The Adobe forecast is 130% more AI traffic to US shops

In a forecast of 28 September 2026, Adobe tells that AI traffic to US retail sites will increase by 130%. The period is 1 November to 31 December. On 15 October, Google started Universal Cart in the US, a cart that keeps products from many retailers in Google Search and the Gemini app. Optimum7, an ecommerce agency, put these 2 facts in a guide on how shops make their data clear for AI shopping tools that read it.

What is new

Universal Cart keeps products from different retailers in one cart. It tells the shopper of price drops and stock changes, and it has more than 60 billion product listings. At some merchants the shopper can use Google Pay for the payment. If not, the shopper moves to the cart of the merchant, and the merchant is the seller in each sale.

The numbers

Adobe tells these changes for the same period:

• Thanksgiving: 159% more
• Black Friday: 95% more
• Cyber Monday: 88% more

Adobe counted more than 1 trillion visits for it. It is a forecast, not a result.

What is not known

Adobe has not given the share of AI referrals in all retail visits. In the Google documentation, onboarding to the Universal Commerce Protocol is early access for selected US merchants. The firm that wrote the guide has development and migration services.

Insight: Google builds the cart while large sellers stop agents

Google started a cart for shoppers and agents, and the merchant keeps the sale and support work. Cheq tells that agent traffic increased 100 times in 45 days and that large sellers stop these agents. This reads as a race for the shopper. Google makes one cart, some large sellers keep agents out, and other merchants have the fraud and support work. Monitor if Google opens the protocol to all merchants.