day event (July 8-11), U.S. retailers saw $24.1 billion in online spend, representing 30.3% year-over-year growth, or the equivalent of two Black Fridays. (Black Friday 2024 saw $10.8 billion in online spend, which was then a new benchmark for the holiday shopping event.) The actual results from the firm's Prime Day analysis came in slightly higher than its estimates, which predicted $23.8 billion would be spent with U.S. e-commerce retailers over the four-day period, representing 28.4% year-over-year growth. As a result, the figures for the use of gen AI driving online shopping were higher as well, indicating increased consumer interest in using generative AI-powered chat services and browsers as online shopping assistants. However, this AI-driven traffic still remains much smaller than other channels like email or paid search, Adobe noted. Paid search, for example, accounted for a 28.5% share of U.S. e-commerce sales during the Prime Day event, up 5.6% year-over-year. Another growing channel for driving retail clicks this year involved social media influencers, who drove 19.9% of U.S. online retail sales during the event. That figure was up 15% year-over-year, and data indicated that influencers converted shoppers into making purchases 10 times more effectively than social media overall. Amazon didn't share specific Prime Day figures, only saying that it was the biggest event ever with record sales and more items sold than before. However, the company also expanded Prime Day to a four-day event this year, making comparisons to prior years difficult. According to one third-party analysis from Momentum Commerce, reported by Adweek, Prime Day sales during its first two days were initially down 35% year-over-year, then increased by day three to be up 165% year-over-year. This suggests that shoppers may have been waiting until the later sale days to see if their items would receive deeper discounts. Adobe noted that top categories driving U.S. e-commerce sales during the Prime Day event this year included appliances, where online sales were up 112%, compared to average daily sales in June. Other categories that saw strong growth included office supplies (up 105%), electronics (up 95%), books (up 81%), tools and home improvement (up 76%), home and garden (up 58%), and baby and toddler (up 55%).

Adobe Says Retailers' AI-Driven Traffic Will Leap 3,200% During Prime Day | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. "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. 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.