Recently, BrightEdge released new data showing that the holiday season in 2025 is a turning point for ecommerce and AI, as the findings showed a 752% increase in direct referrals leading from AI engines to ecommerce brands.
This reveals that the way people search for and find products is changing, and signifies the importance of marketers and ecommerce brands optimizing content and products for AI search.
Key Findings From the Data
The data comes from BrightEdge AI Market Pulse, which is a leading resource for measuring AI discovery trends, and confirms that AI is now a significant driver of shopping behavior and is changing how people discover and learn about items.
In particular, the 2025 holiday season has seen a 752% year-over-year surge in referrals from AI engines like ChatGPT to ecommerce brand websites.
Speaking about the data, BrightEdge CEO Jim Yu said, “Our latest analysis confirms consumers are increasingly using AI across different stages of the buying journey,”.
He also added that “As AI improves and more people trust it to help them choose gifts for the holidays, the next steps, like assisting with big-ticket items or even managing the whole order from start to finish, aren’t far behind. This may be the first year where AI truly becomes part of the shopping experience, from inspiration to checkout.”
However, while the growth of referrals from AI engines has been huge, most of the search traffic to ecommerce brands still comes from search engines like Google.
Growth Spans Numerous Verticals
A major contributor to this increased use of AI when shopping online is the Google AI Overview, which often appears when searching traditionally on Google. This AI presence in search results has had an impact on several different ecommerce verticals, including:
- Apparel/Fashion: The apparel and fashion vertical saw a 104% growth in AI presence, as many consumers ask for personalized fit and styling recommendations.
- Electronics: The electronics category saw a 257% increase, as consumers often rely on AI to compare, analyze, and review the features of a device before making a purchase.
- Furniture: As many people use AI to figure out room layouts and get tips on furniture style and features, this vertical saw a 375% increase in AI presence.
- Grocery: Grocery saw the largest increase, 900%, due to many people using AI to plan meals, find recipes, and manage their pantries.
A Shift In How People Explore Products
This data reflects a broader shift and evolution in how people explore and discover new products online. A recent survey by Adobe highlighted just how prevalent AI-powered online shopping is becoming.
The survey, which included 5,000 U.S. consumers, found that 38% of respondents have used generative AI for online shopping, and 52% are planning to do it this year. While many people use AI in their shopping journey, the ways they use it vary widely:
- 53% use it to conduct research
- 40% use it to gather product recommendations
- 36% use it to find deals
- 30% use it to build shopping lists
- 30% use it to get gift ideas
- 29% use it to locate unique products
- 26% use it for virtual try-ons
In addition to these details, the survey revealed plenty of other data highlighting the growing trend of AI in ecommerce, including:
- On Cyber Monday in 2024, generative AI traffic was up 1,950% year-over-year.
- Shoppers who arrive from AI sources are 10% more engaged than those who come from non-AI sources, have 32% longer visits, and 27% lower bounce rates.
- Of the people who’ve used AI for shopping, 85% said it improved their experience, and 73% said it’s their main method of researching products.
As a result, it’s clear to see that many consumers use AI to explore products, read reviews, and even make decisions before ever reaching an ecommerce brand’s website, and that AI is a real driver of ecommerce traffic.
The Importance of Optimizing for AI Search
Due to this shift and the growing importance that AI has in the online shopping industry, it’s never been more important for ecommerce brands, marketers, and sellers to optimize their content for AI search.
If you solely optimize with traditional search in mind, you may miss out on this growing subset of shoppers using AI. Here are some useful tips to keep in mind when optimizing for AI:
- Use natural and conversational language, and make sure your content and product descriptions use terms and vocabulary that your target market is familiar with.
- When writing about your product, don’t simply list the features it has, but explain how these features help consumers with their pain points or other issues.
- Provide plenty of detail about your product, to ensure AI can understand what it is and what it does. Being vague or creating content that lacks details doesn’t give AI the ability to fully explain the product to potential customers.
- Consider adding a couple of FAQs to your product pages to answer a few common questions that customers may ask, as answers and information from FAQs are often included in AI search results.
- Consider creating blog and/or video content about your product to give AI more opportunities to include you in results.
