Chatbots & AI: The Secret Sauce of Black Friday 2024

Black Friday 2024 wasn’t just a playground for discount hunters—it was a proving ground for cutting-edge AI and chatbots. The buzz around artificial intelligence isn’t all sci-fi doom or utopian excitement; it’s creating real-world ripples.

Case in point? AI and AI agents fueled over $14 billion in online sales, and retailers using generative AI saw a 9% higher conversion rate than those still stuck in 2023’s playbook, according to Salesforce.

Here’s where it gets wild: bot-driven clicks to retail sites shot up 1,800% compared to last year. That’s not a typo—it’s a rocketship.

Chatbots weren’t just glorified FAQ engines; they were digital shopping assistants. Adobe found that 1 in 5 shoppers leaned on chatbots to sniff out deals.

Whether it was hunting for discounts, pinpointing specific items, or even getting brand recommendations, chatbots were the MVPs of online retail.

The impact isn’t just about making sales; it’s about making them more efficiently. Caila Schwartz from Salesforce put it best: “For an industry hyper-focused on margins—especially with rising costs looming in 2025—this kind of lift in conversion rates is a total game-changer.”

Bottom line? AI isn’t just cool tech anymore; it’s the competitive edge that’s rewriting the rules of retail. And if Black Friday was any indication, this isn’t a trend—it’s the new normal.