Adobe reported recently that artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping how Americans shop online, with AI-referred traffic to U.S. retail websites climbing 269% over the past year — and 393% in just the first quarter of 2026. The findings, drawn from Adobe Analytics’ tracking of over one trillion site visits, signal a structural shift in retail discovery.
Critically, AI visitors are now outperforming traditional shoppers. Adobe found that by March 2026, AI-sourced traffic converted 42% better than direct visitors — a complete reversal from March 2025, when AI traffic converted 38% worse. Revenue per visit from AI channels was 37% higher than non-AI traffic.
Adobe cautioned, however, that roughly a quarter of retailers’ homepage and category content remains inaccessible to large language models, with product pages faring worse at 34% unoptimised.
