A holiday shopper looking for a gift can now describe the recipient and a budget to an AI assistant, then ask follow-up questions until a short list emerges. The retailer may enter the conversation only after much of the decision is made.
This emerging consumer behavior is becoming measurable. According to Adobe Analytics, traffic from generative AI tools to U.S. retail websites rose 693.4% during the November-December 2025 holiday season compared with a year earlier.
Adobe cautioned that the user base remained modest, but the growth continued as AI referrals increased 393% year over year in the first quarter of 2026.
Now, as Kase outlines below, retailers are facing a new question as they head into the 2026 holidays. And it extends beyond appearing in an AI recommendation.
If shoppers arrive through new routes, with decisions already partly settled, can inventory and fulfillment operations respond to the demand that follows?
The shopping trip becomes a conversation
AI shopping takes several forms. An assistant might help someone compare products, while another tool can take purchasing actions with the shopper’s authorization. Using AI to research a gift does not necessarily mean handing over the transaction.
ChatGPT's shopping experience demonstrates discovery. In March, OpenAI introduced expanded visual product browsing and side-by-side comparisons. Shoppers can describe their constraints, upload an image for inspiration, and refine the results through conversation.
The assistant helps translate an initially vague request into specific products. For holiday shopping, that could mean asking for a gift for a frequent traveler, then narrowing the options to items that fit in a carry-on.
Gift buying lends itself to that back-and-forth. A buyer may know the recipient’s interests but little about the category. Asking why one option fits, or whether a less expensive alternative offers similar features, can make a recommendation easier to assess. The shopper can also revise the budget without restarting the entire search.
Google is also bringing advertising into that process. In May, the company announced tests of Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers in AI Mode. These formats use Gemini-generated explanations to connect products with a shopper's question and carry a sponsored label.
Amazon has moved further into assistance that can act. Its Alexa for Shopping combines capabilities from Rufus and Alexa+, including product comparisons and price tracking. Amazon says shoppers can use it to buy items at a target price. The company reported that more than 300 million customers used Rufus during 2025.
Holiday buying is likely to happen across different timelines. Some shoppers may research well ahead of a sale, then act when a price alert arrives. Others might use an assistant to settle a purchase shortly before a gifting deadline.
The product information becomes part of the pitch
AI shopping has a high appeal. Shoppers can explain what they need without knowing the right product name or search term. But a useful answer depends on whether the assistant can find reliable information about the available options.
Google has made it clear that the AI shopping experiences depend on the product data merchants provide. For example, incomplete Merchant Center feeds can limit product discovery, making catalog maintenance part of the competition for attention.
AI needs something concrete to evaluate: specifics that offer more detail than a gift set that’s “perfect for everyone.”
Operational details matter once that interest turns into an order. An advertised bundle needs every component available, and a delivery must reflect where the inventory is located and when the warehouse can dispatch it.
AI-referred visitors appear more willing to buy. Adobe found that in March 2026, visits from AI sources converted at a rate 42% higher than visits from non-AI sources.
The finding suggests that some retailers will meet these shoppers relatively late in their decision process. Product discovery may have happened elsewhere; the retailer still has to make the purchase work.
New discovery routes meet familiar warehouse constraints
Fulfillment challenges are possible when concentrated demand falls outside a brand’s promotional calendar. A product that is repeatedly recommended for a particular need could draw orders that were difficult to anticipate from the retailer’s own campaign activity.
AI referrals alone cannot indicate whether demand is becoming less predictable, but they do give retailers another source of customer activity to account for.
Retailers already have readiness concerns going into peak season. Kase surveyed 328 retail and e-commerce leaders for its 2026 peak-season research. Its findings showed that 79% expected reactive decisions once volume spiked, even though 96% had started planning earlier.
Inventory imbalance was the leading operational risk, cited by 52% of respondents. Meanwhile, 85% were increasing inventory ahead of peak.
Additional or excess stock offers limited protection if orders concentrate on one variant while other products remain untouched. A travel gift set that gains unexpected demand could exhaust one component, leaving the remaining pieces available, but the advertised bundle impossible to ship.
“The goal is to prevent stockouts and inbound congestion before they happen,” says Owen Stauber, senior director of fulfillment operations at Kase.
Holiday readiness must look past the forecast
These new shopping behaviors make coordination between merchandising and fulfillment especially consequential. A product gaining attention needs to be visible to the people managing available inventory and the teams that track traffic and sales.
The operational response depends on the constraint. If stock is available but packing capacity is tight, additional trained labor may help. If a component is depleted, extra warehouse staff can’t complete the bundle. If inventory is distant from the customer, an aggressive delivery promise may require expensive expedited shipping.
These scenarios put a premium on shared order and inventory information. Agreed thresholds for responding to sudden volume changes can help teams decide when to adjust allocations or revise delivery estimates.
The 2026 holiday season will test how well retailers connect a changing shopping experience with the physical work behind each order. AI can help a customer choose a gift in a few exchanges. The promise attached to that purchase still depends on the warehouse and delivery network being ready.
This story was produced by Kase and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
