AI Holiday Shopping Assistants in 2025: Can They Save You Time and Money?
Discover how AI chatbots from Amazon, Walmart, and Shopify are revolutionizing holiday shopping in 2025 by helping consumers create lists, compare products, and track prices with ease.
Essential Insights
- Leading retailers like Amazon and Walmart deploy AI chatbots to simplify product discovery for shoppers.
- Generative AI tools are increasingly popular among Americans seeking shopping advice, reveals Adobe data.
- Experts note that overwhelmed consumers benefit from AI's ability to streamline complex shopping decisions.
Could an AI-powered assistant be your ultimate holiday shopping partner this year? Possibly—if you use it as a helpful guide rather than an absolute authority.
In 2024, AI recommendations are seamlessly integrating into online shopping carts. Retail giants are enhancing their chatbots as consumers turn to generative AI platforms to build shopping lists, compare features, and monitor price changes. E-commerce platforms are embedding or developing their own AI assistants inspired by tools like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, according to Vivek Pandya, Adobe Insights' lead analyst.
Testing these AI helpers revealed a mix of practical and quirky suggestions. For instance, an AI recommended a fun card game for a young niece but oddly suggested a metal-cutting tool for a 90+ year-old grandmother with memory challenges.
Shopify’s Shop launched an AI chatbot in 2023, while Amazon introduced Rufus, trained on extensive product catalogs and reviews. Walmart has also rolled out a similar AI assistant available to select customers.
Consumer adoption is soaring: Adobe reported a nearly 2,000% year-over-year rise in AI-driven traffic on Cyber Monday. NielsenIQ highlights shopping as a top use case for generative AI, alongside order tracking and returns.
Jason Boyd of NielsenIQ expressed surprise that “help me find the right product” ranks as the leading AI shopping request.
AI Bots Deliver Gift Ideas and Creative DIY Tips
Amazon’s Rufus suggested a creative card game by a child for a niece but struggled with personalized gift ideas for an elderly grandmother, recommending complex DIY tools. In contrast, Shopify’s assistant proposed heartfelt gifts like custom photo calendars and memory jars, complete with crafting instructions.
For a new boss, AI assistants from Amazon and Shopify recommended professional development books, desk accessories, gift cards, and gourmet treats—ideal for making a positive impression.
Amazon invites user feedback to refine Rufus, while Shopify continues to enhance its AI-driven personalized shopping experience, as shared in recent earnings calls.
Vivek Pandya points out that generative AI is still evolving, with performance improving as users craft more precise queries.
"We remain in the early prompt engineering phase with generative AI," Pandya notes.
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