AI-Driven Shopping Traffic Surges Sevenfold, Led By Walmart, Target: Sensor Tower

Last year, the holiday shopping season saw a significant shift in customer purchase behaviour, with most turning to AI to buy gifts.

• Sensor Tower said that the traditional U.S. retailers, including Walmart, Home Depot, Etsy, and Target, have experienced the most explosive growth, with AI-driven referrals increasing by over 1600%.
• Last week, Goldman Sachs said that Walmart is expected to see sales acceleration on the back of its AI shopping partnerships with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
• Sensor Tower's data showed that shoppers are increasingly relying on AI assistants to navigate the research and comparison phases of larger purchases.

Shoppers are no longer starting their buying journey on Google. Instead, they are starting conversations with AI. Data from Sensor Tower shows that traffic to major U.S. retail websites driven by generative AI assistants surged sevenfold in just over a year, rising to 41 million monthly visits in December 2025 from nearly 6 million in October 2024

The data showed that while this currently represents less than 1% of total retail traffic, the consistent upward growth indicates that AI is rapidly emerging as an entry point for product discovery.  

During the 2025 holiday shopping season, several U.S. retailers partnered with the likes of OpenAI to offer a shopping experience different from 2024 and provide customers with specific deals and discounts, in an environment marked by price hikes resulting from tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration.

AI Referrals Surge At Retailers 

Sensor Tower said that the traditional U.S. retailers, including Walmart, Home Depot, Etsy, and Target, have experienced the most explosive growth, with AI-driven referrals increasing by over 1600% in December compared to October of 2024.

Last week, Goldman Sachs said that Walmart is expected to see sales acceleration on the back of its AI shopping partnerships with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. The firm noted that retail behemoth Walmart plans to push AI tools and features to its customers in a big way this year, which could deliver material gains given the company’s massive scale.

Sensor Tower's data showed that shoppers are increasingly relying on AI assistants to navigate the research and comparison phases of larger purchases, particularly for home improvement projects and household essentials.

According to Adobe, U.S. online sales during the holiday season of 2025 were driven by AI and agents on Black Friday, as more shoppers turned to AI chatbots for their shopping queries.

What Is Retail Thinking?

Retail sentiment on Walmart jumped to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’ a day ago, with message volumes at ‘high’ levels, according to data from Stocktwits. On Target, the sentiment was in the ‘neutral’ territory, compared to ‘bullish’ from a day ago. Home Depot and Etsy’s retail sentiment remained unchanged in the ‘neutral’ territory.

Shares of Walmart have gained over 27% and Etsy jumped 13% in the last 12 months, while Target’s shares have declined 19.5% and Home Depot fell 8.5%.

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