The share of US shoppers who start product search on Amazon fell from 80% to 62% in a single year, yet 74% still name Amazon when they are ready to buy, according to Feedvisor survey of 1,006 US consumers in August 2026. This page gathers the current survey and tracking data on how people search, compare and buy on Amazon, including the rise of the Rufus AI assistant, and sets older figures apart as history.

62%of US shoppers start product search on Amazon, down from 80% (Feedvisor, Aug 2026)
74%still name Amazon when ready to buy (Feedvisor)
300Mcustomers used Rufus in 2025, per Amazon Q4 2025 results (PPC Land)

Key Takeaways

  • Amazon is no longer the default first stop for every product search: 62% start there, down from 80% (Feedvisor). It is still where 74% buy.
  • Price pressure is high: 33% say lowest price decides where they buy, and 45% compare prices more than a year ago.
  • Rufus changes the path: Sensor Tower found shoppers who used it were 2.74 times more likely to buy (Sensor Tower), and Amazon says Rufus drove nearly $12 billion in incremental annualized sales.
  • Shoppers are skeptical of deals: 43% no longer take Prime Day and Black Friday deals at face value.
  • Conversion on Amazon sits near 10% on average across tools, far above Google Ads at 7.5% to 8.2%, but varies by category from 6.6% to 36.7%.
How we compiled these statistics. Every figure on this page comes from a published report or platform disclosure including Feedvisor, Total Retail, CivicScience and Retail Dive. Each number links to its original source in the text, and the full list sits under Sources and Further Reading. Page last updated .

Short answer: In Feedvisor's 2026 survey of 1,006 US consumers, 62% start their product search on Amazon and 74% name Amazon when they are ready to buy.

Feedvisor ran its ninth annual survey with Zogby Analytics among 1,006 US consumers in August 2026 and published it on October 14, 2026.

Where shoppers start and buy, Feedvisor 2026 (percent)

Name Amazon when ready to buy
74%
Start product search on Amazon
62%
Start product search on Amazon one year earlier
80%
Source: Feedvisor. The page does not give the exact year of the earlier 80% figure.

Older search start data, for history

YearShare starting on AmazonSource
201966% of 2,000 US Amazon shoppersFeedvisor via Total Retail
2019close to 50% of Americans, versus 22% on GoogleCivicScience
2019about four in five weekly Prime usersCivicScience
201937% of non Prime usersCivicScience
Source: Total Retail, citing Feedvisor 2019 and CivicScience. These surveys are seven years old, with sample size not stated for CivicScience.

Taken together, Amazon fell from a clear majority of first searches to 62% of surveyed shoppers, as AI tools and other retailers take a share. That affects how much of your Amazon traffic comes from search ads versus Rufus and off Amazon discovery.

Buying Habits and Price Sensitivity

52%of Amazon shoppers buy online at least weekly (Feedvisor)
46%made an Amazon purchase in the past month
33%say lowest price is the single factor deciding where they buy
35%say inflation is the biggest influence on household spending
45%compare prices more than a year ago
43%no longer take Prime Day and Black Friday deals at face value
60%will start most holiday shopping by the end of October, though the page states September elsewhere

Top categories bought on Amazon

CategoryShare of Amazon shoppers
Clothing, shoes and jewelry49%
Beauty and personal care39%
Grocery37%
Pet supplies30%
Source: Feedvisor 2026.

A shopper who compares prices and distrusts deal events is a shopper who needs a reason to choose your listing: price, reviews and delivery. Our guide to why Amazon brands fail shows what gets ignored when that reason is missing.

How Many Shoppers Use Rufus and AI Shopping Assistants?

Short answer: Amazon says 300 million customers used Rufus in 2025, and third party research found Rufus involved in 38% of Amazon sessions during Black Friday 2025.

300Mcustomers used Rufus in 2025, with nearly $12B in incremental annualized sales, per Amazon Q4 2025 results (PPC Land)
149%year over year growth in monthly active users, with conversational interactions up 210% (PPC Land)
38%of Amazon sessions involved Rufus during Black Friday 2025, per third party research (PPC Land)
60%more likely to buy for Rufus users, per Amazon CEO on the October 30, 2025 call (PPC Land)
2.74xmore likely to buy for shoppers who interacted with Rufus, 60,000 tracked US shoppers (Sensor Tower)
about 90%rise in Rufus driven sessions in holiday 2025 versus October, while non Rufus activity was nearly flat (Sensor Tower)
50 to 5Rufus narrows roughly 50 results to about five named products (PPC Land)
68% vs 15%of 10 word queries trigger AI responses versus single word queries, per Tinuiti (PPC Land)
13.7%of Amazon searches were Rufus by October 2024, per Intentwise (PPC Land)
50 millioncustomers have used price history, which averages three checks a month (PPC Land)
20%average savings per auto buy purchase (PPC Land)
500,000+products in the Buy for Me catalogue by November 2025, up from 65,000 (PPC Land)
55%used AI to research or compare products in the past six months (Feedvisor)
5%buy immediately on an AI recommendation
62%would never let an AI agent order and pay for them
nearly 20%of shoppers who interact with a sponsored prompt continue the conversation about the brand (EMARKETER)
about 70%of shoppers who buy after clicking a sponsored prompt are new to the brand (EMARKETER)
48% and 21%more conversions and higher spend from sponsored prompt clickers, per Amazon (PPC Land)
Data Note

Rufus figures come from Amazon, from third party trackers and from press compilations, and they measure different things: customers who ever used Rufus, users with access, and sessions. The Sensor Tower article also dates one conversion change to Q1 2025, which conflicts with its own timeline. Treat the lift figures as directional.

What Rufus Recommends

A November 2024 Amalytix study of 1,300 plus products across 500 search terms, summarized by PPC Land, looked at which products an Amazon AI assistant recommended.

Traits of recommended products, Amalytix study

TraitResult
Rating flooressentially none below 4.0 stars, median 4.5
Median review count2,991
Median title length166 characters
Median images, videos, bullets7 images, 3 videos, 5 bullet points
Listings with no video34%
Fulfilled by Amazon94.2%
Prime eligible92.1%
In stock98.4%
Amazon Basics share0.6%
Source: PPC Land summary of Amalytix. Single study, November 2024.

The pattern is clear: recommended products are well reviewed, well stocked and richly presented. That matches what ACOS and ROAS data shows about conversion, which depends first on the listing and only then on the ad.

How Do Amazon Shoppers Interact With Ads?

Short answer: Amazon shoppers convert at roughly 10% on average (10.77% blended across 2,800 plus brands), while ad click through rates run about 0.35% to 0.56%.

10.77%blended Amazon conversion rate, up 7.67%, for 2,800 plus brands, Aug 2025 to Jul 2026 (Trellis, citing Triple Whale)
just under 10%Amazon average conversion rate (AdBadger)
36.7% and 6.6%highest and lowest category Sponsored Products conversion rates, Grocery and Gourmet versus Home and Kitchen (Pacvue via Trellis)
10% to 15%Amazon shopper conversion on average, per Darkroom (Darkroom)
26% to 35%session conversion rate after the holiday season in Sensor Tower data (Sensor Tower)
0.35% to 0.56%average click through rate, AdBadger and Triple Whale (AdBadger, Trellis)

Older ad interaction data, Feedvisor 2019

FindingShare
Daily online shoppers who clicked an Amazon product ad while browsing the web73%
Of those, purchased the advertised product83%
Said the ads were helpful60%
Daily Amazon shoppers who clicked a product ad on Amazon76%
Search users who do not go past the second page44%
Source: Retail Dive on Feedvisor 2019 and Total Retail. Seven year old data with sample size not stated in the Retail Dive piece.

Amazon shopper conversion runs far above search ad conversion because intent is already high. That is also why a poor listing wastes more money on Amazon than anywhere else. See our Sponsored Products statistics for cost per click by format, and our Amazon advertising statistics for market context.

Implications for Amazon Advertisers

  • Defend branded and category searches, but build visibility off Amazon too, since only 62% of shoppers now start on Amazon.
  • Invest in reviews, images, video and A+ content, which are the traits Rufus recommendations share.
  • Test sponsored prompts in the Amazon console, but treat the platform reported lift as unproven until you see your own data.
  • Do not rely on deal events alone: 43% of shoppers are skeptical of them.
  • Judge ads by total sales, not only attributed sales. Our write up on the Amazon PPC attribution problem explains why.

Sources and Further Reading

Every statistic on this page links to its original source. Figures were checked on October 24, 2026. Where sources disagree, we show both and say so.

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