Amazon's AI shopping assistant Rufus delivered its first real-world performance results during the recent "Black Friday": According to Sensor Tower data, the conversion rate of shopping sessions using Rufus was 100% higher than those without it, with a daily conversion increase of 75%, significantly outperforming users who relied only on traditional search, whose conversion increased by 35%.

This performance directly drove a 100% year-over-year increase in the total number of conversion sessions on Amazon's US site during "Black Friday," while sessions not using Rufus only increased by 20%; the total session volume involving Rufus also rose by 35% compared to usual days, exceeding the website's overall daily increase of 20%. Adobe's concurrent report indicated that the conversion intention of AI-driven users was 38% higher than non-AI traffic, and AI traffic grew by 805% on "Black Friday," becoming one of the biggest variables of the holiday season.

Rufus was fully launched in August 2024 and has already appeared in 2.5 million shopping sessions, helping users with price comparisons, product selection, and gift inspiration inquiries. CEO Andy Jassy revealed during the earnings call that the completion rate of purchases by Rufus users was 60% higher than non-users, and the company expects the incremental sales revenue from Rufus to exceed $10 billion annually.

Although the average order value increased by 7% due to inflation, the "conversational shopping assistance" provided by the AI assistant significantly shortened the decision-making path: the average session length decreased by 12%, yet brought higher average order values and repurchase rates. Industry analysis pointed out that Rufus' success validated the closed-loop model of "generative AI + retail" — from natural language queries to personalized recommendations, and then to one-click checkout, all within the App without needing to exit.

Amazon stated that it will continue expanding the international reach of Rufus in 2026 and introduce multimodal interactions including images and voice, further lowering the barriers to shopping. For competitors, AI assistants have shifted from being "a nice-to-have" to "a must-have," and the AI traffic battle during the holiday season has just begun.