Amazon says more than 400 million customers used its Alexa for Shopping assistant in the 12 months before its October 29, 2026 results. This AI in retail statistics roundup sets that figure beside Adobe’s traffic and conversion data, NVIDIA’s 2026 retailer survey, Salesforce’s holiday sales tally and US shopper trust polling.
AI in Retail Statistics
Do AI-Referred Shoppers Convert Better?
Yes, based on Adobe’s latest readings. AI-referred visits to US retail sites converted 40% better than non-AI channels during Prime Day 2026 (June 23-26).
The gap ran the other way a year earlier. AI traffic converted 38% worse in March 2025 and 23% worse across Prime Day 2025.
Adobe counts AI traffic as shoppers clicking a link from an AI chat service or browser. Non-AI channels include paid search, email and social media.
Revenue per visit flipped too. AI referrals earned 37% more per visit than non-AI traffic in March 2026, while 12 months earlier non-AI traffic was worth 128% more.
Source: Adobe Digital Insights, March 2025 – June 2026
Holiday 2026 AI in Retail Statistics: Adobe Forecasts 130% Traffic Growth
Adobe projects AI-referred traffic to US retail sites will rise 130% year over year from November 1 to December 31, 2026. The steepest daily gains are forecast for Thanksgiving (159%), Black Friday (95%) and Cyber Monday (88%).
The same September 28, 2026 forecast puts total US online holiday spend at $275.1 billion, up 6.7%. Both numbers are projections, not results.
Adobe’s last event forecast came in above the outcome. It projected 103% AI traffic growth for Prime Day 2026 and measured 89%.
| Period | YoY growth in AI-referred visits to US retail sites |
|---|---|
| Holiday 2025 (Nov 1 – Dec 31) | 693.4% |
| Q1 2026 (Jan – Mar) | 393% |
| January – May 2026 | 235% |
| Prime Day 2026 (June 23 – 26) | 89% |
Source: Adobe Digital Insights, November 2025 – June 2026
Adobe’s figures cover link clicks from outside AI tools. As Gizmodo noted, shopping done inside a retailer’s own assistant does not send referral traffic, so it is not counted.
Agent traffic from AI browsers is a different measure, covered in our AI browser statistics for Arc, Dia and Comet.
Retail vs Other Industries, Holiday 2025
Retail posted the largest AI traffic increase of the six industries in Adobe’s holiday 2025 report, at 693%. Travel followed at 539%, and media and entertainment grew least at 92%.
Within retail, AI-referred traffic rose 769% in November 2025 and 673% in December 2025.
Source: Adobe Quarterly AI Traffic Report, November – December 2025
400 Million Customers Used Amazon’s AI Shopping Assistant
Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping was used by more than 400 million customers in the 12 months before the company’s October 29, 2026 results. Customer interactions rose 570% year over year.
Amazon merged its Rufus chatbot with the Alexa+ voice assistant to form Alexa for Shopping on May 13, 2026. Our voice AI market breakdown covers the wider category.
On the October 29 call, CEO Andy Jassy said US customers who use the assistant spend 50% more per order than those who do not. Amazon’s Q2 2026 release had put that gap at over 40%.
On the Q3 2025 call a year earlier, Jassy said 250 million shoppers had used Rufus that year. He also said Rufus was expected to add over $10 billion in annual incremental sales.
Source: Amazon Q2 and Q3 2026 earnings releases and calls; Amazon Q3 2025 earnings call
Walmart reported a similar pattern on February 19, 2026. Customers using its Sparky assistant had an average order value about 35% higher than non-users, and about half of Walmart app users had tried it.
Both companies compare users with non-users. Neither figure isolates how much extra spending the assistant itself caused.
Source: Walmart Q4 FY26 earnings call, February 19, 2026
How Much Holiday Spending Did AI Influence?
Salesforce says AI and agents influenced $262 billion of the $1.29 trillion in global online holiday sales from November 1 to December 31, 2025. That works out to 20%, by Salesforce’s count.
Retailers that ran their own AI agents grew holiday sales 6.2% year over year, against 3.9% for those without. Agents also handled 142% more service tasks such as returns and shipping updates.
Source: Salesforce, holiday season 2025 (November 1 – December 31)
AI in Retail Adoption: NVIDIA’s 2026 Survey in Numbers
NVIDIA’s third annual State of AI in Retail and CPG survey, published January 7, 2026, drew hundreds of responses from retail and consumer packaged goods professionals. The shares below describe those respondents, not every retailer.
| Survey finding | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Using or assessing AI | 91% |
| Plan to raise AI budgets in 2026 | 90% |
| Open-source models moderately to extremely important | 79% |
| Report more supply chain challenges year over year | 64% |
| Using or assessing agentic AI | 47% |
| AI agents expected within the next year | 21% |
| AI agents already active | 20% |
| Using or evaluating physical AI | 17% |
Source: NVIDIA, State of AI in Retail and CPG: 2026 Trends
Most respondents report some return, fewer a large one. 89% said AI helped raise annual revenue, and 30% put the gain above 10%.
On costs, 95% said AI is helping cut annual costs. 37% reported cuts above 10%.
Asked how AI improved their business, 54% cited employee productivity, 52% operational efficiency and 41% customer service. The workforce side shows up in our AI job cut data by industry.
Half of respondents expect AI budgets to grow 10% or more year over year. Enterprise model spending by vendor is broken out in our LLM vendor share figures.
For agentic AI, respondents named three goals: faster, more efficient processes (57%), better customer experience and personalization (40%), and real-time decision-making (40%).
Source: NVIDIA, State of AI in Retail and CPG: 2026 Trends
How Far Do Shoppers Trust AI in Retail?
Not far when money changes hands. In a Harris Poll survey for Quad, 39% of US adults said they trust AI agents to make everyday purchases for them.
| Survey finding | Share of US adults |
|---|---|
| Great in-store experience boosts confidence trying the brand online | 81% |
| Would trust AI agents less if brand dollars swayed picks | 75% |
| Would trust brands less if they paid to influence agents | 75% |
| Trust AI agents to make everyday purchases | 39% |
| Comfortable with AI buying larger items | 34% |
Source: The Harris Poll for Quad, February 5 – 7, 2026 (online survey, 2,180 US adults)
Younger adults use AI in stores more. 52% of Gen Z (370 respondents) and 55% of Millennials (715) said they use AI in store for real-time help, against 39% overall.
Source: The Harris Poll for Quad, February 5 – 7, 2026
Adobe’s own poll points higher on accuracy. Its survey of more than 5,000 US consumers, released with the Q1 2026 traffic report, found 66% believe AI tools give accurate shopping results.
Chatbot reach outside shopping is tracked in our Meta AI usage statistics.
Source: Adobe Digital Insights consumer survey, Q1 2026
FAQs
What percentage of retailers use AI?
91% of retail and CPG respondents in NVIDIA’s 2026 survey said their companies use or assess AI. 47% use or assess agentic AI, and 20% say AI agents are already active.
Does AI increase retail sales?
Most surveyed firms say it does. In NVIDIA’s 2026 survey, 89% said AI raised annual revenue and 30% saw gains above 10%. Salesforce found retailers with their own agents grew holiday 2025 sales 6.2% vs 3.9%.
How fast is AI shopping traffic growing?
AI-referred visits to US retail sites grew 89% year over year during Prime Day 2026, per Adobe. Adobe forecasts 130% growth for the November-December 2026 holiday season.
Do shoppers trust AI to buy things for them?
Fewer than half do. A February 2026 Harris Poll for Quad found 39% of US adults trust AI agents with everyday purchases, and 34% are comfortable with AI buying larger items.
Is AI in retail as widespread as Reddit threads suggest?
Interest runs ahead of rollout. NVIDIA’s 2026 survey found 91% of retail and CPG respondents using or assessing AI, but 20% had AI agents active. Just 39% of US adults trust agents with everyday purchases.
Sources
https://business.adobe.com/blog/2026-prime-day-insights
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-in-retail-cpg-survey-2026/
https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/2025-holiday-shopping-data/
