Key Takeaways
- AI shopping assistants will handle $73 billion in global sales during key holiday period
- Google, Amazon and OpenAI racing to dominate AI-powered shopping space
- AI shopping traffic grew 119% year-over-year in first half of 2025
- Amazon’s Rufus AI shows 210% usage increase and 60% higher purchase conversion
Tech giants are locked in a high-stakes battle over the future of online shopping as AI assistants transform how consumers make purchases. Google, Amazon and OpenAI are aggressively deploying new shopping tools that could determine the winners of the next internet era.
“If you can become really core to that, then you’re able to monetize that attention in a lot of different ways,” said Jeremy Goldman, senior director of marketing, retail and tech briefings at eMarketer.
The AI Shopping Revolution Accelerates
Traditional e-commerce leaders Amazon and Google are defending their territory against AI-first companies like OpenAI and Perplexity. The competition intensified with OpenAI’s Etsy and Walmart partnerships, while Perplexity’s Comet browser enables AI shopping agents – though Amazon responded with a cease-and-desist letter.
The numbers reveal explosive growth: AI assistants will influence 22% of all online orders ($73 billion) during the Thanksgiving-to-Cyber Monday period. Salesforce data shows AI shopping traffic surged 119% year-over-year in early 2025.
Google’s Aggressive AI Shopping Push
Google recently unveiled multiple AI shopping innovations. Its new agent can call local stores to check product availability and pricing, appearing as “Let Google Call” prompts in search results. The company also enabled shopping within Gemini chatbot and introduced automated price-drop ordering.
With over one billion daily shopping queries, Google aims to maintain its dominance through AI integration.
Amazon’s AI Defense Strategy
Amazon has embedded AI throughout its shopping experience, most notably with Rufus assistant. The results are striking: Rufus interactions increased 210% year-over-year, and users are 60% more likely to complete purchases, according to CEO Andy Jassy.
The Bigger Battle: Controlling Internet’s Future
Industry experts compare AI shopping to transformative technologies like smartphones and personal computers. Gartner analyst Brad Jashinsky notes such breakthroughs often disrupt established leaders, creating opportunities for newcomers.
When breakthroughs happen,“the established leaders routinely get disrupted, and it’s an opportunity for both startups, but also maybe companies that are not the established leader, to jump ahead,” he said.
However, incumbents maintain advantages through established ecosystems like Amazon Prime. Consumer adoption remains a challenge – 66% of Americans haven’t used ChatGPT, with 20% unaware of it entirely.
The ultimate question facing tech giants, as Goldman frames it: “Do I want to be a spoke in somebody else’s hub?” The answer will shape not just online shopping, but the entire structure of the next internet era.
