Overview

New data from an analysis of over 100,000 real shopping sessions during Black Friday 2025 reveals that Amazon's Rufus AI shopping assistant has become a significant conversion driver on the platform. Rufus-assisted sessions that resulted in a purchase surged 100% compared to the trailing 30-day average, while non-Rufus sessions saw only a 20% increase. The findings suggest that sellers who fail to optimize for AI-assisted discovery risk missing out on the platform's fastest-growing and highest-converting customer segment.

Key Points

• Purchase Sessions Doubled — Rufus-assisted sessions resulting in a purchase increased 100% on Black Friday compared to the 30-day trailing average, versus just 20% for traditional browsing sessions.
• Day-Over-Day Growth — Rufus sessions leading to purchases jumped 75% day-over-day on Black Friday, compared to 35% for non-Rufus sessions.
• 3.5x Conversion Advantage — Rufus-assisted sessions converted at 3.5 times the rate of non-Rufus sessions, a gap that held consistent throughout the holiday shopping period.
• Growing Adoption — Rufus usage reached 40% of Amazon app sessions on Black Friday, up from a 30% baseline on November 1st, representing a 33% increase in adoption over less than four weeks.
• Outsized Revenue Share — Despite representing only 40% of sessions, Rufus-assisted traffic drove roughly 66% of purchases during peak shopping periods.
• Rapid Growth Trajectory — Rufus sessions increased approximately 90% from early November through Black Friday week, while non-Rufus sessions grew only 8%.

Shopping Behavior Differences

The research reveals stark differences between AI-assisted and traditional shopping sessions during the holiday period. On Black Friday specifically, Amazon experienced a 20% day-over-day increase in total website sessions, but sessions involving Rufus jumped 35%, meaning nearly all incremental holiday traffic growth came from AI-assisted shopping. The conversion rate disparity proved particularly dramatic during strategic shopping windows throughout November.

Several distinct behavioral patterns emerged during the period. Specific dates in November showed accelerated AI-assisted conversions, Amazon's Black Friday launch on November 20th triggered a notable conversion spike, and weekend shopping overall demonstrated stronger AI engagement compared to weekdays. Researchers normalized November 1st as a baseline index and tracked relative conversion changes rather than absolute numbers, a methodology that reveals growth trajectories while acknowledging that non-AI sessions still maintained higher overall volumes in raw terms.