ChatGPT Referrals to Retailers’ Apps Increased 28% Year-Over-Year, Says Report

New research highlights ChatGPT’s growing role in directing users to e-commerce platforms — while also showing how small that share remains within the broader market.

According to a new analysis by mobile app intelligence company Apptopia, referrals from ChatGPT to retail mobile apps rose 28% year-over-year during the Black Friday shopping period, spanning Thanksgiving Day through Sunday.

However, the rising usage of ChatGPT appears to be helping the largest retailers far more than smaller competitors. This year, Amazon captured 54% of ChatGPT-driven referrals, up from 40.5% in 2024. Walmart’s share also surged, climbing from 2.7% last year to 14.9%.

The data comes from Apptopia’s U.S. panel, which analyses consumer activity observed on mobile devices. Since the information is not first-party data, the firm notes that figures are estimates. For this study, a “referral session” was defined as a retail mobile app session that began within 30 seconds of a ChatGPT session.

Despite the substantial increase from last year, Apptopia emphasised that shoppers using AI chatbots to discover deals still represent a tiny portion of the overall referral ecosystem. In 2024, ChatGPT referrals to e-commerce apps accounted for 0.64% of all ChatGPT sessions on Black Friday. This year, that number rose to 0.82%.

A referral session, in this context, included both situations in which ChatGPT offered a shopping suggestion and cases in which users clicked a link in their chat that led directly to a retail app.

Apptopia is not alone in tracking how AI is influencing online shopping behaviour this holiday season. Adobe reported this week that AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail websites — measured by shoppers clicking a link — rose 805% year-over-year on Black Friday. Adobe said visitors arriving from AI chatbots were 38% more likely to complete a purchase.

Adobe also found that AI traffic to U.S. retail sites on Cyber Monday increased by 670%, and from November 1 to December 1, holiday shopping season AI traffic is up 760% overall.