Shoppers in the UK who arrive at retail sites via AI tools are now more likely to complete a purchase than those who arrive via traditional search engines, and the gap is growing rapidly.
Adobe, which has tracked AI referrals to retail sites since August 2024, reported a 543% increase in UK AI shopping conversion rates between January 2024 and May 2025, with May alone seeing a 182% increase year-on-year.
The mechanism behind the change is straightforward. Traditional search requires a buyer to type in keywords, sift through a page of results, compare options, and navigate back and forth between tabs before reaching a purchasing decision.
AI helps to short-circuit that process by directly answering the question with a recommendation, often with a single link to buy. Data from Adobe shows that AI-powered retail traffic increased by 393% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2024, as more consumers bypassed search altogether for product queries.
A separate survey conducted for Adobe found that 37% of UK consumers already use an AI assistant for online shopping. Of those, 43% used it primarily for research and 40% for product recommendations.
It’s worth noting that 65% said they trust AI to deliver accurate results, and 70% now describe AI assistants as their primary source for product research, a figure that signals the behavior has moved well beyond the early-adopter sector and into the mainstream.
Vivek Pandya, director of Adobe Digital Insights, said the data points to a trustless dynamic that is also driving return rates: As shoppers feel more confident in AI-guided decisions, they make more deliberate purchases.
“AI traffic is converting better than traditional channels and adoption continues to accelerate,” Pandya said. For retailers, the practical implication is that being searchable and well-represented within AI responses is becoming as commercially important as SEO rankings and, on current conversion metrics, arguably even more so.
