Amazon’s Prime Day event saw a significant boost in sales driven by generative AI products, including browsers and chatbots. The event drove over $24 billion in e-commerce sales in the U.S over the four-day period — a figure slightly higher than the expected $23.8 billion.
GenAI traffic to U.S. retail sites increased by 3,300% year-over-year, according to a post-Prime Day analysis by Adobe Analytics. This is significant considering how companies like OpenAI and Perplexity have been integrating shopping facilities to their chatbots.
While the figures indicate increased consumer interest for the use of generative AI for shopping, AI-driven traffic remains small compared to traffic driven by other channels like email or paid search. Paid search, for example, accounted for a 28.5% share of U.S. e-commerce sales during the Prime Day event, up 5.6% year-over-year.
READ: US Prime Day sales expected to hit $23.8 billion (July 9, 2025)
Social media influencers were also significant in driving retail clicks. 19.9% of U.S. online sales were driven by social media influencers, and data indicates that influencers converted shoppers into making purchases 10 times more effectively than social media overall.
While Amazon did not share specific Prime Day figures, it said that it was the biggest event ever with record sales and more items sold than before. Comparisons with previous years are difficult, since the company expanded Prime Day to a four-day event this year.
According to Momentum Commerce, sales during the first two days were down 35% year over year. Two days is the traditional length of the Prime Day event. The number increased by 165% over the next two days, suggesting that shoppers might have been waiting for the later days of the sale, to see if items receive deeper discounts. However, Momentum’s numbers have been disputed by Amazon.
An Amazon spokesperson told Axios the numbers were “highly inaccurate” and typical “of statements made by third-party consultancies that don’t have access to the actual data.” Jamil Ghani, an Amazon Prime vice president, said on Bloomberg TV that the company is “really pleased by the engagement that we’re getting from our customers and our members.”
READ: OpenAI adds shopping to ChatGPT (April 29, 2025)
According to data from Numerator, two-thirds of Prime Day purchases so far cost less than $20. Bestsellers include low-cost essentials like dish soaps, and protein shakes. The average household spent $106, down slightly from last year.
The top categories driving U.S. e-commerce sales during the Prime Day event this year included appliances, where online sales were up 112%, compared to average daily sales in June. Other categories that saw strong growth included office supplies (up 105%), electronics (up 95%), books (up 81%), tools and home improvement (up 76%), home and garden (up 58%), and baby and toddler (up 55%).
President Donald Trump’s tariffs have been seen as another factor driving consumer habits during the event, with shoppers hunting for deals hoping to avoid higher prices in the future. While Adobe says discounts are on par with last year, the presence of tariffs changes the context to an extent.