What: AI search referrals, led by ChatGPT at 91% of sessions, now follow retail seasonal peaks and are growing about 14 times faster than organic search, according to IDHL's study of UK and US brands.

Why it is important: AI referrals still represent a small share of total visits, but they convert at a higher rate than they grow in volume, which supports earlier US findings of higher revenue per visit and puts pressure on retailers to build brand authority beyond their own websites.

IDHL analysed 1.5 million AI search engaged sessions across 175 websites and 20 industries, covering UK and US brands between July 2025 and July 2026. Engaged sessions rose 392% year on year, revenue from AI search visitors 312% and transactions 553%, against 28% growth for organic search, 25% for direct traffic and 19% for paid search. In total, 21,141 transactions were generated through AI.

ChatGPT accounts for 91% of AI referral sessions, while Claude (+1,183%) and Gemini (+404%) grow faster from much smaller bases. The UK grew 413% year on year against 302% in the US, where activity plateaued after a May 2026 jump likely linked to more clickable links in ChatGPT results.

AI search now follows retail seasonality. Jewellery sessions peaked at nearly five times summer levels in November, gifting at about ten times July levels in December, and fashion more than doubled month on month (+142%). IDHL advises tracking AI referrals by platform, building authority through PR, reviews and Reddit, and creating decision-stage content. It notes that LLM traffic remains a small share of total visits for most brands.

IADS Notes: IDHL's finding that AI search engaged sessions grew 392% year on year, with transactions up 553%, extends a pattern already visible in earlier coverage. US data reported by (Reuters, June 2026) showed AI-referred shoppers browsing longer and generating higher revenue per visit, with AI-referred traffic up 138% year on year. A Converteo study covered by (Journal du Net, January 2026) described AI-search traffic as a small share of visits but highly qualified, while most e-commerce retailers still built sites for human navigation. On seasonality, (Retail Week, October 2025) reported that nearly two in five global consumers used AI during major shopping events such as Black Friday, consistent with the jewellery and gifting peaks IDHL now measures in November and December. On content and visibility, (McKinsey, October 2025) found that 44% of users cite AI search as their preferred source for purchase decisions, with visibility increasingly shaped by third-party and user-generated content. (El-Balad, October 2025) added that ChatGPT and Gemini increasingly reference Reddit in product discovery, a channel IDHL's experts also single out.

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