AI shopping tools help drive record US$11.8 billion in US Black Friday online sales

Reuters-based reporting from multiple outlets finds that AI-powered shopping assistants like Walmart’s Sparky and Amazon’s Rufus helped push US Black Friday online spending to a record US$11.8 billion, up 9.1% year-on-year, with Adobe Analytics citing an 805% jump in AI-driven traffic to retail sites. Salesforce estimates that globally, AI agents influenced US$14.2 billion in Black Friday online sales, underscoring how conversational recommendation tools are rapidly becoming a central interface for e-commerce.