The data: 30% of US Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) shoppers have used AI to help them shop, per YouGov, and an additional 27% said they would consider using AI for shopping.

• Among likely US BFCM shoppers who used AI last year, 46% said they will use it more, and just 8% planned to use it less.
• 43% would use AI to find the best price, 37% to track pricing changes, and 34% to compare products or offers. Just 5% would use AI to complete a purchase after their approval, and 4% without their approval.
• 29% would be likely to use ChatGPT or Google Gemini while shopping major sales events.

A lack of trust may be keeping shoppers on traditional paths to purchase. Top concerns among AI users and those who would consider it include inaccurate information, biased recommendations, and personal data collection.

What it means: Despite the jump in BFCM shoppers using AI, the majority of shoppers still plan to stick with their standard shopping methods, making optimization for both AI and traditional search important for discovery. But generative engine optimization (GEO) presents a unique challenge: untrustworthy product descriptions and higher return rates.

Forty-six percent of US shoppers have returned items purchased after an AI recommendation, per supply chain software company Blue Yonder, and 36% did so because the product was different that described. That’s a significant risk for retailers during BFCM sales events.

“An AI assistant is only as good as the product information it can find, and most product data was written for a search bar, not for a machine suggesting products for someone,” Blue Yonder CEO Duncan Angove said.

Recommendations for brands: SEO and GEO remain key for discovery during BFCM. As shopping within genAI systems grows, ensuring correct and current product information on pages bots scrape is more important than ever.

• Start by writing detailed descriptions on product pages, but go beyond with blog posts that group popular items by theme and include accurate descriptions and pricing.
• Partner with credible bloggers and publications to sponsor gift guides and similar content on their sites.
• Regularly check that catalog feeds are synced across platforms like Google Merchant Center to ensure product stock counts and prices are correct.
• Front-load descriptions with the most important information on product detail pages for humans and search engines, and use schema markup to provide that same information to AI assistants. Accurate, up-to-date information here can also help stave off returns.

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