AI-powered assistants drive record $11.8 billion in U.S. Black Friday online spending

Summary

A Reuters-based analysis carried by Indian and global outlets reports that U.S. online shoppers spent a record $11.8 billion on Black Friday, up 9.1% year-on-year, with AI-powered shopping tools like Walmart’s Sparky and Amazon’s Rufus helping drive an 805% surge in AI-driven traffic to retail sites. Adobe Analytics and Salesforce data show that AI chatbots and agents influenced an estimated $14.2 billion in global Black Friday sales by helping users discover products, compare prices and personalize deals, signaling that generative AI is rapidly becoming a front-end engine for e-commerce discovery.