Industries · eCommerce
AI consulting & automation for eCommerce
IMAGENN.AI provides AI consulting and automation for eCommerce businesses in Canada, including online stores, direct-to-consumer brands and Shopify and WooCommerce merchants. We design and build AI shopping visibility, product-data and feed readiness, customer service and returns automation, conversion analysis and marketing workflows, fixed-scope and PIPEDA-compliant, with consent and privacy rules built into every workflow.
By Roberto Gennaro, Founder & CEO, IMAGENN.AI · Updated · 9 min read
At a glance
AI in eCommerce: key takeaways
- AI-referred shoppers convert: during the 2025 holiday season, traffic from AI search tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity doubled as a share of total traffic, and AI-referred shoppers converted nine times more often than those arriving from social media (Salesforce, global data).
- Agentic checkout has started: Google began rolling out checkout inside Search and AI Mode for eligible U.S. merchants in November 2025, buying only after the shopper confirms.
- Online retail is a steady slice of Canadian retail: retail e-commerce was 7.5% of total retail trade in July 2026 ($5.5 billion for the month, seasonally adjusted, Statistics Canada).
- Friction still costs sales: the average documented cart abandonment rate is 70.22% (Baymard Institute), and online returns are an estimated 19.3% of U.S. online sales (NRF).
- Most Canadian businesses are still early: 19.2% reported using AI, and 28.2% of those used virtual agents or chat bots (Statistics Canada, Q2 2026).
2026 research
7 AI trends reshaping eCommerce
What current research says, and what it means for your business. Statistics are linked to their original sources below.
- 01
AI assistants are becoming a traffic source, and the visitors convert
Shoppers are using AI tools to discover products and compare options, and they are arriving at online stores ready to buy.
During the 2025 holiday season, traffic from third-party AI search tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity doubled compared to the year before as a share of total traffic, and shoppers arriving from AI-powered search converted nine times more often than those coming through social media referrals. Salesforce also credits AI and agents with driving 20% of all retail sales, an influence measure, not proof of cause (Salesforce, November 1 to December 31, 2025, more than 1.5 billion shoppers globally).[1]
What it means: AI discovery is a channel to measure and optimize. Track AI-referred sessions and conversion separately, and make sure your catalog is easy for AI tools to read.
- 02
Agentic checkout has started to roll out
AI assistants are moving from recommending products to completing purchases on the shopper's behalf, with permission.
Google said agentic checkout is starting to roll out on Search, including in AI Mode, from eligible U.S. merchants such as Wayfair, Chewy, Quince and select Shopify merchants, asking permission first and buying only after the shopper confirms purchase and shipping details; its Shopping Graph has more than 50 billion product listings (Google, November 13, 2025). The announcement covers U.S. merchants only.[2]
What it means: Product feeds, pricing, stock and policies need to be accurate and machine-readable so an agent can transact with you. Canadian availability is not confirmed in the announcement.
- 03
Online retail is a steady share of Canadian retail
E-commerce is established in Canada but still a minority of retail spending, so omnichannel and pure online operators both matter.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, retail e-commerce sales decreased 3.5% to $5.5 billion in July 2026, accounting for 7.5% of total retail trade, compared with 7.7% in June (Statistics Canada, The Daily, September 24, 2026). Other published figures use different definitions and are not comparable.[3]
What it means: Use Statistics Canada's figure when you size your market, and watch month-to-month movement in context rather than as a trend.
- 04
Canadian businesses are adopting AI, most often for analytics and chat
Overall AI use has tripled in two years. Virtual agents are the third most common use, which is directly relevant to online customer service.
19.2% of Canadian businesses reported using AI in the 12 months before the survey, up from 12.2% in Q2 2025 and 6.1% in Q2 2024. The top uses were data analytics (36.6%), text analytics (34.5%) and virtual agents or chat bots (28.2%), and 40.0% said AI is not relevant to their goods or services (Statistics Canada, Q2 2026, all industries).[4]
What it means: Online merchants with a clear customer service or analytics use case are ahead of most. These figures cover all industries, not e-commerce alone.
- 05
Cart abandonment remains the biggest leak, and most causes are fixable
Most shoppers who start a checkout do not finish it, and many reasons are about cost, trust and friction rather than interest.
The average documented online cart abandonment rate is 70.22% across 50 studies. Among shoppers who abandon, 42% were just browsing; the other main reasons were extra costs at checkout (40%), slow delivery (20%), not trusting the site with card details (19%) and a required account (18%) (Baymard Institute, updated September 22, 2025; U.S. online shoppers).[5]
What it means: Start with the fixable causes: surface total cost early, simplify checkout and answer trust and delivery questions in the moment. AI can help diagnose and answer, but the fixes are mostly design and policy.
- 06
Returns are a large, costly part of online sales
Returns drive cost and customer experience, and fraud is a measurable slice. Handling them smoothly is both an operations and a service problem.
U.S. retailers estimated 15.8% of annual sales would be returned in 2025, including an estimated 19.3% of online sales, and 9% of all returns are fraudulent (NRF and Happy Returns, October 15, 2025; survey of 358 e-commerce professionals at large U.S. merchants).[6]
What it means: Automate return requests, status updates and policy answers, and use data on return reasons to fix product pages and sizing. Figures are U.S. and large-merchant, so benchmark against your own data.
- 07
Merchants deploying their own AI agents are growing faster
Brands that put agents to work in their own stores reported stronger sales growth than those that did not. The link is correlation, but it points to where momentum is.
Retailers that deployed their own AI agents averaged 6.2% year-over-year sales growth versus 3.9% for those that did not, which Salesforce describes as 59% faster growth (Salesforce, 2025 holiday season).[1]
What it means: Start with a bounded agent for a clear job such as order tracking, product questions or returns, measure it and expand. This is a correlation, not a guarantee.
What we build
Where AI creates value in eCommerce
AI shopping visibility
Audit how your brand and products appear in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode, then fix the structured data, product content and consistency gaps that keep you out of the answer.
For: DTC brands and online retailers that rely on discovery
See IrisProduct data and feed readiness
Clean, enrich and structure product data, prices, stock and policies so AI tools and shopping surfaces can read and trust them, and so agentic checkout can work when it reaches you.
For: Shopify, WooCommerce and custom-platform merchants
Customer service assistant
Answer pre-purchase questions and handle order tracking, shipping and policy questions instantly, with clean handoff to your team for anything that needs a person.
For: Online stores of any size
See XeniaReturns and exchange automation
Automate return requests, labels, status updates and policy answers, and analyze return reasons so product pages and sizing improve over time.
For: Merchants with meaningful return volume
AI for customer service automationConversion and checkout analysis
Combine analytics, session and support data to find where shoppers drop off and why, from surprise costs to trust and friction, and prioritize fixes.
For: Growth and operations teams
AI for data analysisMarketing content and consent-aware campaigns
Draft product copy, emails and promotions faster, with consent records, unsubscribe handling and human review built in to meet CASL requirements.
For: Marketing teams and founders
Not sure where AI fits in your eCommerce business?
A 30–45 minute strategy call, no hard sell and no commitment.
Who we help
Built for your kind of business
Direct-to-consumer brands
AI visibility, product-data quality, customer service and retention workflows for brands that own the customer relationship.
Shopify & WooCommerce merchants
Integrations with your storefront, apps and helpdesk, from product feeds to customer chat and reporting.
Marketplace sellers
Catalog consistency across channels, listing content workflows and customer messaging at volume.
B2B & wholesale online stores
Account-specific pricing questions, reorder workflows, quote requests and buyer support.
How we work
A fixed-scope engagement, step by step
Discover
We map your customer questions, catalog and feed data, storefront and tools, and AI-referred traffic to find where AI creates real leverage.
Design
A prioritized roadmap with measurable baselines, plus consent and privacy rules, scoped and agreed before any build begins.
Build
We integrate with your storefront, helpdesk, email and analytics tools, test with your team and set clear handoff rules.
Scale
Track conversion, response times and returns against the baseline, refine and extend to new use cases, with PIPEDA-compliant data handling throughout.
FAQ
AI for eCommerce: your questions, answered.
Is AI sending shoppers to online stores?
Yes. Salesforce's analysis of the 2025 holiday season found traffic from third-party AI search tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity doubled compared to the year before as a share of total traffic, and shoppers arriving from AI-powered search converted nine times more often than those arriving through social media referrals. That comparison is against social media, not against all traffic.
Can customers buy inside ChatGPT or Google yet?
Starting to. Google began rolling out agentic checkout in Search, including AI Mode, in November 2025 for eligible U.S. merchants, and it asks permission first and buys only after the shopper confirms. The announcement covers U.S. merchants only, so Canadian availability is not confirmed. Preparing accurate, structured product data now positions you for it.
How do I make my products show up in AI shopping answers?
Make your product data complete, accurate and structured, keep prices, stock and policies consistent across your site and feeds, and build the reviews and content that AI tools quote. Our Iris audit measures how your brand and products appear in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and AI Overviews and what to fix.
How many Canadian businesses use AI, and does it apply to online stores?
Statistics Canada found 19.2% of Canadian businesses reported using AI in Q2 2026, up from 6.1% two years earlier, and virtual agents or chat bots were the third most common use at 28.2% of AI-using businesses. 40.0% said AI is not relevant to their goods or services. The data covers all industries, but customer chat and analytics apply directly to online stores.
Why do shoppers abandon carts, and can AI help?
Baymard Institute's analysis puts the average abandonment rate at 70.22%. Beyond shoppers just browsing, the main reasons are extra costs at checkout (40%), slow delivery (20%), not trusting the site with card details (19%) and a required account (18%). AI can help diagnose where shoppers drop off and answer trust and delivery questions instantly, but the main fixes are checkout design and clear policies.
Can AI handle returns?
It can handle much of the routine work. NRF estimated 19.3% of U.S. online sales would be returned in 2025, so automating return requests, status updates and policy answers, and analyzing return reasons, can reduce effort and improve product pages. Exceptions and suspected fraud should go to a person.
What privacy and marketing rules apply when I use AI with customer data?
PIPEDA applies to private-sector organizations, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner says AI use should rely on valid and meaningful consent and be transparent and explainable. CASL generally prohibits commercial electronic messages without consent, with penalties up to $10 million for businesses. Quebec-based businesses face additional requirements under Law 25. Our work is built to be PIPEDA-compliant.
How do we get started with AI in our online store?
Book a strategy call. It runs 30–45 minutes with no hard sell and no commitment, and we respond within one business day. You'll leave with a clear view of the highest-impact AI opportunities for your online store.
References
Sources
Statistics on this page were checked against the original publications on October 11, 2026. We update this page as new research is published.
- 1.Salesforce. 2025 holiday shopping data (). November 1 to December 31, 2025; more than 1.5 billion shoppers in more than 89 countries. Global data, not Canada-specific.
- 2.Google. Google Shopping launches agentic checkout and more AI shopping tools (). Announcement covers eligible U.S. merchants.
- 3.Statistics Canada. The Daily: Retail trade, July 2026 (). Seasonally adjusted.
- 4.Statistics Canada. The Daily: Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, second quarter 2026 (). Survey run April 1 to May 6, 2026; all industries.
- 5.Baymard Institute. Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics (). Average across 50 studies; reasons are for U.S. online shoppers. Date is the page's last-updated date.
- 6.National Retail Federation (NRF) and Happy Returns. Consumers Expected to Return Nearly $850 Billion in Merchandise in 2025 (). U.S. data. Survey of 358 e-commerce professionals at large merchants plus 2,006 consumers.
Related reading
More on AI for eCommerce
AI consulting for other industries
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