Gen AI Is Now the Go-To Shopping Advisor

The global AI-enabled e-commerce market is valued at $9.01 billion in 2025 and is projected to surge to nearly $75 billion by 2035. This growth is fueled by widespread adoption, with 97% of retailers already implementing or developing an AI program. The impact is clear: AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail websites skyrocketed by 4,700% year-over-year as of July 2025. This shift in traffic is creating more engaged customers. Shoppers who arrive on a retail site from a generative AI source spend 32% more time per visit, view 10% more pages, and have a 27% lower bounce rate compared to visitors from traditional channels like search and social media. Of consumers who have used AI for shopping, 85% report that it improved their experience. During the 2025 holiday season, 56% of U.S. consumers utilized generative AI for their shopping needs. The most common uses among this group were comparing products (34%) and searching for the best prices (29%). This reflects a broader trend, with 75% of consumers now taking more time to find the best deals when making a purchase. A significant generational divide exists in the trust of AI recommendations. While 45% of Gen Z consumers are comfortable with product suggestions from an AI tool, only 25% of Boomers feel the same way. Similarly, 44% of Gen Z are comfortable with AI-driven financing options, a sentiment shared by less than 20% of Boomers. Despite this trust gap, AI's influence on revenue is growing. At Amazon, 35% of all revenue is already attributed to its AI-powered recommendation engine. Across the board, while revenue-per-visit from AI-driven shoppers has historically lagged, the gap is closing fast—improving from being 97% lower than non-AI visits in mid-2024 to just 27% lower one year later.