AI has overtaken search as the top conversion channel for UK retail, Adobe figures confirm

UK shoppers who land on retail websites via AI tools are now more likely to complete a purchase than those who arrive through conventional search engines — and the gap between the two channels is growing rapidly.

The finding points to a fundamental shift in how British consumers discover and buy products online.

Adobe's data: a 543% conversion surge

Adobe, which has been monitoring AI referrals to retail sites since August 2024, recorded a 543% rise in the UK AI shopping conversion rate between January 2024 and May 2025.

Year-on-year growth in May alone stood at 182%, underlining how quickly the trend is accelerating. AI-driven retail traffic grew 393% in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2024, as a growing number of consumers bypassed search entirely when making product queries.

Why AI converts better than search

The mechanics behind the shift are relatively straightforward. A conventional search journey requires a shopper to enter keywords, sift through a page of results, compare multiple options, and navigate back and forth across browser tabs before arriving at a purchase decision.

AI assistants short-circuit that process entirely by responding to a direct question with a direct recommendation — often accompanied by a single link to buy.

Consumer trust in AI is now mainstream

Separate polling commissioned for Adobe found that 37% of UK consumers have already used an AI assistant for online shopping. Of those, 43% used it primarily for research purposes and 40% for product recommendations.

Notably, 65% said they trusted AI to return accurate results, and 70% now describe AI assistants as their primary source for product research — a figure that suggests the behaviour has moved well beyond early-adopter territory and into the mainstream.

What this means for retailers

Adobe Digital Insights Director Vivek Pandya noted that the data also points to a trust dynamic that is beginning to reduce return rates: as shoppers feel more confident in AI-guided decisions, they buy more deliberately.

"AI traffic is increasingly consistent in converting better than traditional channels, and adoption continues to accelerate," Pandya said.

For retailers, the practical consequence is clear: being discoverable and well-represented within AI responses is rapidly becoming as commercially significant as search engine optimisation ranking — and on current conversion metrics, arguably more so.