Retailers Tap AI Traffic, Steer Shoppers to Own Checkouts
Generative AI is becoming a new front door for retail, helping shoppers discover products, compare options and narrow purchases through conversational searches. The traffic offers merchants another customer-acquisition channel, but completing sales inside a third-party platform can weaken their control over first-party transaction data, loyalty programs and post-purchase marketing. Retailers are therefore seeking a balance: making inventories visible to AI services while directing shoppers toward their own digital storefronts and checkout systems.
Salesforce’s latest State of Commerce report said shoppers were starting purchase journeys in AI chats 200% more often than a year earlier, while referrals from those conversations to commerce sites increased 150% to 428% across the quarters measured. Ulta Beauty and Google announced Gemini-enabled shopping experiences on April 22, 2026, as Ulta also introduced its Ulta AI assistant on Ulta.com. Ulta Beauty Rewards points currently cannot be earned or redeemed through Google AI surfaces, underscoring why the retailer still benefits when AI-assisted shoppers complete transactions within its owned channels.
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The history behind this eventAI Referrals Bring Retailers Bigger Baskets, but Few Orders
Generative AI is moving from product discovery into comparison, cart-building and checkout, creating a new referral channel for retailers. The rise of agentic commerce matters because assistants such as Google Gemini can influence which brands consumers see and potentially mediate the customer relationship. Early data suggests these referrals attract shoppers with stronger purchase intent and bigger baskets, but consumers remain reluctant to delegate the final payment decision, leaving AI more established at the top of the funnel than at checkout.
Shopify’s first-quarter 2026 data showed AI-referred shoppers converted nearly 50% better than organic-search visitors and had 14% higher average order values, while related orders rose almost 13-fold year on year. Signifyd said October 2025 orders from AI-agent referrals were 13.5 times year-earlier levels, yet machine-executed purchases remained below 1% of orders. Google previewed Gemini reordering through DoorDash on Feb. 25, and Ulta Beauty announced Gemini-powered shopping on April 22; Etsy is also enabling purchases inside AI platforms. Actual basket values were not disclosed.
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