Amazon agencies are grappling with how to measure and optimize for traffic from generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Envision Horizons, a full-service Amazon agency, released an AI visibility tracker in beta to help clients understand their exposure on AI shopping agents. The agency founder notes that Amazon itself ran ads in ChatGPT promoting Prime Day, signaling that AI platforms will play a larger role in major shopping events going forward.
The core challenge is data scarcity: sellers currently have little visibility into how much traffic AI agents drive. Similarweb research estimates that AI-driven traffic to Amazon more than doubled over six months, accounting for approximately 13.9 million visits in June, or about 1% of Amazon's total traffic. However, indirect AI influence is far larger: in a study of MacBook buyers across major retailers, 28.53% had engaged in a relevant AI chat session in the 30 minutes before purchase, compared to only 2% direct AI-attributed traffic. For now, agencies advise focusing on fundamentals: consistent data infrastructure, accurate product information, and strong review positioning to feed LLMs with reliable signals.
Envision Horizons' CEO frames this shift as the "Amazon funnel 2.0," where TikTok Shop, affiliates, and AI discovery channels work together to drive transactions on Amazon itself. Marketplace management agencies are also beginning to run their own ChatGPT ads and exploring longer-tail search patterns that may reflect AI-driven shopping behavior, though definitive consumer behavior data from Amazon remains unavailable.