E-commerce traffic from AI engines has exploded. Only the beginning?

+1,200% in 6 months. What if this is only the beginning?

Between July 2024 and February 2025, e-commerce traffic from AI engines exploded, according to Adobe Analytics.

But the most interesting part is not the volume. It is the quality of that traffic.

In the survey Adobe ran with 5,000 American consumers, 39% have already used generative AI for their online shopping, and 53% plan to do so this year.

Among the most common uses: • 55% use it to do research • 47% to get product recommendations • 43% to find promotions • 35% to look for gift ideas • 35% to discover original products • 33% to build shopping lists

In July, the conversion rate of visitors coming from AI was 43% lower than that of other channels. By February, the gap had fallen to just –9%. In other words: AI traffic is quickly closing its performance gap.

Why? Because this is no longer search. It is prescription.

The user no longer compares ten tabs. AI has already sorted, filtered, sometimes even negotiated. The prospect arrives in the validation phase, with a stronger purchase intent, shaped by the machine.

This is not a simple shift of channel, but the emergence of a new purchase journey, more direct, more qualified… and more opaque. Brands gain in efficiency, but lose their grasp of the "why."