AI shopping helpers are set to send far more shoppers to stores this holiday

AI shopping helpers are expected to send many more people to online stores from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31. Adobe forecasts that AI traffic to US retail sites will rise 130% over the same stretch last year. Google has also launched a shared cart that works across stores. For shoppers it means easier comparing. For store owners it means an AI tool may quote your price before a customer ever reaches your site.

What the forecast says

Adobe counts AI traffic as visits that come from AI-powered chat and browser services. Its Sept. 28 forecast follows a 693.4% rise in the same period of 2025. The biggest jump is expected on Thanksgiving, up 159% from a year earlier. Black Friday is forecast at 95% and Cyber Monday at 88%. The forecast draws on more than 1 trillion visits. Adobe has not said what share of all retail visits come from AI.

Google's shared cart

Google's Universal Cart is now live in the US. A shopper can save items from different retailers in one cart, in Google Search (including AI Mode) and in the Gemini app. The cart watches saved items for price drops and stock changes. It draws on more than 60 billion product listings that Google keeps refreshing.

Checking out works in one of two ways. At participating stores, the shopper can pay with Google Pay. Otherwise the items move to the store's own cart and the purchase finishes on the store's site. Either way, the store is still the seller. It handles order confirmation and customer support.

Why prices can go wrong

Duran Inci, CEO of Ecommerce.com and Optimum7, says some older store systems work out the final price only inside the cart. That includes group discounts, bulk pricing and shipping rules. An AI helper cannot reliably quote a price that is hidden there. Optimum7 sells assessments and fixes for this problem, so treat its advice with that in mind. The risk itself is easy to see: a wrong price shown by an AI tool can cost a sale.

What store owners can do

• Track AI referrals in your own analytics.
• Compare prices and availability shown by AI shopping tools with your product pages.
• Check that the same prices and stock appear at checkout.

Some features are not open to everyone yet. Google describes setup for its checkout protocol as early access for selected US merchants. For ChatGPT shopping, stores supply a product feed to OpenAI. That feed is open to approved partners, and checkout in ChatGPT needs a separate integration.

What happens next

Adobe's numbers are forecasts, not results. The real totals will show whether AI helpers become a major path to the checkout this season.