Which companies are affected by AI search, today and tomorrow?
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Today, all those whose customers compare before buying, starting with retail. Adobe measured, in the United States during the 2025 holiday season, a year-on-year increase in visits coming from AIs of 693% in retail, 539% in travel, 266% in financial services, 120% in technology and software, and 92% in media. Among B2B software buyers, 51% now start more often with an AI than with Google. Local businesses are following: 45% of U.S. consumers asked an AI for a local recommendation in 2026, versus 6% a year earlier. As for tomorrow, no measurement says; the trend points the same way.
For what type of question? This is a market question: which sectors and which types of companies already see their customers going through AIs. The available measurements are mostly American, and count visits or reported usage, not customers lost or won.
The sectors where the increase is measured
Adobe tracks visits to large U.S. sites. During the 2025 holiday season, in November and December, visits coming from an AI rose year on year by 693% in retail, 539% in travel, 266% in financial services, 120% in technology and software, and 92% in media and entertainment. Retail is the sector where the increase is the strongest.
These percentages start from low levels: they show speed, not weight. But value is following. Adobe measures that in September 2026, among U.S. retailers, visits coming from an AI led to a purchase 90% more often than others, whereas in August 2025 they bought 9% less often.
Companies that sell to other companies
Among professional buyers, going through AI is already the majority. Forrester writes in January 2026 that 94% of B2B buyers use AI in their purchasing, according to its Buyers’ Journey 2025 survey. Twice as many buyers as a year earlier rank it ahead of any other source of information, far ahead of vendors' websites, product experts and salespeople.
G2 surveyed 1,076 B2B software buyers and decision-makers in March 2026. 51% start their research with an AI assistant more often than with Google, versus 29% in its 2025 report. 69% chose a different vendor from the one they had planned on, because it appeared in the AI's recommendation, and one in three bought from a vendor they had never heard of.
Local shops and services
Every year, BrightLocal surveys 1,002 U.S. adults on how they choose a shop or a service near them. In its survey published on February 11, 2026, 45% had used ChatGPT or another generative AI to get a local recommendation, versus 6% the previous year. AIs are becoming the third source of recommendations, behind Google and Facebook.
In France, the measurement covers the companies themselves. The DGE's Baromètre France Num 2026, published on September 28, 2026 and covering more than 9,000 companies, counts 40% of very small businesses and SMEs that use AI, and 53% of SMEs. We did not find any French measurement of customers' use of AIs to choose a shop or a tradesperson.
Who loses, who wins
Those who lose the most are the sites whose model depends on visits from people seeking information: when an answer summarizes, people click less. Pew measured in March 2025 that Google users clicked a traditional link in 8% of visits when an AI summary was displayed, versus 15% without a summary. For other companies, the loss happens in the answer: a company that does not appear in it does not see the customer leave.
Those who win are those that AIs manage to read and cite. Adobe measured in September 2026, with its own indicator, the share of content on U.S. retailers' sites that AIs can understand and cite: 79% in electronics, where the pages explain (guides, help, specifications), versus 40% on the homepages of general mass retailers, made up of promotions and menus. The pages that answer customers' questions are the ones AIs pick up.
And tomorrow
No measurement tells the future, and we will not make a forecast. The measured trends have all pointed the same way since 2024: visits coming from AIs up year on year every month since October 2024 among the retailers tracked by Adobe, usage rising from 6% to 45% in one year for local recommendations in the United States, a majority of software buyers who start with an AI.
For the 2026 holiday season, Adobe forecasts year-on-year increases of 159% on Thanksgiving Day and 95% on Black Friday. This is a software vendor's forecast, not a measurement. What can be said without forecasting: a sector where customers compare before buying is affected, and will be more so as usage spreads.
Where FaireDuBruit stands
FaireDuBruit, the publisher of this page, is a distribution service: it regularly publishes articles about your company, on your site and on three specialist media, in your language and in English, one to three times a week depending on the plan, from €299 excl. VAT per month, with no commitment, plus a setup of €690 excl. VAT paid once. It is intended for companies whose customers are looking for a supplier, whatever the sector.
Its limits should be known. It does not audit your sector or your presence in AIs, and does not track your citations: a monthly report only says which AIs read your articles on our media. Those on our media are labeled as sponsored. No citation by an AI is promised.
What we do not know
The figures by sector come from Adobe, on U.S. sites, and measure visits; Adobe sells analytics software. Those from G2 and Forrester cover B2B buyers, those from BrightLocal U.S. consumers, and those from Pew cover March 2025. The French measurement covers the use of AI by companies, not by their customers. No source counts customers lost or won.
Sources
- Adobe, Vivek Pandya — “AI-driven traffic surges across industries with retail experiencing biggest gains”, .
- Adobe, Vivek Pandya — “AI traffic now generates 83% higher revenue per visit for U.S. retailers…”, .
- Forrester, John Buten — “B2B Buyers Make Zero-Click Buying Number One”, .
- G2, Tim Sanders — “The Answer Economy”, .
- BrightLocal, Rosie Murphy — “Local Consumer Review Survey 2026”, .
- DGE — Baromètre France Num 2026, .
- Pew Research Center, Athena Chapekis and Anna Lieb, .
- FaireDuBruit measurements, from September 4 to 16, 2026 — see “How we measured”.