Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower recently published new data indicating that Amazon’s AI chatbot, Rufus, saw a significant increase in adoption on Black Friday. In the U.S., Amazon shopping sessions that resulted in a purchase surged by 100% on Black Friday compared to the preceding 30 days, while sessions leading to a purchase without Rufus only saw a 20% rise.
Moreover, Amazon experienced a 75% day-over-day increase in sessions that involved Rufus and concluded with a purchase, in contrast to just a 35% day-over-day increase for purchase-yielding sessions that did not include Rufus.
The firm also pointed out that Amazon sessions engaging with the AI chatbot grew at a faster pace than total website sessions.
Specifically, on Black Friday, Amazon’s overall website sessions increased by 20% day-over-day, whereas those incorporating Rufus climbed by 35%.
Amazon’s AI chat was initially launched in beta during early 2024 before its full rollout to all U.S. customers later that year. Today, Rufus assists Amazon shoppers with product discovery, personalized recommendations, and comparative shopping.
The success of Rufus in driving Black Friday sales reflects a wider trend of consumers increasingly utilizing AI to aid their holiday shopping, as per available data.
According to e-commerce data from Adobe Analytics, which monitors over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, AI traffic to these sites soared by 805% year-over-year on Black Friday. This highlights a significant embrace of generative AI chatbots by consumers this year for finding deals and researching products. These AI tools were primarily used for popular Black Friday sale categories such as electronics, video games, appliances, toys, personal care items, and baby and toddler products.
Adobe Analytics also observed that AI usage enhanced conversion rates. It found that U.S. shoppers who arrived at a retail site via an AI service were 38% more inclined to make a purchase compared to those from non-AI traffic sources.
It is less clear whether AI directly contributed to the record Black Friday spending of $11.8 billion. Instead, this year’s substantial figure might be attributed to higher prices rather than an increase in online shopping volume. As TechCrunch reported on Saturday, Salesforce data indicated an average price increase of 7%, while order volumes decreased by 1%.
Sensor Tower’s data similarly suggests that consumers may have been more conservative with their spending this year, likely due to economic strains. Even though mobile app and website adoption experienced a spike on Black Friday compared to the preceding 30 days, its data indicated that gains in total visits and downloads decelerated from 2024.
For example, Amazon and Walmart saw their mobile app downloads increase by 24% and 20% respectively on Black Friday, compared with the previous 30 days. However, this growth appeared modest when contrasted with 2024, when Amazon downloads surged by 50% and Walmart’s by 75% during the identical period, as highlighted by the firm.
This year, Amazon’s and Walmart’s website visits on Black Friday rose by 90% and 100% respectively, compared to the prior 30 days. Nevertheless, those equivalent figures in 2024 stood at 95% and 130%, respectively.
In a related Adobe survey, 48% of respondents reported having used or planning to use AI specifically for their holiday shopping.