tech
AI shopping beat search on Prime Day, rattling Amazon
Amazon built Prime Day to keep shoppers inside its own marketplace. This year, AI shopping sent its best customers in from outside: a chatbot made the recommendation.
TL;DR
- AI-referred shoppers were the most likely to complete purchases during Prime Day, surpassing traditional channels.
- AI-referred traffic to US retail sites nearly doubled year-on-year on the first day of Prime Day.
- AI-referred shoppers spent longer on-site, viewed more pages, and added more items to their baskets.
- This trend signifies a shift from search engines to AI assistants as the primary starting point for online shopping.
- Amazon faces a challenge as AI firms like ChatGPT and Gemini could capture the discovery layer and associated revenue.
- Retailers need to ensure their product catalogs are machine-readable for AI recommendation.
- The European market adoption of shopping assistants is slower, with regulations like the Digital Markets Act influencing the landscape.
- While AI referrals are still a small fraction of total traffic, their conversion rates and growth suggest a clear directional trend.