AI shopping now converts better than Google Search, Adobe data shows

Shoppers in the UK who arrive at retail sites via AI tools are now more likely to complete a purchase than those who arrive through traditional search engines, and the gap is widening fast.

Adobe, which has tracked AI referrals to retail sites since August 2024, recorded a 543% rise in the UK AI shopping conversion rate between January 2024 and May 2025, with year-on-year growth of 182% in May alone.

The mechanism behind the shift is straightforward. Traditional search requires a shopper to type keywords, sift through a page of results, compare options, and navigate back and forth between tabs before reaching a purchase decision.

AI assistants short-circuit that process by answering a direct question with a direct recommendation, often with a single link to buy. Adobe's data shows AI-driven retail traffic grew 393% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2024, as more consumers bypassed search entirely for product queries.

Separate polling conducted for Adobe found that 37% of UK consumers have already used an AI assistant for online shopping. Among them, 43% used it primarily for research and 40% for product recommendations.

It is worth noting that 65% said they trusted AI to return accurate results, and 70% now describe AI assistants as their primary source for product research a figure that signals the behaviour has moved well past early-adopter territory and into the mainstream.

Adobe Digital Insights Director Vivek Pandya said the data points to a trust dynamic that is also reducing return rates: as shoppers feel more confident in AI-guided decisions, they buy more deliberately.

"AI traffic is increasingly consistent in converting better than traditional channels, and adoption continues to accelerate," Pandya said. For retailers, the practical implication is that being discoverable and well-represented within AI responses is becoming as commercially important as SEO ranking and, on current conversion metrics, arguably more so.