ChatGPT increasingly directs users to shopping apps: traffic increased by 28% year-over-year

Analytics company Apptopia recorded a 28% increase in transitions from ChatGPT to mobile retailer apps compared to last year during the 'Black Friday' weekend in the US. The research covered the period from Thanksgiving to Sunday inclusive.

What is Known

However, the main beneficiaries of such recommendations are not small businesses, but e-commerce giants. For example, Amazon received 54% of all transitions from ChatGPT (40.5% in 2024), and Walmart 14.9% (only 2.7% last year).

The analytics are based on Apptopia's US user panel, which tracks activity on mobile devices. A referral session was considered to be the launch of the seller's app within 30 seconds after interacting with ChatGPT.

Despite the growth, the overall share of such transitions is still small. In 2024, only 0.64% of ChatGPT sessions during 'Black Friday' ended in a transition to a retail app, and in 2025, 0.82%.

Other data indicates a similar trend. According to Adobe's calculations, AI traffic to US retail chain sites on 'Black Friday' increased by 805% year-over-year. From November 1 to December 1, the growth was 760%.

Source: TechCrunch