What happened
ChatGPT increased retail app referrals by 28% year-on-year during Black Friday, with its share of total sessions rising from 0.64% to 0.82%. Amazon's referral share from ChatGPT grew from 40.5% to 54%, and Walmart's from 2.7% to 14.9%. This indicates AI-driven shopping prioritises dominant platforms, with AI chatbot users exhibiting higher purchase intent.
Why it matters
The increasing concentration of AI-driven retail referrals towards dominant platforms introduces a new operational constraint for e-commerce and marketing teams. This shift reduces control over customer discovery pathways, increasing the burden on digital marketing and strategy departments to adapt acquisition models. It raises due diligence requirements for platform selection and investment, particularly for smaller retailers facing an accountability gap in competing for AI-influenced traffic.
Subscribe for Weekly Updates
Stay ahead with our weekly AI and tech briefings, delivered every Tuesday.
