Amazon’s AI chatbot Rufus drove sales on Black Friday

Amazon’s AI chatbot, Rufus, saw a surge of adoption on Black Friday, according to new data published over the weekend by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. In the U.S., Amazon sessions that resulted in a purchase surged 100% on Black Friday compared with the trailing 30 days, while sessions that resulted in a purchase and didn’t include Rufus increased by only 20%.

In addition, Amazon saw a 75% day-over-day increase for sessions that included Rufus and resulted in a purchase, compared with just a 35% day-over-day increase for sessions without Rufus that had resulted in a purchase.

The firm also noted that Amazon sessions that involved the AI chatbot outpaced total website sessions.

On Black Friday, Amazon’s total website sessions increased by 20% day over day, while those that involved Rufus were up by 35%.

Amazon’s AI chat was first launched into beta in early 2024 before rolling out to all U.S. customers later that year. Today, Rufus helps Amazon shoppers find products, get recommendations, and perform product comparisons.

Rufus’ adoption to drive Black Friday sales is part of a broader surge in consumers turning to AI to help them with holiday shopping, data shows.

According to e-commerce data from Adobe Analytics, which tracks more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, AI traffic to U.S. retail sites increased by 805% year-over-year on Black Friday. This indicates that consumers more heavily embraced generative AI chatbots to find deals and research products this year. The AI tools were mostly used for popular Black Friday deal categories like electronics, video games, appliances, toys, personal care items, and baby and toddler products.

Adobe Analytics also noted that the use of AI increased conversions. It found U.S. shoppers who came to a retail site from an AI service were 38% more likely to buy, compared with non-AI traffic sources.

Whether AI directly contributed to the record Black Friday spending of $11.8 billion is less clear. Instead, the sizable figure this year could be due to higher prices, not an increase in online shopping. As TechCrunch reported on Saturday, Salesforce data showed prices were up by an average of 7%, while order volumes were down by 1%.

Sensor Tower’s data similarly suggests that consumers were perhaps being more conservative in their spending this year, likely due to economic strains. Even though mobile app and website adoption spiked on Black Friday compared to the previous 30 days, gains in total visits and downloads decelerated from 2024, its data indicated.

For instance, Amazon and Walmart’s mobile app downloads grew by 24% and 20%, respectively on Black Friday, compared with the previous 30 days. But that growth paled when compared with 2024, when Amazon downloads surged by 50% and Walmart’s were up 75% during the same period, the firm pointed out.

Amazon and Walmart’s website visits on Black Friday were up by 90% and 100% this year, respectively, compared with the prior 30 days. However, those same numbers in 2024 were 95% and 130%, also respectively.

In a related Adobe survey, 48% of respondents said they have used or plan to use AI specifically for holiday shopping.