Generative AI is still a tiny slice of ecommerce traffic, but it's growing over 200% a year in every major sector

Channel validation

Reader Note:: Every other channel (Direct, Search Organic/Paid, Social Organic/Paid, Referrals, Display) also grew in the same table, but nowhere close to Gen AI's rate; Gen AI's own visit share still rounds to well under 1% in every sector shown. The sectors covered are Marketplaces, Beauty & Cosmetics, Consumer Electronics, Fashion & Apparel and Home & Garden, and the wider-ecommerce total grew 203% year on year.
Evidence:: Observed behaviour
Vendor interest:: Moderate — This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
Sample:: Statista Consumer Insights: two surveys (Global Consumer Survey and Consumer Insights Pulse), ages 18-64, in US/UK/Germany. Respondent counts: US Global=60,356 / Pulse=7,326; UK Global=23,343 / Pulse=7,309; Germany Global=35,911 / Pulse=7,309. Statista Market Insights: bottom-up modelling using historical ARPU adjusted by country/segment-specific drivers (no respondent sample — modelled, not surveyed).

Good for

Comparing yourself against a similar segment, and choosing what to test next.

Not for

Saying that one thing caused another, or predicting what you would get.
This comes from a company with a commercial interest in this market, so it is not a neutral source.
The source never says how this number was measured.
Nobody counted this directly — it's a calculation. The publisher worked it out itself, or took the ad platform's word for what its ads achieved.

4.4x

How much better an AI search visitor converts compared to an organic search visitor, on average

of Google searches that showed an AI summary ended with a click on a link inside that summary (US, March 2025)

20% of Gen Z and 17% of Millennials discover new brands through influencer endorsements, vs 12% of Gen X and 5% of Boomers

Share of each generation who discover new brands via influencer endorsements
Generation	Share who discover brands through influencers (%)
Gen Z	20%
Millennials	17%
Gen X	12%
Baby Boomers	5%

Go deeper on this topic

Our Substack turns the data behind these cards into full breakdowns: what changed, why, and what to do about it.

Fixing your influencer marketing campaign: How to get into the top 10% of advertisers

11.4%

of shopper sessions in the US involved an AI tool as of June 2026, up 2.3 percentage points from a year earlier

is the short-term ROI index for influencer campaigns in the UK, right on the market average with 4.5% of short-term sales (excluding campaigns that produced no result)

21–26%

of consumers in the US, UK, and Germany report using AI tools to research products online, per Statista's 2026 Global Survey (Jul 2025–Jun 2026).

Generative AI is still a tiny slice of ecommerce traffic, but it's growing over 200% a year in every major sector

Good for

Not for

Related cards

Go deeper on this topic